Yeah it is hatching time for all the grubs. You may want to consider treating your yard and soil with Milky Spore to eliminate the grubs if you have a serious infestation of them. If you kill the grubs then the damage done by the beetles is markedly reduced. Organic control will be difficult once they hatch as most organic controls are directed at killing the grubs (Milky Spore and parasitic nematodes). After hatch we are left with row covers, scouting and hand picking them, Pyrethrin-based insecticides, and Neem Oil all of which are only marginally effective. Google Japanese Beetles controls for all the details. Dave

northerner_on, thanks so much for the helpful comments. I'll let it go and see what it does (what we think is ech) but I don't want any of them in back. Yes, I'm certain #2 is some type of aster. I was just excited to see the new color, then got my BS catalog and they have actually 3 similar there, was a color breakthrough. So it's a spinoff from one of those getting a seed mixed into the Purple Dome no doubt. From the brightness of the pink, it could be Alma Potschke but also September Ruby or Pink Dome. Pink D would be most likely since I bought the P Dome but I'll never know for sure. It doesn't matter. What does matter is that I learn what to look for when they emerge and try to work them into nicer shapes. They're supposed to be vaselike which is more pleasing to me plus you can pinch them back for more blooms. These two have ugly shapes which I think is due to damage I don't think I did, chemical damage possible from prior years but not last or this year. My neighbor offered to do something with the stump for me; his idea was to make a sitting bench out of it. I generally don't like stumps but couldn't afford the price to have it chipped out. If I let him do his thing then get a chance to get it ground out cheap, you know that wouldn't play well. Those flowers with the rose are hosta, not to worry. I've let those 3 hosta plants get way too big but it's a nice payoff in the fall with all those blooms. What you don't see in there are lamium I'm going to start pulling because it takes over. I had volunteer I thought it was campanula or Ladybells come up in several places. That bent and when horizontal it shoots up lots more bloom stalks. Someone here remarked about it and it happened with me. I thought they were "good" plants, had unsuccessfully tried to grow some variety of them from seeds. So maybe I do have the wild one and should get rid of it but I can assure you I have wild stuff that's much worse :-( Yes, my neighbor's Sweet Autumn is wonderful and the scent now competes with the Honeybell blooms on my hosta. It's been there for years but I can tell you really need a strong support for it. Rozanne flowers until our first hard frost (close to the ground they can go a little longer sometimes). Yes, I know you divide hosta in the spring, was just wondered if my physical strength was up to it other than slice off pieces. The ones with the purple blooms need to be dug up and cut apart; I doubt I can do that; they're packed. My poor raspberries; I've done the best I can do with them for now. They've given me the most satisfaction from we'ing yet. And it looks pathetic there. Maybe if they take off and the pile can be kept neater and under control, it will look better. That whole area needs mulched for raspberries. The leaf mold under all that recent junk from former years should make them happy I would think. I had a terrible time getting the chicken wire cage pried out; when they took down the tree, it mashed the wire all around. That pink rose is vicious; maybe I've let it go too long badly sited for a vigorous climber that the jury is out whether canes survive in our zone. The only ones that survive for me are ones that hug the ground. It's a pretty one and blooms all summer; actually there are a pair of them in there, grew them from bands I ordered on the web which was all I could get of that one. One lady in Kentucky and DH built the most gorgeous deck with pergola, and then have this rose climbing two stories. They were so beautiful at the top of that pergola. Somewhere else in the south, they let one climb a tree, it went up 30' high or more. Weird.

I am at a loss as to where to go,we have a large swarm of bugs similar to teds except black, some have a red spot on their back, some just have a red out line, that makes it resemble a tuxedo.I am new to the area, when the warm weather first arrived it was swarms of lady bugs trying to get in. that did not bother me except that they would die, so I scooped them back out side as much as I could. I just do not know what these are . thank you Gail

I was thinking something smaller than that, Bean. I have very, very tiny bugs in my pond that persist even after IÂve killed the mosquito larvae with Dunks. I donÂt know what they are, but I was thinking maybe it was what you had, but itÂs not. Mine are WAY smaller. Since yours are long, do/did they "squiggle" around? ThatÂs what mosquito larvae do! If thatÂs not what they are, I donÂt have any other ideas. But I see two different things there. Since you have Picasa, if you crop one of the pics to get a really, really closeup, might it help? Slugs lay eggs that look like tiny clear round beads, usually on the undersides of leaves or on the soil surface. They wouldnÂt have been in waterÂbut I agree that a few of them look like very small slugs! Maybe with the pics somebody else will have some ideas. IÂd like to know what mine are too, but theyÂre way to tiny to get a picture of. But whatever they are, they donÂt seem to do any damage to anythingÂor to evolve into anything! Skybird