My new garden visitors

I went to Back-to-School Night at the high school last night so Jeff had to tend the garden. When I got home, he told me that in the course of watering the garden, he'd found two praying mantises. This photo isn't the exact Praying Mantis found in our garden. I borrowed the picture from the above link on wikipedia. However, ours looked just like this one.

This is such great news! I'd been hoping all season to see at least one praying mantis and Jeff found two, each at a different location in the yard. According to wikipedia, these things mate in the fall so maybe that's what they are getting ready for. They are more than welcome to lay their eggs in my yard.

Why am I so excited about these praying mantises? Praying mantises are one of the good guys, bug-wise. They are predatory insects who feed on those nasty bugs who would try to eat my garden. So inviting them into my garden is an organic way to control bugs. My only hope is that they stick around and invite some friends and have some babies. It was very obvious to me that once I put in my garden, the bad bugs showed up. I was only hoping the good guys would eventually realize this was a great place to find a meal. Yippee!!

In my pre-garden days I'd never think I'd be cheering the arrival of new bugs. Now I am enlightened.

Today's Local Weather:
High temp: 85 F
Low temp: 67 F
Morning fog, plentiful sunshine later, possible thunderstorms over night.