I am a bit skeptical. Ladybugs are one of the insects commonly found in a milkweed patch... I would think if the milkweed aphids or the cardenolides were toxic to the ladybugs that they would have adapted over the years to not eat them.

Other animals have a tolerance for the chemical defense of the milkweed and the monarch, it would not surprise me if ladybugs were one of them.

And there are a huge variations in the amount of the cardenolides from plant to plant, some plants have even have zero... with a corresponding concentration in the critters that are sucking on them.

I can find nothing that supports what "magpye" wrote but one of the web sites, University of Florida, lists the Lady Beetle larvae as a predator of the Milkweed Aphids. I would tend to be very skeptical of anything posted by a totally anonymous person.

Thanks you two. I feel more at ease about it now, and am going to leave the aphids for the ladybugs. It was really fun to see it with my own eyes, after all the work bringing in beneficials. You assume all of the work is going on, Mother Nature keeping everyone in balance, but to see it at work...really special to me.

Joepyeweed, does your moniker mean you grow lots of Joe Pye? I planted my first one this year, and am looking forward to watching it grown. Anything I need to know?

I don't grow as much joepyeweed, as I did in the past. We moved a few years ago and our new home has a lot more shade than our old home. So I've had to alter my plantings accordingly. I still grow joepyeweed, and it tolerates the shade quite well, but I don't have nearly as much of it as I did at the old place.

Did you know that Joe Pye was an native american medicine man? The plant was named after him because he used it as an herbal remedy.

Joepyeweed is technically a wetland plant, it likes wet/moist soil. But it will grow almost anywhere, its often considered one of the pesky aggressive natives. If you give joepyeweed, full sun and wet soil it will grow enormously large, over 10' tall.

But in my yard, in part shade, and average soil it only gets about 5 to 6' tall. And in some places, I cut it back, to keep it from out competing with some adjacent plants. I just cut it back to around 4' tall a couple weeks ago. The cut plants will still bloom, just shorter and later.

Another internet gardener sent me a shorter cultivar to try. Its growing and so far, it is shorter than the others. I imagine that eventually the two will cross pollinate and the seeds won't be the short version...

That's great info on Joe Pye Weed! Our area herb club was having its annual herb sale and had a list of everything they would have for sale. I was going through the list (like a kid going through a toy catalog) and making lists of what I wanted.

There was Joe Pye and I googled it, and it said butterflies loved it, so I put it on the list.

Some of my best plants I find by accident like that.