That's a good story about your nephew, very cute! With the neem, if you decide to use it, please use it as soon as you get the plants home and do not wait to see aphids on the plants. I have used neem (only Safer's Bio-Neem) quite a bit the past 2 years and I have found it to be not very effective at pest control if the pest population has gotten to the stage where colonization has already occurred (aphids and several other pests colonize) or where the pests have already found my plant(s) in large numbers (japanese beetles are a pest that emits a chemical signature that indicates to other beetles miles away that a food source has been found). Where I have found Neem to be very effective is as a preventative on plants I have repeatedly had pest problems with in prior years. I always have Japanese beetles on my grapes, always have slugs on my hostas and always have Mexican bean beetles on my beans etc. Neem prevents the initially small aphid problem from becoming a colony and it prevents the Japanese beetle 'scouts' from ever emitting the signal that says 'hey 10 million of my best friends, I am fat and happy, come join me at the buffet!' In other words I have found Neem is great as a preventative and not so great as a curative. I even found it effective against slugs eating my hostas when I applied it as soon as the spear emerged from the ground. In summary, if you choose to use neem, use it before you see aphids.

jrslick, I would feel guilty killing the ants... will if I have to but I will wait it out and see if I can find another way... I am Muslim and we aren't supposed to kill ants. We can if they become a nuisance though... I will try to spend time watching the ladybugs and see if the ants are attacking them..... glib, I hope that female ladybug lays her eggs on my plants! I juts looked up the lifecycle of ladybugs and I had no idea they have a larvae, then pupa stage before emerging as adult ladybugs... I wonder what that bug is in my third photo... I wonder if they hibernate here? Maybe during the worst of the summer temperatures? jean001a, thank you, though for a "garden" it really is just veggie plants in containers up on our concrete roof. I never knew about the syrphid/flower fly before! It makes me excited to know I at least have some beneficial bugs starting to visit up on my roof garden :) I am going to leave my plants alone for a few days and hope more beneficial bugs come and can eat up the aphids.

I noticed for the first time in 15 years that my clematis plant had little black bugs all over the trellis and old vines, and osme one leaves. They are the size of a tick. I think I finally found out that they are aphids. The odd thing is that after an unusal amount of rain this year, the big fir tree branch hanging over the Clematis, dropped a ton of sap all over my leaves. I have tried soapy water, but that doesn't last too long. Has anyone heard of aphids, in every size, coming from the sap of fir tree? what is the best homemade remedy I can use for both the sap and the aphids. Thanks, Jan

Barb, it really was funny. This is a guy that not much fazes him. Electrical engineer and most things just roll off his back. But, this groundhog stuff is just too much, even for him. He's watched me sow the seeds 3 years ago and baby that lupine through it's first year as a seedling. It was the only one to survive the attacks that first year. I had 8 different ones, all named varieties, except for this unknown blue/purple one that I got in a trade. It bloomed last year with 5 blooms and I was so excited. No one, nothing touched it last year, not even the aphids. My mouth fell open at how huge and beautiful it was this year. The only thing funnier than watching him running across the front yard had to have been the phone call to him at work asking him to stop at the nursery on his way home and pick me up the container of 1500 ladybugs they where holding for me. First words where "WHAT?" I repeated it and he said "are you nuts?" I said "NO" he said "are you drunk? or on drugs? have you taken too many pain meds for your back? have you lost your mind?" I said "No, please go to Mahoney's on your way home and pick up the container of 1500 ladybugs that they are holding for me at the service desk" he said "That's it, I'm taking you to the ER, you have lost your mind. You want me to pick up a container of 1500 ladybugs and put them in the car? and what the crap do I do when they get out of this so called container?" I said, "you are not taking me to the ER, I am not crazy, they are hungry ladybugs and they are waiting for me to feed them with aphids. They won't get out of the container, I promise. They are in a sealed container that has little tiny air holes for them to breath and I have to break the seal and then pull open the top to let them out." He says, "sure, 1500 ladybugs in a container and they won't get out, my wife is nuts and they are going in the trunk." I said "I'm not nuts and don't put them in the trunk. It's 95 degrees outside, the dewpoint is in the 70's and they will be dead by the time you get home if you put them in the trunk." he said "good, then they won't get all over the inside of the car or all over the trunk. You are serious, you want a container of 1500 ladybugs and you want me to pay for them and bring them home to you in the car, right." I said, "Yes I'm serious. please, please, please before I don't have a lupine and the aphids destroy the plant." he said "OK, but ...... they better stay in the container." He brought them home, we followed the instructions, watered the plant first to provide moisture, waited till the sun was going down and then I let them out all over the plant. No escaped ladybugs in the car, they arrived home sitting right beside him on the front seat, and he's been checking them ever since. At least "Chuck" left them behind when he was finished with his meal. They are still busy eating the aphids on the demolished stems of the plant. Fran