Infested

So as soon as I said something about the heat, the heat wave broke. Not entirely, mind you, God forbid we should be comfortable, but it's not nearly as hot, and the rain storms keep everything a little cooler. So today we're laying low for the heat to dissipate so we can really whip the garden back into shape tomorrow. The weeds have grown as much as the plants, as I've mentioned, and really need to be managed. But they are not the infestation I'm worried about. What worries me are these guys:

Japanese Beetles are beautiful little bastards with iridescent green and brown exoskeletons. They have voracious appetites and a serious taste for my roses. Last year I had to aggressively check for them and kill them, but I could do it with a good squish to them one by one. This year, I have been noticing more and more of them eating the buds before they can even flower.

I thought things had gotten pretty bad when, yesterday, I went out and saw about a dozen of them on each of my plants, paired off and mating away like teenagers after prom. I grabbed a little bowl, filled it with soapy water and cut off the stems, drowning them immediately. Some got away.

Today I came out to find both my Winnipeg Parks and Love and Peace roses covered in Japanese beetles. They were mating and eating their way all over it.

"We're going to need a bigger bucket."

I sacrificed a few WP buds on the altar of prevention, but I couldn't do it to the Love and Peace rose, it's just too magnificent to do that to. So I picked off those I could, and drowned them.

Then for the first time, I turned around and saw the wild grape vine that's grown over the fence.  Even though it's really a weed, we've kept it over the years because in the autumn it turns a vibrant red and looks really pretty. It was decimated*. I could hear buzzing coming from inside. Dozens of Japanese beetle couples, getting it on all at once, occasionally swarming out to eat my roses when they were bored.

I was beyond mad.

The grape vine must die.

And then I saw these giant relatives of the Japanese Beetle also copulating on the bottom of the vine (not my picture)

These guys are about two inches long, and harmless. But they'll scare the shit out of you if you're looking for half inch long bugs and suddenly see them. Unfortunately, they went into the bin with the grape vine and all the Japanese Beetles who were too absorbed in their afterglow to fly off.

Now before anyone accuses me of being insensitive to the little green sons of bitches that eat my roses, you should know that as pretty as they are Japanese Beetles are an invasive species. They aren't supposed to be here. I try to leave all of the other bugs in my garden alone, but these guys take much more than their share.

So here's hoping that's the end of that. With the Mother Ship gone, I have my hopes that they'll seek easier gardens, and not just stay and devour my beans and roses. I'll keep you posted.

Here's a pretty rose until then:

*A note on the word 'decimated'. The classicist in me can't help but share that the word decimated comes from a wild and zany practice of the Roman army. If a member of your unit deserted, you and all your buddies would be rounded up for decimation. See the "dec-" in there, which you may know means ten? Well the officers would go down the line and count out "1, 2, 3, 4,..." until they reached the tenth man, and kill him, all the way down the line. My classics professor, Yurie Hong, said she could just imagine the men lining up for such a practice, trying to count out from the end of the line and trying to stay out of that tenth spot.