I have been fighting a losing battle this summer against the Oleander Aphid, which terrorizes my milkweed plants in warm, moist summers like we have had.

Aphids are small insects that can inhabit any number of plants. Aphids essentially use their piercing mouth parts to suck plant juices. Oleander Aphids have a thing for milkweed for some reason.

There are conflicting opinions on what real damage these particular aphids cause to milkweeds. What cannot be debated is the ugly mess that the bright yellowish/orange insects cause. I hate to see them littering one of my favorite types of plant. They multiply quickly and can cover a leaf or stem so completely that you cannot see it.

Who will come to rescue me from my aphids? The cute, lovable, colorful ladybug (often also called the ladybird beetle o...

The bagworm is a unique insect I had heard a lot about but hadn't gotten the opportunity to see in person until I was at Mahoney State Park in Ashland, Nebraska for a University of Nebraska Extension class that trained insect education volunteers. The bagworms were infesting evergreen bushes near the front of Peter Kiewit Lodge. My family returned to Mahoney for a brief vacation several weeks later and my son, Bennett, and I spent even more time observing them up close.

The species I saw at Mahoney was, I believe, the Evergreen Bagworm Moth. The insects live a long period of their lives in a bag that will hang from trees and bushes, looking very much like a pine cone or something similar. The silk these moths use to produce their bags is incredibly strong, very difficult for a human to pull a...

I have had lots of friends and family ask me this summer about a giant wasp terrifying them. It doesn't take very long to figure out that that most times they are talking about the Cicada Killer Wasp, which is likely the largest wasp in North America.

They are solitary wasps, which means they do not live in a hive or nest with others. While the adults feed on nectar, just like other bees and wasps, they get their name from what the females feed their young... cicadas. Cicadas are the large, odd looking insects that make the familiar buzzing noise on summer evenings.

The females capture and paralyze a cicada. Then, they lug the giant cicada, which is even larger than they are, to their underground nest -- a burrow they dug in the ground. Because it is hard for the wasp to fly with that much car...

Most people can fairly easily distinguish between common moths and butterflies. They are closely related and in the same "Order" of insects, Lepidoptera, but there are noticeable differences. Generally speaking, butterflies are more colorful with patterns on their wings and they fly during the day. The most common moths you will see may be more "drab" looking and fly at dusk or at night, although there are very pretty ones you will occasionally notice. Most moths I see during the day (except for the Squash Vine Borer Moth) were peacefully sleeping or resting in tall grass and only fly when disturbed by me while I do yard work.

However, there is one type of butterfly, part of the same "Superfamily" Papilionoidea as common butterflies like Monarchs and Swallowtails, that many people mist...

For this week, I thought I would feature another insect that backyard gardeners may be facing soon. The cucumber beetle is a big nemesis for me. There are two types with very "creative" names - the Striped Cucumber Beetle and the Spotted Cucumber Beetle.

I first discovered them years ago in my garden in my melons. They frequent "curcurbit" plants, which are vining plants like melons, squash and cucumbers.

Not knowing what they were at the time, I quickly phoned my uncle who has raised melons commercially. After a very short explanation of the insect he quickly told me to get that insect out... that it is bad news. 

Sure enough, my melons were soon dead. It was heartbreaking as I always patiently wait for that first ripe melon.

The beetles can nibble on the plants and cause damage, particula...

Several years ago I noticed an attractive, unique looking red moth fluttering around my garden. I stalked it, hoping it would pause long enough for me to get a photo. I spent an entire summer trying to photograph this moth. Eventually, triumphantly, I succeeded!

When the photo was downloaded from my camera I immediately went to work identifying it. The more unique an insect is, the easier and quicker an online search can be. So I had my answer in short order... it was the Squash Vine Borer Moth, the same insect that had been terrorizing my squash and zucchini plants for years, causing them to die at an "early age."

Insects like the Squash Vine Borer Moth are precisely why I first got interested in learning about insects. I wanted to learn what these insects were that began visitin...

One of the first things I investigate when I decide what plants to put in my yard is what type of insect life they will attract. This year I did a fairly significant overhaul of those plants and I was thrilled today to see those changes have already made an impact.

Thanks to a gift from another insect observer, I put a Senna plant in my yard. These plants attract the Sleepy Orange Butterfly, a type of sulphur butterfly. It is the host plant for their caterpillars.

According to what I have read, they are called "Sleepy Orange" because of their relatively slow, "sleepy" style of flight. This picture captures the butterfly in the resting position, but you will see black coloring around the outside of the wings when in flight.

They are found throughout much of the United States but it is unlikel...

You will soon begin seeing these ubiquitous white butterflies - known as the Cabbage White or Imported Cabbageworm. They are found all over the world. Interestingly, they are not native to North America but were introduced here accidentally in the 19th Century and has now spread to far off places like Australia.

These butterflies visit flowers and feed on nectar like any other butterfly, but their caterpillars are more destructive than most. The caterpillar eggs are laid on "cole crops" - like lettuces, kale, broccoli and mustards.

It is quite common for us to find these caterpillars on these "greens" when we bring them in from the garden. The other day I took some recently picked lettuce out of the fridge and there was a caterpillar that had tagged along into the house and was still alive e...

The most common butterfly I have seen this spring is the Red Admiral. This black butterfly with orange accents flies somewhat erratically. It is hard to tell what it is until it lands. The butterfly is more on the small side when you compare it to large butterflies like swallowtails and Monarchs..

It will be present in our area from spring all the way through September or October. There is some debate about whether they can hibernate in regions with cold winters like we have. More likely, the butterflies we see here in the spring have migrated north from warmer climates.

Red Admirals are a good insect to use to bring up the topic of "what is a weed?"

For example, like most people, I view dandelions as a weed. I remove dandelions from my landscape (pulling/digging... no chemicals). However, d...

I have had a few problems with the Web site so I haven't been able to update the blog for a few weeks. My apologies on my absence.

Our insect for this week just recently made its first appearance in my garden - the asparagus beetle. In this case the "insect of the week" will actually be "insects" as there are two types of asparagus beetles that munch on my crop. The "Asparagus Beetle" with cream colored spots on its back and the "Twelve Spotted Asparagus Beetle" that has - believe it or not - twelve black spots on its back.

In the past, I have let these insects hang out in my garden because I think they are beautiful and they have not done a lot of damage to my asparagus. However, last summer the beetles and their larvae were  more numerous than normal and were doing extensive damage to...