It is almost Spring and already some of the beastly little critters are appearing in the garden.
In this photo you can see the new tender shoots have been infested with aphids!
This plant is in my son's garden against a wall with a small trellis for it to climb up - now, firstly, there is not enough space between the wall and the trellis which creates very poor air circulation for the plant and also is restricting the plant growth.
In a nut shell, it is an ideal condition for aphids to come and infest the plant and especially any new shoots which they love to feed on.
However, my son can deal with the aphids by simply blasting them off with a jet of water - they are very soft bodied little critters and will fall off and not be able to climb up again - but what really caught my eye, was the colour of the aphids - they blended in wth the plant and were only visible when one was up close.
Now I am wondering if the colour has anything to do with the sap of the plant that they are sucking the juice from, or is this something that they can do in order to hide them from the insects that enjoy feeding on them such as the lady beetles.
Interesting never the less.