Scrapbook image

Your scrapbook

Forgotten your details?

Enter your email address and we'll send your username and password to you

London

  • Partly CloudyToday
    6°C/13°C
  • FairTomorrow
    4°C/13°C
  • See Gardeners'
    7-day forecast

Our Gardeners' 7-day forecast warns you of changing weather conditions (including frost, high wind and drought) and suggests actions to take to protect your plants.

Gardeners' World magazine - 3 issues for £1

Save 25%

Subscribe now

Advertisement

Gardeners World blog

Wildlife

Ladybirds

Posted by: Adam Pasco, 21 April 2008, 12.16PM

Ladybird on euonymus leaf It amazes me how ladybirds survive winter outside - hibernation is an extraordinary phenomenon. To withstand winter as adults, ladybirds and other creatures must find suitable shelter, and they'll seek high and low to find it. I've tried to integrate some 'planned' piles of logs and prunings at the back of borders for these creatures, but they often have their own preferences for sheds and sheltered corners.

The untidy gardener in me can use all those piles of autumn leaves and debris around the garden as an excuse for providing shelter and hibernation hotels for wildlife. Who can argue with that? It's true that many insects and creepy crawlies, frogs, toads and other wildlife do need a place to shelter, and a pristine, tidy garden provides few opportunities. There simply aren't the hiding holes.

Now, you could be tempted to invest in a plush bug box or similar prefab home, and garden centre shelves can look something like wildlife estate agents with their tempting ranges. But nature has a way of bypassing your good intentions, making do with what it can find. I remember visiting Cambridge Botanic Garden at about this time a few years ago and watched a multitude of ladybirds (what is the collective noun for ladybirds?) emerging from the winter shelter of a thick clump of pampas grass. I'm not that partial to pampas, but have discovered ladybirds emerging from an evergreen euonymus in my garden.

This early population of adults is just the thing every gardener needs to keep greenfly in check. They'll be getting to work in their battle against my pests far sooner than any influx of ladybirds from abroad later in the year!

Comments

  • Imcoho

    22 April 2008, 10.21AM

    Last year I saw lots of ladybirds but they were very pale orange and I wasn't sure if they were good or bad. Yesterday I saw one of the same kind. What do you think?

  • Richard Jones

    23 April 2008, 09.10AM

    Leaving aside whether or not ladybirds are good or bad, there are nearly 30 different species in the UK. A good visual guide can be found here There is an 'orange' ladybird, Halyzia sedecimguttata, and several other pale pinky ones.

    Also, common 7-spot and 2-spot ladybirds are pale straw yellow or orange when they emerge from the pupa. It takes hours for the deep red colour to appear and they get darker for several days.

  • Margaret Anderson

    24 April 2008, 09.42PM

    Two years ago I gave up the struggle against garden pests and stopped using pesticides. I have noticed an increase in ladybirds and a decrease in garden pests. At first the pests seamed to be winning but now I don't lose as many plants or see as many pests. The garden has found its own balance and I am now enjoying a more relaxed form of gardening. If I find Greenfly on my Roses I know in 2 days they will be gone the Ladybirds will have done their work. The birds are keeping the slugs down. "Magic ain't it".

  • Adam Pasco

    25 April 2008, 03.32PM

    Useful observations, Margaret. Natural pest control is all about achieving a balance. Ladybirds and other predators (lacewings, hoverflies, etc) need food before they can eat and breed. In this case their food is your pests. Be patient and a natural balance can be achieved, as you have clearly demonstrated. I'd be the first to admit that this doesn't usually lead to 100 per cent pest eradication, but should reduce the problem significantly. Also, not every pest in your garden has a natural predator!

  • Su

    30 April 2008, 04.39PM

    I have Bug Boxes everywhere full of emerging Ladybirds and Lacewings - brilliant, a log pile left over winter has also proved to be a success. At the end of last year on one particular sunny afternoon, the back of the house was covered in Black Bugs with Red Spots, and Red Bugs with lots of black spots - I took some to the John Innes Center her in Norwich - they said they were a foreign breed who kill off our native ones. They are also nasty tasting so the birds leave them alone. My pond is currently moving with tadpoles - the Magpie is having a feast... Any suggestions how I can reduce the amount of Starlings which wipe out my bird feeders and bully the Finches. Sometimes just feel there is no point putting out good food to attract the finches - I have tried everything - can't help at being amazed at their intelligence and innovation. Got Squirrels, a Hawk, Woodpeckers along with all the normal Garden Birds - I feel very lucky.

  • maggie hughes

    30 April 2008, 07.39AM

    Is the collective noun for ladybirds a SPOT ?

  • Flaming Nora

    17 May 2008, 01.49PM

    The collective noun for ladybirds, which I've just found out today from Carol Klein's article in The Guardin is a loveliness. Isn't that fantastic? I've checked it online and it's correct too. How lovely!

  • lucybug

    29 May 2008, 12.55PM

    hi, can anybody tell me how to get ladybirds into my garden, I don't use pesticides and greenfly have ate my two lupins. How do i get the ladybirds in?

  • Richard Jones

    29 May 2008, 03.09PM

    I was recently asked by some schoolchildren what you call a group of ladybirds (one had found a clump of them against the outside of her bedroom window) and I told them it was a 'punctuation'. I then had to back this up with a lecture on how different ladybirds have different numbers of spots, and that some have commas, colons, semi-colons and exclamation marks!

  • pamela davidson

    24 September 2008, 09.47PM

    besides a lack of butterflies there is also a lack of ladybirds.Why I wonder.They used to smother my acquilegia and then go for the roses.Again, I wonder if its the weather.

Leave a comment

We'd love you to post a comment, but please be aware of our Code of Conduct.

Please email gwremovalrequests@bbc.co.uk to report any comments you feel are inappropriate. Please detail the post title and the comment you are referring to in your email. We'll take a look, and take appropriate action.

By submitting your contribution to this site, you confirm your acceptance of the website terms.

Thank you for your comment

Thank you for your comments. All comments will be looked at by a moderator, however, due to the numbers of comments we receive, we can't promise that all will be posted on the site.

Advertiser Links

Subscribe to the magazine

October edition of Gardeners' World Magazine

In October...
The October issue is on sale from 30 September. Subscribe today and receive the next three issues of Gardeners' World magazine for just £1.

The UK's number 1 gardening magazine

TV & Radio

Television icon

What's on this week

Find out what gardening programmes are on TV and radio this week. And read more about the Gardeners' World programme.

Offer

Planter

Buy six agapanthus plants for £12.98.

BBC Magazines

© BBC Magazines Ltd. BBC Worldwide Ltd.

The BBC Gardeners' World Magazine word mark and logo are trademarks of BBC Worldwide Ltd.

BBC Magazines is owned by the BBC and our profits are returned to the BBC for the benefit of the licence-fee payer.