Numbers seemed to be pretty good in the spring but I've seen very few since. It has been a tough year for insects. With the heatwave all my aphids suddenly disapeared and they haven't come back. With nothing to feed on, ladybirds wouldn't survive.
Very few ladybirds in my garden this year, in fact very few insects in general, especially the Hempitera which are notable by their absence (we usually have loads!). As others have pointed out very few greenfly too, although plenty of blackfly which the ants have been farming as usual.
Re the lilly bugs - I found Neem Oil to be very effective on them this year. One treatment was all it took and the adults and larvae all died within a few hours. Its the first year with actual complete lilly flowers that I can remember.
I’ve had quite a few ladybirds plus ladybird larvae which seemed to like my jasmine plant before becoming adult ladybirds - it was covered in them. Like other posters, I had quite a lot of lily beetles, but squished them whenever I saw them. I had a lot of aphids on the lupins, but other plants not so much this year.
They were around earlier in the season, but seen very few recently.
I can only guess it's a lack of aphids due to the drought. Not many aphids in my garden at all - they are on the pot plants that get watered daily, but my roses in beds (which are much less frequently watered) are completely devoid of aphids - even the fresh shoots where I summer-pruned.
Not as many ladybirds as last year but still a decent amount although the species have been a lot more varied this year. Fortunately they laid eggs on my aphid infested green gage tree and the larvae made short work of them after they hatched 😊
It has been a good year for ladybirds in the garden here with particularly high numbers about in the spring. Had been a while since I saw some more recently but noticed a few on the tansy plants that are blooming at the moment yesterday.
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Re the lilly bugs - I found Neem Oil to be very effective on them this year. One treatment was all it took and the adults and larvae all died within a few hours. Its the first year with actual complete lilly flowers that I can remember.
Like other posters, I had quite a lot of lily beetles, but squished them whenever I saw them. I had a lot of aphids on the lupins, but other plants not so much this year.
I can only guess it's a lack of aphids due to the drought. Not many aphids in my garden at all - they are on the pot plants that get watered daily, but my roses in beds (which are much less frequently watered) are completely devoid of aphids - even the fresh shoots where I summer-pruned.