Ladybugs in the Central Garden

Releasing ladybugs on the azaleas at the Getty Center

Each year we release ladybugs on the jacaranda trees and azaleas to eat aphids during the spring months. We buy them from insectaries that sell them by the thousands.

We put water on the foliage before releasing them. When they emerge from their cold-storage sleep, they’re thirsty and will stay around and eat aphids if they get a drink of water. They’ll also lay eggs, which will hatch into hungry larvae that eat aphids as well.

Curious to learn more about how we care for our gardens? Visit this Friday, May 7, for special “Getty Gardener’s Perspective” tours led by our horticulture staff to celebrate National Public Gardens Day. The tours start at 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. at the Getty Center, and at 11:00 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. at the Getty Villa.

We’re also inviting you to upload photos of the Getty’s gardens to our Flickr group. We’ll publish several on this blog next week.

Releasing ladybugs on the azaleas at the Getty Center

 
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3 comments so far

  1. Frank Maggi

    May 8th, 2010 at 3:08 pm

    Michael, my wife and I were fortunate enough to catch one of your garden tours at the Villa Friday. We had deliberately re-arranged work schedules on the hope that it would be qualitatively different than the usual garden tour. It was more than we hoped for. Thanks.

    I asked you how they kept the water clear in the water features and you mentioned some substance applied at a rate of 2 parts per million. We tried to write it down before the memory vanished in the ether. Must not have been fast enough. We wrote down peroxi…sulfide. All my Googling has come up blank. If you see this, I’d appreciate the name again. Thanks.

  2. Michael DeHart

    May 10th, 2010 at 12:24 pm

    Hi Frank — Thanks for coming to the tour. The full name is Potassium peroxymonosulphate. Searching on the web for pool maintenance and the chemical name will bring up web pages with specific instructions for using the product in a pool/spa situation.

  3. Deborah

    August 18th, 2010 at 7:25 pm

    Speaking of insects, why are there so many bees around the Henry Moore sculpture by the tram? Today they were buzzing around the reflection pool that the sculpture sits in. It’s nice to see bees with all the talk of them being scarce but unusual to see so many.

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