Monday, June 06, 2011

La coccinelle

I saw this ladybug on the bell pepper plants a day or so ago. It seems it was sleeping in the folds of a leaf. Do ladybugs sleep? At any rate, it wasn't moving when I took the picture.

Ladybugs are good for the garden and I like seeing them out there.

We're still in the throes of this drought. There were promising thunderclouds on Saturday afternoon and Sunday was an overcast day, but very little water tumbled out of the sky. I'm trying to be good about watering the garden. The water that we use to wash vegetables and lettuce gets saved and it goes to water the flowers in the window boxes and the house plants. The little rain we do get runs off the roofs of the house and garden shed into collection bins for use in the garden. We try to minimize the amount of tap water we use for plants, but it ain't easy with these dry days.

I imagine that if and when it starts raining again, I'll be complaining about the lack of sun.

***** UPDATE: I wrote this post on Sunday morning. On Sunday evening, during the French Open final, we had a good thunderstorm. When I checked the rain gauge, we had 26mm of rain. Wow! That's just over an inch in a few hours.

14 comments:

  1. Being a distant cousin of your ladybug, I can confirm that 'coccinelles' do sleep ... a lot! :)

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  2. I love ladybugs too and you're right, they are good for the garden. Congratulations on getting some rain! It's amazing how quickly the garden perks up after even just one rain fall.... word verification is manical eeeks!

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  3. Glad you got some rain.

    I love this picture. The red on green is brilliant, so clear.

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  4. That thunderstorm ruined our plans for sitting on our terrace, watching the sunset, the swifts and swallows for the last evening of our holiday .... but we're glad you got your rain. The vegetation behind the château on Sunday morning seemed to be saying "thank you, thank you" but it will be too late for most of the crops, I fear.

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  5. Wonder if they will start pruning
    the vines now that you've had
    that lovely rain. It had occurred
    to me they wanted the vines to
    retain as much moisture as
    possible under drought conditions,
    moisture being lost thru open
    "cuts."

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  6. See, Mother Nature must have heard your bitching. I mean, read your post. Congrats on the rain! m.

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  7. Great colors in that photo and congrats on the rain!

    BettyAnn

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  8. I suspect the Ladybug went into defense mode when your presence was detected.

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  9. Great picture.
    So glad you got some rain,we're supposed to have a heatwave here soon that'll be great for wimbledon,hopefully Andy Murray's ankle injury will have healed

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  10. Walt

    We had thunderstorms and heavy rain both on saturday and sunday nights. Last night it was very bad at one point with the wind blowing. Left Paris in the rain this morning and got home with the mercury at 25C.

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  11. Thanks. http://cmgardening.wordpress.com

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  12. We had lots of rain while visiting the sites of the Battle of the Somme, maybe making all this even more emotional. You could picture people living in those trenches, some preserved more as long crisscrossing holes in the terrain than as actual trenches.

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  13. Are they really as red as your photo portrays? The ones I get are more orange than red. Ladybugs are the only bug I like. :)

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  14. martine, lol!

    craig, the rain was most welcome.

    rick, thanks!

    jean, our garden has really enjoyed it. Now I'm going to have to cut the grass!

    sheila, actually, they did start the trimming right after I posted my photo of the untrimmed vines. So they didn't wait for the rain.

    mark, you were right the first time!

    bettyann, :)

    starman, I wonder...

    patricia, we'll see. I see he decided to play the Queen's.

    t.b., welcome home!

    calogero, :)

    chm, I'm sure Ken took lots of pictures.

    cheryl, they come in all shades of red, including orange. This one was just as you see it, deep red.

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