Yay, Bugs!

Every year, I release upwards of 10,000 ladybugs into my garden to fight those pesky little white flies called aphids that munch on my rose bushes.  You can buy ladybugs at the garden store - I get mine at Sloat Garden Center and release a couple thousand of them every month.  It's way easier than crushing the aphids with your fingers or spraying stuff all over the plants.

Turns out, one in five flowering plants are attractive to ladybugs and other beneficial insects.  Sloat has a recipe for planting a "Good Bug Tub" which includes flowers native to California:

Blue bedder penstemon (Penstemon heterophyllus var. purdyii)
Dwarf blue lupine (Lupinus nanus)
Seaside daisy (Erigeron glaucus)
Coyote mint (Monardella villosa)
California poppy (Eschscholzia californica)
Common yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
Tidy tips (Layia platyglossa)

 More details on the Sloat website:  http://sloatgardens.com/custom_garden_design/good_bug_tub.htm