Thank you for responding, tsmith2579. Before I received your response, I went to my local garden center to inquire. They told me to spray the plant with diluted dish soap and spray it into the soil as well. They assured me it was completely safe to do so. Well, I did as they suggested and the bugs seemed to die as soon as the soapy water him them. I cleaned it up and put fresh soil in the pot and set it out for a sun bath. Breathing a sigh of relief, I really thought it was going to be all good... Well, I can tell you all that what I did is apparently NOT and I repeat NOT what you do. My plant is now dead as a hammer and I am just sick over it. I have since read that maybe it was putting it out in the hot sun that did it in. I am unsure what happened. Hopefully, my misfortune will help someone else to avoid this trauma. -Frank

The pictures of leaf hoppers look like a different shape than my bugs. Mine are quite round. I probably gave the wrong impression when I compared them to mini grasshoppers. Also, I'm noticing that some are brown. Also, when I say they hop, I would say it is like those shooter weeds that shoot seeds when you touch them - the bugs go flying about that far.

Thanks for responding, rhizo. I don't have access to the picture right now. Sometimes I cannot stand the searches on the internet. Everything leads to products and companies. I also found my question of a "couple of years ago" as in June 16, 2011. That is a little more than a couple. At that time "box elder" was what most seemed to say. However, these are round, not oblong. I do think the consensus was box elder, and just do not let them in the house. This year there are so many that I have become more concerned. They are all over the patio and porch. They are everywhere I try to dig. I am still reluctant to spray, except I sprayed Raid on the cement steps trying to stop them from coming into the house. My neighbor's tree is a maple, so the answer may be box elder, but i see no images online that are of round bugs like I have. They are easy to kill on the concrete, and smear a little red. I do not see legs, and they are not spiders. Do any of you have them? Sammy

This year, instead of hand removing the red aphids from my Heliopsis (false sunflower) early on, I left them thinking they didn't do much damage. Wrong! Within a few weeks they were covering the top third to half of every stalk (I have nine plants.) And soon it was clear that they were weakening the plants, some badly. I stared spraying with need and insecticidal soap. They would seem to help at first, but next day they'd be totally back. I repeated, but the same thing. Then I started hosing them with a jet stream. At first it seemed like the same situation -- maybe 80% would get sprayed off, but next day most would be back. But then I started doing it every day. I've been doing it every day for about a week or ten days now. The population is definitely decreasing. I cannot undo the damage they've done -- tiny flowers, shiny sap on many leaves, some limp leaves -- but I'm hoping I can halt them, cut back the worst parts, and they will make some new leaves and flowers. The worst affected plants, I'm not sure about. But I think I'm getting somewhere with the others. Next year: I will preemptively spray with neem. IF they still appear, I will get them off by hand (gloved hand as I'm wimpy about squishing them with bare hands and having my hands turn that rusty blood red!) pronto. I was complacent about them this year because I'd heard an interview with a very experienced rose gardener who does nothing about aphids, says they are there for three weeks and do no damage. I thought, well, these probably do little or no damage too. So wrong! I hope to report back next season.