I've been practising IPM or Integrated Pest Management for the last 5 years. No sprays at all. Not even safers soap. Even organic methods will kill the "good bugs". So I allow the aphids to come, and that attracts the ladybugs and lacewings and little baby praying mantises in droves. Later the garden is filled with large garden spiders.
I do not get much pest damage except of course for the inevitable Japanese Beetles who particularly like to chew up the Diana rose of sharon.

GGG

Here is a link that might be useful: GW's integrated pest management info page

And the birds! The birds eat insects and caterpillars and feed them to their young.

Don't do anything for aphids. Just squish them off.

Sorry, didn't see this thread as I was rushing to post my own bug issue. (See "Little Black Bugs on Hollies). GGG - I think what you are doing is great, but when all of the new growth on your shrubs is being devoured within hours...well, it's hard not to just grab the first thing in the garage...which is what I did...which was Sevin spray...which apparently did not work. (I thought Sevin would kill anything...) I did see a ladybug or two on the hollies; which was good. (And, of course, I've probably killed THEM now too, which is NOT good...) But, I'd have to have had a SWARM of ladybugs to have killed all of these little black things. There are thousands of them. I am willing to try organic methods, but they confuse me. I don't know what to use that will really work and not sure how to stir up the right concoction anyway. I've checked around the area and haven't seen any places that sell ladybugs (I know there are some mailorder places that do it, but by that time, all of my hollies will have been eaten up).

I wish I could be a believer in IPM. I 'm probably doing something wrong, but I have a goldflame honeysuckle that never blooms ( 7 years now) because of the aphids. They cluster around each bud and eat it up. So this year, I have been diligent with the insecticidal soap. And it is in full bloom for the first time ever.
I don't spray out in my yard. I use ammonia or salt for slugs and squish tent caterpillars. I have an abundance of bugs, lizards and frogs.
I get huge infestations of ladybugs (asian beetles) on my screened in porch each year. Do they eat the aphids on my pansies in containers on the porch? No. Well, a little bit but not enough to control them.

Ladybug larvae eat aphids etc. actually it's usually larvae period that eat these other "bad" bugs. The actual beatles/ladybugs with the shell that fly are not going to consume all that many of them. However, the more of the good insects you have, the more you will have their babies.
Bumblebeez lady beetles are probably finding your porch a great place for multiplying.
IPM does not work the first year. You'll get eaten the first few years, but less as years go by.
I'm suspecting it's not just aphids that are attacking the honeysuckle. Mine bloom constantly and never have a pest. I'm wondering if yours get white fly at first and the honeydew they make is attracting the aphids? I don't always have aphids on the same plants every year, but man, I get white fly on the same stuff every single year. Lacewing larvae will eat the whitefly. It was the lacewings that were hardest to attract to my garden because they succumb to insecticide/pesticide and fertilizer applications so easily. I think the neighborhood didn't have all that many. Having other organic gardeners in your neighborhood really does help attract that balance.

GGG

I have never seen white fly on the honeysuckle. I examine it quite a bit too.That plant is really the only thing I can thing of that has a severe bug problem every year. White fly doesn't seem to be problem in my yard although many years ago I had some on gardenias. Even my tea roses (Mr. Lincolns) bloom nicely without any spraying.