A Visitor

Last night as I checked on my seedlings before bed, I found a garden visitor amongst the seedlings -

A little lady bug wandering around looking for bad things to eat. I would like to think that there are no bad things to eat in my spare bedroom where the seedlings are growing, but I was delighted and happy to see her just the same. I realize that this is the Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle and that many people think of them as pests because of they invade homes and are stinky when threatened or crushed (very similar to the stink bug invasions everyone seems to be dealing with this year!), but unlike stink bugs, these lady beetles act similarly to their cute little red cousins - they devour aphids!

So the little lady beetle is welcome to spend the rest of the winter protecting my seedlings. If she survives, I'll release her in the spring.