There is a pair of Western Kingbirds that arrive in May or June in our area...same tree in my neighbor's yard. After I got our yard cleared of all the junk and weeds about 4 years ago, I began to notice them sitting on the wires watching for bugs to feed the babies. This year they were a big help with the squash bugs...the parents were kept busy feeding as many as 4 begging babies. But they left earlier than usual (are we in for an early Winter? it's much cooler than normal and has been for the last month). When they left the squash bug population exploded and wiped out the squash and most of the cucumbers and some of my small melons. I resorted to squishing them with my fingers as I watered and pulling all the squash plants. I planted some Fall squash and I'm hoping they do not return! Peggy

We have (at least ) 2, 3ft long black snakes also. I read the responses you got from your question and they are pretty much right on. Leave them alone and they pretty much leave you alone. But, be careful if you have small pets. Small dogs are especially curious and will end up getting bitten. They also like to hide in tall grass, so if you do own dogs, (from experience), try not to let you dogs go potty alone, one of my dogs swatted to pee and got bit in the butt, not a pretty site! Also, since you do have bird feeders, the snakes aren't climbing to eat the bird food, they want to eat the birds! Yuch! I know, but true. Their carnivores. They are especially great to have around if you have fruit trees. They LOVE rats, and rats love fruit trees.

Do you have any companion plants around your roses? Most beneficial insects aren't attracted to roses unless there are already pests on them to provide a meal, but there are other plants that will bring them to your garden and entice them to stay. By providing shelter, multiple sources of food, and a good place to lay eggs you can create a little ecosystem where the beneficial insects will want to spend their lives and you will have a healthy population of predators ready when the pests arrive. A little bit of messiness is also good, leaving some spent perennials where they aren't noticeable and allowing a few places to become overgrown with weeds increases the number of good guys hanging out in your garden, especially if you give them a safe place to overwinter. They also need water, having bird baths both at ground level and waist height is good for the buggies and if you put a few rocks of different sizes in the bath it will help them to drink without drowning. My most effective companion plants belong to the Aster, Carrot, and Onion families, like daisies, fennel, and chives. I find that I enjoy my rose garden more with the companions I have added, and although I do have occasional pest problems I have never felt the need to spray and I think my roses look just fine. BTW this is also a very effective method in the veggy garden, in fact I started companion planting in my veggy garden and spread it to the rose beds because it worked so well.

Okay, bug at the top is a pillbug or sowbug. See link below. And, you might want to be sure to bookmark UC Davis' great gardening site, as it has a very nice Integrated Pest Management approach (starting with control methods that do the least amount of environmental harm), then progressing to more toxic methods. You can pick and choose what will work best for you. Pillbugs are usually not an issue, unless you're seeing them in really large numbers, as they tend to feed on decaying plant material and are actually beneficial. Slugs & snails- the state of California has been taken over at Biblical proportions by snails, slugs and earwigs due to our very damp and cool temps these last 2 years. You might want to try serious hand picking in the early morning and late evening, to reduce your numbers. Chickens are also good slug/snail management options if you can have them where you live (beware - they may attract coyotes). For me, since I can't have chickens, I've opted to use Sluggo. Works well, is organic (iron phosphate which eventually breaks down and can be absorbed as additional iron by plants). If you're having issues with earwigs as well, then select Sluggo Plus, which is iron phosphate and Spinosid, which is a great option for sucking/chewing insects (Google it). Also organic. Patty S. Here is a link that might be useful: UC IPM: Pillbugs