A ladybug takes cover inside the head of a wild carrot flower.I've noticed a lot of ladybugs this year, more than usual, on the plants in our garden. Either their predators are down, or their food supply is up. We certainly have not had an aphid problem this year as we've had in past years, so perhaps these ladybugs are eating up their larvae.
Did you know that in France, coccinelle is (or was) the name of a convenience store? We had one in Saint-Aignan, but it recently changed its name to Cocci-marché. The "marché" word, or its English equivalent "market," is showing up in the names of many grocery chains these days, like Simply Market (used to be ATAC) and Carrefour Market (the smaller version of the large Carrefour hyper-market).
The old Disney movies about Herbie the Love Bug are called "La Coccinelle" in French. For obvious reasons. One of the Disney channels we get has been running a series of them all summer. On Friday night they showed "La Coccinelle à Monte-Carlo" made in 1977 with Dean Jones and Don Knotts. I missed it.
Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo -- I loved that movie as a kid! (I'm a big VW Beetle fan.)
ReplyDeleteWe had a lot of ladybugs a couple years back. This year I've only seen a few. They must be across the pond.
Hi Walt .. we have a lot here too, except we called them ladybirds..
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coccinellidae
Is that my great-aunt I see disappearing into the flower? :))
ReplyDeleteYour electricity rates will have to go through the roof before they can go up to heaven!
ReplyDeleteMartine! LOL-MDR
Bonne fete!
ReplyDeleteLove the blog! Pics are great! Hope you had a great weekend!
ReplyDeleteWow, the first time I see carrot flower. Thanks Walt!
ReplyDeleteWe only have japanese beetles who look like ladybugs,
ReplyDeleterick, yes, your ladybugs must be visiting us this year!
ReplyDeleteanne, yes, the English have a different word for everything! ;)
martine, hahaha!
chm, let's hope that doesn't happen!
nadege, thanks. I dusted off my ugly statue of the virgin mary and paraded it around town for a while. Not.
david, thanks! Glad you stopped by.
vtt, they're everywhere this time of year.
michael, it must be too hot for them in Phoenix, eh?
One of my favorite creatures on the planet. I used to buy them by the 100s, thet came in burlap bags. I would let them go in my garden in Seattle... & then I would never see one the rest of the season. They seem to not know about property lines.
ReplyDeleteMy verification word is: COCONUTI
stephen, I had the same experience the one (and only) time I bought a batch o' bugs.
ReplyDelete