They just keep coming

The other day my neighbor said to me: "The Japanese Beetles haven't been much of a problem this year, have they?" Well, let's see... this is the "bucket of death" -- soapy water that we use to catch the beetles as they fall in their attempts to escape:

This is the number of beetles I caught after just a single pass through my yard today, and all but a couple of them came from 4 of my rose bushes. There must be 200 of them in there (some are below the surface)!

***

I'd say yes, they're a problem this year.

Especially if you're a rose plant, or really like rose plants.

They just keep eating...

Luckily they don't like bamboo, or that would really get me upset.

They can do some unsightly damage.

I know they'll only be here for a few more weeks at most, but it just gets depressing seeing how much they eat.

To cheer myself up, let's look at some of the plants that *I* will be eating sometime in the future!

A baby cantaloupe! So cute and fuzzy. The variety I planted is 'Ambrosia'. I had really good luck with them last year, and the fruit was amazing!

A young cucumber! I don't remember the variety, and I'm too lazy to go look it up right now.

Tomatoes! (I planted late so have only gotten two small ripe ones so far -- but more are coming soon) These are 'Celebrity', which I haven't tried before. So far, so good though.

Delicious basil -- I have five different kinds this year. This is 'Purple Ruffles' and the plants never turn out as purple as the photos on the seed packet. I mostly got green plants, not fully purple as advertised. Perhaps they'll darken over time.

If it's dark leaves that I'm looking for, I need look no further than this beautiful (and hot!) ornamental pepper called 'Black Pearl':

No beetles are eating this guy, that's for sure. I doubt I will be either, as it's really too hot for my tastes. I love the look of it though... it reminds me of some type of candy from my childhood, but I can't quite remember exactly what kind.

I'll take too-hot, candy-looking peppers over rose-eating beetles any day though.