Eek!

That's me holding a container of live ladybugs - it's out of focus because I'm so nervous my hands are shaking :) Last year the pecan tree was just eaten alive by aphids, so this year I thought I'd be pro-active and buy ladybugs to eat the aphids before the aphids could eat the tree. You can buy them at the hardware store where they're kept in the refrigerator. The cold supposedly makes them dormant, but mine seemed pretty lively. You're supposed to first water the area where you want them, then place them there at dusk. I was hoping my sister could help blind-as-a-bat me do this, but she couldn't, thus me being nervous. I thought I'd sprinkle a few of them under the rose bush, then put most of them under the pecan tree, but the whole ball of straw they were sitting on fell out under the rose bush and I had to pick it up and carry it over to the pecan tree - yikes! I hope all goes well.