I saw a documentary on ants by some famous ant scientist. Ants also secrete a pheremone where they walk and that is how the soldier ants know where to go- to bring food to the queen etc. If you watch ants they form trails- patterns that they all follow. If you put down something to distract them such as lavender oil, black pepper- something with a strong lasting smell they will get to that place and loose the pheremone scent and turn around. You will then see some very confused ants. I don't know about the whole aphid thing but I do know this is fact. So- if you really feel the need to get rid of the ants- experiment with this and see what happens. I tried this when I had an infestation of these tiny ants which happened to be in an external modem for the phone.It was so gross but I still had a hard time killing these little creatures carrying eggs trying to protect them when they were disturbed. So out came the lavender oil and away they went.Anyway I have millions of tiny ants in the garden this year and I wondered if they were somewhere in the chain of disaster I'm experiencing. See my post on bugs, bugs, bugs!

Deebs, I have 5 trees planted, 2 in the back, but it'll be awhile before they get large enough for the birds to nest in them. They used to use my large climbers too. With all the cats they'd have to make them up really high. One is a redwood though hitting close to 20 feet tall now, not as easily climbed so maybe. I can't distinguish really between all the worms on the roses, most eat holes through the buds and eat the roses, others the foliage too. I'd like to think the ones I miss are eatting aphids:) Duchesse, they tried to petition the subdivision owner on the claim they didn't know the ponding basin was going to be there. That's a lie, I went through the same process they did to pick the house I wanted. It was right there on the site plan and the layout. In fact we paid extra to get a larger lot to be sort of behind it, about 20ft. They bought their houses knowing that was behind them, they were all sold at a premium price for that much yard. They wanted the basin filled in. Won't happen, by city law there has to be a basin at each new subdivison for the water to go when it rains to help on flooding. The only activity I ever see at the basin area is a couple times a year they come through with a tractor and take out all the weeds. The basin is home to mud ducks and others and geese off and on all year. I like to hear the honks and bullfrogs over dogs barking anytime. I think some of them walk around and squish them on purpose. I saw one of the neighbors vacuuming them up with one of those shop vacs one year. These are all relatively young people that have never owned a home before. They have no idea what they're suppressing and the price they'll pay. They just want to complain about nature. This was a walnut orchard and home to all the birds in the past. I imagine there are so many toads because nature is responding to the masses of white flies. I imagine over time the number will diminish especially with all the poisons/chemicals they'll put out on their yards and bushes. Sorry, pet rant:) I've admired your roses and gardens Patricia, I'm only resistant because they've already ruined those roses, I can't reclaim that now. It's too late. That one rose in the pics above is Irresistible, a mini. There isn't a bud that doesn't look like that. I found 14 ladybugs on it yesterday. The white looking bush behind it is a floribunda hitting over 5' tall for size on this rose. You can barely see the canes behind the redwood even taller. This was last night and these bushes just don't photo well for me in the sun and not enough light, but it gives you an idea of how large. I did try the flour on some of them yesterday skipping where the ladybugs were. That was almost as much fun as blasting with water, some were startled into flight. Some washed off easier, but others are crammed into every nook and cranny of the buds and leaves and new growth. It irritated the bees, lucky they don't like me:) As far as Murphy's Law goes, I was too pleased with early spring and all the healthy looking bushes. I was last year too and spider mites devastated them about this time. So, yeah you better knock on wood, LOL* I know what you're talking over on the Hover Bees but I think they're called something else, Deebs, still I have all different colored ones. Dark green, light green, stripped not stripped. This one had stripes too, from last year's infestation:) I have a terrible memory so if I find one of these, I kill them. Thanks for all the help, I do appreciate all the advice and thoughts on this. Patricia I may yet resort to that spray.

Yesterday I went out at 10:00 and came in at 6:00. I don't know when the weather has been so nice. I have lady bugs and bees all over my garden. I did not see all three stages of lady bugs, just the red ones, and I did not really examine the roses well since I have cut back to far. Since you are probably a couple of weeks ahead of us, and you do not have enough good bugs, I agree with others, buy the larvae and clean off the aphids. Do you have landscapers who automatically use spray in the lawn? It could be in a product that they use to fertilize, and you would never know it. Have you seen the Earth kind gardens? Is Dr. Stephen George still the horticulturist, and isn't the entire project in Dallas? I forget which Texas University it is, but I met Dr. Stephen George once when he came to Tulsa to speak to our Rose Society. He is a very good resource if you care to study roses. I was very fortunate to have met with him in a rather small group, and I was able to ask him whatever I wanted. His goal at that time (maybe 10 years ago) was to travel the country, and encourage rose growers to develop their own Earth Kind roses in their own states, and encourage them to spread the news about how important it is to maintain a good environment. I am curious as to whether he is affiliated with your university. Now I am curious, and will let you know if I get any answers. Good luck Sammy

I've done this to elephant ears, a Gardenia shrub that had 'em BAD, and various potted plants. The force needed to knock aphids off of EE's with a stream from the hose is often cosmetically damaging to the leaves but they continue to function even if they are somewhat damaged. Ants may bring them back eventually. As I'm sure you know, Ken, aphids like to get on the bottom of leaves and in the crotches of nodes. Knocking them off with water not something you can do with a shower setting, you need a pretty strong stream. So for this reason, I haven't found it to be practical on a large area but works well on plants that I micro-manage. Just knocking a significant amount of aphids off of something like a shrub seems to help a lot, allow the plant to recover faster than the few you missed are sucking it dry. For house plants I use a squirt bottle set on a direct stream setting. This seems to kill them in some way because they do not crawl or walk around after they get knocked off. I sit down and hold each leaf, check both sides, so I would notice if the ones I knocked off were crawling around. I used to be concerned with turning the plants sideways so the critters wouldn't fall into the pot but I'm a lot less anal about it since they don't seem to come back unless/until the ants bring them. Aphids don't seem to show up unaided/unattended.