YORKTON - The Yorkton and District Horticultural Society will be holding their next meeting on Wednesday, October 16. This is a members only meeting, so members, mark your calendar and plan to attend. Call Ed or John for more details.
If only we could understand the miraculous ways of nature at this time of year! To our simple human minds, we miss so many things; if we understood, the plants, birds and bugs in our gardens likely give us all kinds of indications of weather and weather changes that are coming at this time of year.
For instance…have you harvested your onions? Many gardeners say that a thick onion skin (or apple skin) means a hard winter ahead. Someone commented about how the leaves are falling already; is this a good sign or a bad sign? What about this saying: a hard winter is ahead if corn husks are thick and tight. Fact or fantasy? Who knows?
But I’ll share an observation with you, and I have no doubt you have noticed this in your yard, too. Ladybugs are wise beyond our understanding. Recently, before the rain came, we were working in our garden and there was a tall stem of salvia with a few dried leaves curled at the top. Upon closer observation, we saw a ladybug curled up snugly inside the dried leaf. On that very warm day, it surprised us. And then the rain came! Was it for protection?
Keith comments often on one day last fall when he was mowing the lawn. I heard the lawnmower stop, and saw him watching the ground in fascination. What did he see? In the grass, in that particular area, there were hundreds of ladybugs burrowing down into the thick grass. Keith left that area alone for the rest of the season, not wanting to disturb them. And you know, the cold weather arrived shortly after that.
Two things to note. First: bugs, birds and even plants survive because of their adaptability to their living conditions and the weather around them. It is interesting to take note of these behavioral things in our garden journals and see what comes of them.
Second: the ladybugs in question are creatures that we try to encourage in every way to live in our garden. Why? Ladybugs, the colorful and beautiful friends of the garden, actually belong to the small beetle family. Most of their family of over 6000 species are called “carnivorous predators”, a scary name that means they eat other bugs. To gardeners, they are “beneficial insects” because they give us the “benefit” of safe biological control of pests like aphids, mites, scale insects and whiteflies. Amazing factoid: one ladybug can eat up to 50 aphids a day, and up to 5000 insects in its lifetime!
When fall arrives, ladybugs begin to look for a quiet place to hibernate for the winter: safe and secluded places like under dense plants, among thick leaves, or deep between stems of perennials. This is why, as gardeners, we should leave some safe havens for them in our gardens. Then they will reward us with their presence in the spring.
Another fun fact: the name “ladybug” refers to Mother Mary. Long-ago farmers prayed to the Virgin Mary when insects were attacking their failing crops. Ladybugs came to the rescue, ate the pests, and saved the day! So the farmers called them “beetle of our Lady” which later became ‘ladybugs”.
So that’s our crash-course in ladybugs and their importance in the garden. Please leave a habitat for them to hibernate over the winter. Visit the hort society at www.yorktonhort.ca Thank you to YTW for their great work each week. Enjoy the autumn weather!
PS—our apples have thick skins—take from that what you will!
