Have you ever witnessed the life cycle of a ladybug in real life? I've been watching this happen for the past few days and it is amazing! There's a story behind this.

When I was raking leaves during yard clean up in the spring, I noticed an abundance of ladybugs hibernating in the leaf litter. I wanted to get the yard cleaned up but didn't want to disturb the ladybugs too much so I raked all the leaves into a pile by the fence and left it there. Now, the ladybugs are thanking me.

My cherry tree was infested with black aphids. I took the hose to it to blast the aphids off the branches. At that time, I noticed some grey crawling creatures on the branches as well. They were about a half inch in length. Didn't have a clue as to what they were. 

I moved on to the nearest flower bed and noticed a bug infestation on my flowers and could not identify them but also saw the grey crawlers on there as well. 

I got the bugs identified but still had the grey crawlers to ID. I thought that they may have been the young version of the stink bugs that were on my plants. That thought lasted only until I went back to the cherry tree and saw them eating the aphids. I looked up the life cycle of a ladybug and found that all those grey crawling creatures were actually ladybug larvae. Amazing!

I've been watching them change all week. I counted 30 larvae on two branches and there were still more. They are on the cherry tree, my shrubs and my flowers. They are everywhere. Some have developed into the pupa stage already. Those will soon be beautiful little ladybugs.

It has been fascinating to watch. I think it is their way of thanking me for not tossing the leaves into the firepit and burning them like I have done in previous years. I'll never do that again after being witness to this amazing life cycle.

Ladybug larvae taking care of the aphids on the cherry tree.

Ladybug pupa