That is a congregation of STINKBUG nymphs. Leave them alone and they will be the bane of your tomato season when they grow up to become pests... They are NOT my friends.... Assassin bugs do NOT have the black bump on their butts. It's how I remember the bad stinkbug nymps. "BAD Bug Black Butt Bump..." And, the final clue: Stinkbug nymphs assemble in congregations, like they're praying in church over whatever they're destroying at the moment. ASSASSIN bugs travel just like their names. Singular. Solitary. You may see a number of them in your grass, but they put distance between themselves as they patrol. They don't hang out as a gang...They're assassins.... I take care of my assassin bugs. As soon as I get home, I'm gonna snatch up that congregation of stinkbug nymphs I noticed just yesterday, sitting on an eggplant, just like yours. I sneak up on them with a plastic bag, and capture them and that one eggplant, all at once... P.S. The eggplant in your post seems to have grown dull. Pick your eggplants when they are very shiny. Pick them regularly to encourage production. The sooner you pick them, the sooner you'll have new blooms. Remember: "A dull eggplant = a bitter eggplant..." Linda This post was edited by gymgirl2 on Tue, Sep 10, 13 at 16:12

The first plant is, I'm pretty sure, an Agave filifera (check the link). The bug-infested pair is a Portulacaria afra (elephant bush), I think, on the left, and I can't really figure out the one on the right from those pictures. Some kind of Kalanchoe, or Crassula? Don't beat yourself up about the bugs. It happens. You'll look more closely next time. As far as whether to separate: I would separate them, on the theory that if one is more easily cured than the other, then I can cut my losses and at least save the easy one. (The counter-argument is that plants that are already stressed by bugs maybe don't need the additional stress of being repotted. Use your best judgment, or wait for other people to jump in here.) I have no experience with the Portulacaria (if that is in fact what it is), though I know they're supposed to be relatively slow growers. So even if you could get a start from a leaf or a tip cutting, it might grow too slowly to be worthwhile (especially since you can probably go back to Lowe's in six weeks and get a brand new one for $3). Here is a link that might be useful: Agave filifera

Take a small container of soapy water to the garden, pick the beetles from the leaves and drop them in the water. Tortoise beetles rarely become a serious pest and there is no need for anything but the most rudimentary of control measures.

Actually, the fruit of Passion Vine is highly edible -- you've just picked it too soon. Another common name for the vine is Wild Apricot, which should give you some idea of the general taste of the ripe fruit. When it's ripe the skin pales to a soft yellow green and the flesh will be quite soft. The ripe seeds inside will be dark. The black bug might be a leaf footed bug. They suck sap, but don't seem to do too much damage in my garden, unlike their relative the squash bug, which pretty much destroys my squash plantings every year. Marty Here is a link that might be useful: Leaf Footed Bug