Thanks everyone!! The bottle bug eyes are large flat glass beads with round beads glued to them. The wings were each metal leaves attached to a 99cent candle holder at a local closeout store. They were flimsily attached with a tack weld so i figured they'd be easy to pull off and repurpose as wings.

It sure is amazing what we get when dealing with nature. Liz, most likely you have a composter in your pots. It's gross looking, but if your plants still look healthy then I wouldnh't worry about it. I know what you guys are dealing with when it comes to ants. They are horrible and have killed lots of potted roses on me in the past. Some very expensive roses. I was dealing with the same situation again this year and was going to look into ant traps. It's bad enough that they do their own damage, but they farm zillions of aphids too! I actually got on the ground once and watched them carry aphids back up into my plants. It's quit fascinating, but it still made me mad. Luckily, I have had lizards come to my rescue this year. Tons of little lizards. When I water they leap out of the pots. I was so happy to see them all because they have gotten the ants under control. Not totally eliminated, but minimal. Most of the lizards have moved on now, but I have a few very obese ones still hanging around. Interestingly I haven't seen any snails. Maybe the lizards got them too. Sandy

I couldn't make out the images very clearly. the damaged leaf, shown, was due to leaf miners. I'd remove that leaf, so that they don't get to multiply. Spraying won't help much with leaf miners. With the others, if you observe no damage, they probably aren't hurting anything. Could you get a better picture up on the skinny bugs? I know it can be hard. My camera will only focus to a point for close ups. George Tahlequah, OK

Everything is bursting into bloom here. The plum trees are in full bloom so the yard smells delicious. The peach tree should start blooming tomorrow. The Mexican plum is budding, so we expect blooms from it in a week or so. The water lilies have new foliage coming out. Lots of wildflowers are in bloom--spring beauties, anemones, bluets, wild garlic, wild onion, bloodroot, henbit, chickweed and others whose name I do not know. Some of the native Chickasaw plums are blooming along a few fencelines in the Thackerville area though not yet blooming along our road a bit further north. Some of the ornamental pears are blooming...either 'Bradfored' or 'Aristocrat' or both. Daffodils are in bloom everywhere, and I saw the first hyacinth blossom yesterday. I haven't seen any redbuds in bloom yet. The iris foliage is up, and lots of herb volunteers like catnip, lemon balm, chamomile, are up. Some of the chamomile plants are on the verge of blooming. The chives are just a handful of days away from blooming. A lot of the trees are getting that fuzzy look you notice from a distance when they're about to bloom or start leafing out. All the winter weeds are growing like mad and we're going to mow them down tomorrow. Down near the river, some of the native willows are leafing out already. The native blackberries have leafed out but haven't bloomed yet. We have honeybees and lady bugs all over the place, and a few butterflies and moths. Tons of birds are everywhere. Lots of frog activity around the ponds. Spring-like weather is here, but I still expect we'll have another freezing night or two at the very least, although I wish we wouldn't. Spring officially arrives in a few days, but the plants are acting like it's already here. Unfortunately, the bermuda grass here is beginning to green up too. Dawn