Ugly weeds and bug spottings

Bristly Oxtongue

There's a really ugly weed I may have mentioned before that aphids go crazy over. Anyone in their right mind would get rid of these horrid looking aphid infested weeds.  Not me. Since becoming a 'beneficial gardener' I love to have them around. They have to behave themselves though. I only leave a few, preferably in a hidden corner so anyone might think I just hadn't gotten around to pulling them.

Now when I see them I think 'what a feast for my beneficial insects'. The buggy weeds are close to the insectary and today I spotted more ladybugs, a syrphid fly and some parasitic wasps.

I never knew what to call it except the 'horrid weed'. But I discovered this wonderful resource from UC Davis Integrated Pest Management site with a weed identification section that is amazing. It has excellent photos of plants at all stages, from seeds and seedlings, to mature plants, and closeups of leaves and flowers. I found my weed right away from the easy to navigate site. I now know it's a Bristly Oxtongue.

Syrphid fly

The Oxtongue in the photo looks a lot nicer than mine, because mine are covered in sticky aphids. I put up with a few of them though because of the bug spotting today of this syrphid fly, a lovely beneficial isn't it? 

Organic weed control using beautiful groundcovers

Who needs herbicides when you can use beautiful ground covers to crowd them out. Here's an excellent fact sheet from Cornell University regarding the use of ground cover for organic weed control.

A groundcover is a perennial plant used en masse for its visual wallop—and to crowd out weeds. Many are gorgeous perennials that gardeners have used in flower borders for years. Now we’re finding that some are top performers in the "tough sites" department too.
http://www.nysipm.cornell.edu/factsheets/n_gh/groundcovers.pdf

Butterfly Milkweed