Insects Galore!

I was weeding my way around the kitchen garden beds when I arrived at my asparagus. One of the plants had lost almost all of its beautiful, ferny leaves and another was on its way with many of them brown and broken. Looking closer I saw fat little gray larvae with black heads on several of the plants. I knew they were bad, probably asparagus beetle larva, and rushed to my computer to confirm and learn how to destroy. This site told me everything I needed to know and showed pictures of the eggs. When I went back outside with my glass of soapy water, I found them on the plants as well. I was carefully inspecting my asparagus, continuing my way through its beds, when I found three black and orange stink bugs. Back inside where I learned from this site that they needed to go as well because they sucked the juice from tender, young plants. Unfortunately, by the time I finished, they had moved on, but I did find six of them mating in pairs on my soon-to-be lavender flowers. Let's just say their moment was ruined.

After all of that excitement, I saw several strange bee-like creatures: hairy, with very long proboscis ,flying around, occassionally landing on the ground for a second or two wriggling their bottoms and then taking off again. They didn't seem to mind me, and frequently landed pretty close. This time, my book, Audobon's Insect Guide, had the answer. It's a Large Bee Fly. I found some pictures on this site although none look exactly like mine. Apparently, they are important pollinators and lay their eggs, which become parasitic larva, in the entry to the homes of solitary bees. When my new camera arrives, that's right new camera I will no longer inflict bad smartphone images on you, I'll try to get some shots. Hopefully, they'll stick around.