Invasive plants and invasive insects: purple loosestrife, lily leaf Asian lily beetle. You could probably name far too many of these pests, but the ones that really torment me in the summer are the Japanese beetles. Yes, some people might say they’re attractive, but since I usually find them on a skeletonized leaf, I don’t find them attractive at all.

Around our place, this beetle has many favorite foods. It particularly likes and nearly defoliates one wild shrub that grows around here, as well as pussywillow, streamco willow and my curlicue willow. Every evening, I may find four or five beetles per leaf. Into the jar of soapy water they go.

They like the ferns growing wild in the circle of the driveway and they are very, very fond of our raspberries. Strangely, they don’t seem to enjoy the roses quite as much as they do the malva, hibiscus, hollyhocks, amalanchier, corn and string beans.

From the above list, you can see that our yard is a real beetle attractor. I go out every day during July and August. I carry around a large jar about one-third filled with soapy water. On top of the jar I’ve taped the top portion of a gallon milk jug with the bottom portion cut out, forming a funnel to channel the beetles into the water below. My norm is about 500 beetles a day.

Often on my forays around the yard, I’ve asked myself what possible good these beetles serve. I’ve never seen a bird take one. One spring day I was looking at a large nest of tent caterpillars, up quite high in a tree. I was wondering how I was going to cut the branch down so I could get rid of the leaf devouring critters. Suddenly, a flash of orange and black! A male northern Baltimore oriole had arrived. It feasted for several minutes on the tent caterpillars. After that, I left the tent caterpillars alone. If an oriole will eat them, then they have a purpose in my yard.

But those Japanese beetles. What good are they? I stare at my poor pussy willow and wonder if it will survive the attack. Every leaf is filled with holes and many are nothing but rapidly browning shreds. And look at the string beans! Every upper leaf is so chewed that a fat string bean could fit through it. The hollyhocks haven’t flowered in weeks the beetles have eaten every bud.

Suddenly, a movement on the ground, just where I was about to put my foot so that I could reach up higher to get another beetle. Oh, a garter snake! A big one. Look at those lovely colors. I never would have seen it if I hadn’t been out on beetle patrol. Its tongue flicks out rapidly. Look at those eyes! I wonder what it’s been finding to eat down here under the ferns. Could it catch a beetle? Hmmm.

The snake moves on and so do I. There are still another hundred beetles to get tonight. What’s this on the leaf? Oh, it’s one of those lovely little silvery brown frogs. This one is no bigger than the nail on my little finger. It sits so still on its leaf. It’s at least four feet off the ground. How ever does it get up this high? Its little eyes blink once, but otherwise it never moves. A real beauty of nature hiding here on the leaf of a shrub.

One night on beetle patrol, I saw not one, but a pair of these tiny frogs. They sat facing each other, one moving its head just a fraction of an inch as they stared. What conversation were they having? Was mating the topic? I watched for several minutes but they made no other move. The next night, I found one of the frogs in the same location. Perhaps the leaf is his territory and the other had intruded.

When I think about the little frogs I’ve encountered, the snakes sliding silently along the ground and the hummingbird darting past me on its way to the monarda that grows across the path from the amalanchier, I wonder if perhaps the beetles do have some purpose in my yard.

Because I’m out hunting them down, I’m in the right place at the right time to see these miracles of nature. I’ll have to think more kindly of those shiny imported pests. But I’ll still keep the soapy water close at hand.

By Susan M. Poirier, Master Gardener