Aphids, Ladybirds and Lamiaceae

Many many aphids in the garden this year, it seems more than average. Waiting has been hard, but we’re now started to notice an influx of ladybirds. Nature has her own checks and balances, sometimes you just have to trust and be patient.

The ladybird here is pictured on wood sage (Teucrium scorodonia). It’s growing next to some lemon balm on the tyre terrace, where we’re trying to get the lemon balm established for teas. Interestingly, this lemon balm has virtually no smell / flavour. On checking, I’ve realised they’re both of the family Lamiaceae. I knew that different mints planted together would affect their individual scents, but never seen such a dramatic demonstration. Fascinating stuff. I will need to research what sort of distance would be required between different members of the family to prevent this happening.