I dunno I just work here. This week I have mostly been eating Death Stars. If you have grown morning glories you know how indiscriminate they are to wreath and coil around as they grow, I had expected to be fighting off and hacking at it to leave the Mary J alone, but to my surprise...... it's as if they have an understanding, leaving it alone. The ladybug I found outside in the cold a few weeks back happened to be a female, I have only seen 1 larvae so far which is now a light orange ladybug with spots and all. From what I read up on lady beetles they dump eggs and are done with it and can lay several dozen at a time. I could have sworn she and her baby were working in tandem though I had seen them one morning on the vines, they seemed quite content to live here, the tent being wide open for long periods, and they seemed uninterested in flying anywhere. Seems odd she only had 1 beetle baby though, maybe I just haven't seen more than 2 at a time. I love them though, efficient little Duracell terminators that never cease, apparently, the main breed that many garden stores sell is a species prone to flying away. Thank you Terrance for all your diligent work in helping to keep the garden clean and pest-free. It turns out, the ladybug isn’t named for any particular female trait it possesses. Rather, it is named for a specific lady- the Virgin Mary. Why? This isn’t precisely known. One of the leading theories is that the name came about as a result of the ladybug’s bright red shell, which is not too dissimilar from the red cloak Mary is often pictured wearing in biblical paintings. There’s also an old European legend that states that farmers many hundreds of years ago prayed to the Virgin Mary asking for help to save them from the pests devouring their crops and in return she sent a swarm of tiny beetles bearing her trademark coat to eat them. In truth, ladybugs are known to dine almost exclusively on insects we humans consider pests, like aphids, something old-timey farmers without pesticides or other easy means of keeping their crops protected from destructive creatures were no doubt incredibly thankful for. Since back in those days it was common to thank God for almost any good fortune, it’s not hard to see how this legend popped up, and perhaps this gratefulness really did contribute to the name.