Friday, July 6, 2012

Bugs worth keeping

It may not feel like a Friday thanks to our strange mid-week holiday for the 4th of July, but it is. That means it's time for me to whip out my favorite lazy blogger trick, The Friday, End-of-the-Week, Blogging-Wrap-up, Musical Interlude. So, for your listening enjoyment, I bring you a local Austin band, Heartless Bastards...


As usual, the song has no greater meaning to the blog, but I like that lady's voice.

Last week, I vaguely characterized some of the inhabitants of my potted hibiscus out front. I assumed in that blogging that both bugs were probably bad, but because I'm such a swell guy, I left them unharmed for the time being. 

Turns out, that was a shrewd gardening move.

Upon further research (which is to say some research, unlike last week), I discovered that this guy is an assassin bug. Yes, that is as cool as it sounds. Assassin bugs are predators that kill the sort of undesirable bugs that I complain about so often in this blog. The hibiscus plant is now pretty much bug-free (with the exception of little Sirhan Sirhan, here).  

1 comment:

  1. Sounds like a good pest to keep around in the war on bugs. My hibiscus plants were usually attacked by aphids, but protected by ants. I used to think that the ants were after the flower buds, but learned they are more interested in the aphids. I love it when there is peaceful neutrality in war.

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