Garden Bug

Could anyone ID this bug,it is being cared for by ants so it could be an aphid of some sort? JennyE

The case of the black moss

A couple of years back I planted a fever tree outside our gate.  The tree never really took off.  It didn’t die or look sickly, it just never seemed to grow.  I put it down to the fact that the soil I had planted it in was this terrible, sandy, red earth and decided to give it some time to come right.

However, earlier this year, I noticed a black moss growing on the trunk and branches of the tree and thought I better do something about it.  First I Googled black moss but didn’t come up with anything useful.  Then I went to take a closer look at the tree and noticed hundreds of small, black ants moving up and down the tree trunk.  Could the ‘black moss’ actually be the ants footprints, I wondered?

After a bit more Googling, I found something that surprised me.  Both the ants and black moss were indicator species, pointing to the real culprit, aphids.  I went back to inspect the tree for a third time and lo and behold, there in the leaves, were hundreds of tiny aphids.

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Who’s been eating my Halleria?

We got three Halleria Lucida plants at the plant fair last spring. Two are doing swimmingly, while the third seems to have been infected with a fungi, or eggs laid by little miggies… Have a look and compare the two pictures. Do you know what those little miggies are? The Halleria infected by them is sadly on its way out and I have no idea what to do about it.

Accidental Bee Photography

I was taking a photograph of a Wild Garlic (tulbaghia violacea or isihaqa) flower this morning and a bee flew into the shot as I took the photograph. Pretty cool.

Accidental bee photography.

Swarm of Dragonflies

There is a swarm of dragonflies (I would estimate 20 to 30) currently living in my garden.  They are most probably there because of an abundance of food – they eat other smaller insect such as aphids and flies, so I ain’t complaining.  Plus, they are pretty cool to watch darting about the place and seem to have taken a liking to a jasmine vine I have growing in my courtyard.

Has anyone experienced something similar?  Is it a common occurrence?

Dragonfly fact – they belong to an ancient insect group called the Odonata, one  of the first flying creatures on earth.

Dragonfly (close-up)

Dragonflies on the jasmine