Ladybug Gardens

Flower gardeners also like to have ladybugs in their gardens.  Why?

Because these pretty bugs will eat aphids, which are a menace to the flowers.  Another bug that can protect the flowers from pests is the praying mantis.  Gardners can order them too, through a nursery, seed catalog, or over the Internet. 

Praying mantises will eat most of the crop-damaging insects and keep your garden fairly bug-free.  As a matter of fact, if a praying mantis gets hungry enough, it will also eat its own babies and spouse!  Female praying mantises have been known to eat the head right off their men! 

Curiously, this doesn’t kill the unlucky bug.  Because of the way insect bodies work, they can survive without heads for some time, the only problem is that without a mouth, they can no longer eat and eventually die of starvation.  So, when someone warns you not to lose your head, just think what it might mean for a bug like the praying mantis!