On Your Knees!

 The praying mantis glared at me.

It was not afraid of me, my camera, or my jockeying around to get a better position.

When I captured the image (below) last fall in a neighbor's garden, I decided that in 2009, I would get my very own praying mantis.

Or maybe dozens of them. 

Praying mantises, you see, help control aphids, thrips, flies, whiteflies, mosquitoes, and grubs. They also make great portraits.

So, how do you get your very own praying mantis? You can order egg cases online (just Google "praying mantis egg cases") or  buy them at a local nursery.  Also, you can usually find them in the gardening section of your favorite hardware store.

You'll get a finely meshed net bag.   You hang it in a tree or bush by threading a small branch through the mesh or by nailing the bag to the branch.  The eggs will hatch three weeks after temperatures reach 70 degrees. The tiny mantises will exit through the holes and scatter into the nearby foliage. 

We purchased our bag (well, two bags) today in the gardening section of Home Depot. The egg cases are refrigerated to avoid unwanted hatching in the store.  Each bag contains one egg case, and each egg case will yield about 200 mantises, the instruction indicate. The insects will mature in 4 to 6 months.  The female will deposit from one to 5 egg cases before winter. With the first freeze, the adults die. The egg cases hatch in the spring. 

Then the cycle begins again.

Now, we wait. Soon, with any luck, we'll have scores of praying mantises.

Life is good!