

The Green Spot 



"The Qeranium Specialists" 



Wholesale Growers 



2 1/2" Geraniums (year round) 



4" Pre-finished Geraniums 



2 1/2" Ivy Geraniums & Fuchsia 



Martha Washington Geraniums 



Spring Hanging Baskets, Lilies/Bulbs 



Azaleas, Cyclamen, Poinsettias, Foliage 



JOHN B. CARPENTER, President 

 ROBERT J. CARPENTER. General Manager 



603/659-3391 



220 SOUTH MAIN STREET 



NEWMARKET, NH 03857 



Newton Greenhouse 



32 Amesbury Road, Newton, NH 03858 

 ' 603-382-5289 



Quality Plants 

 green ana flowering 



from 3" to 10" pots 



Holiday, bedding plants, & dish gardens 



year round cut snaps. 



cut tulips and iris in season, 



gloxinias and African violets 



Licensed propagator 

 of Mikkelsen New Guinea Impatiens 



-0^ 



THE APHID 



A Day in the Life... 



I'm an aphid. Green Peach they call me. Its 8:15 

 am. For an hour now, I've been contentedly suck- 

 ing away at the juices of the leaf upon which I 

 sit. Ive stopped eating for the moment though. I 

 hear this strange tapping sound on the leaf 

 above me. The smell of alarm is strong in the 

 air — a ladybug is about. It s making me nervous, 

 for the ants which protect me — for the mere 

 price of my honeydew — are not to be found for 

 the time being. It's just me and my family — alone 

 and in grave danger. 



I can see the ladybug now. She jumped down 

 to our leaf from the one above. She's looking at 

 my sister. She takes her. My sister gives me one 

 last look. Her mouth forms an O' of terror and 

 surprise. As fast as it began, its over. 



The ladybug pauses to lay some eggs, all the 

 while looking at my brother. A look of adoration? 

 I think not. 



lust as I begin to slip quietly away, I hear a 

 humming sound — like rapidly beating wings. My 

 terrified mother looks up and I follow her 

 shocked stare. What I see makes me stop in my 

 tracks, it's a parasitic wasp — not much bigger 

 than I, but deadly all the same. She's landed 

 next to Mom, but — I can tell — it s my younger 

 brother she wants. She gets him too. labbed him 

 with her ovipositor. Ouch! That must have hurt. 



Oh, no — I'm next! The ladybug and the wasp 

 are bickering over who will have me first. Much 

 to my dismay, I realize there's no place to ran, 

 no place to hide. Surely I'm a goner. Now re- 

 signed to accept my fate, I turn to kiss my 

 (expletive) good-bye. 



Suddenly the leaf darkens. What's happening? 

 Night? No, it's still early. Is it a shadow? A hu- 

 man shadow? Yes — it's the grower! And he's got 

 the sprayer. It's my lucky day. The ladybug and 

 wasp see him too. They try to flee, but spray 

 suddenly covers all of us. 



The ladybug is belly-up; the wasp, an un- 

 sightly heap: neither any longer a threat. Me? 

 I'm okay. The spray doesn't bother me. I'm resis- 

 tant. 



1 am Aphid; I am invincible; I am free to feed 

 another day. Man, I wish those ants would get 

 back here though. 



Mike Ckerim, author of this short, off-season anthro- 

 pomorphic drama, is from The Green Spot. Ltd.. a New 

 Hampshire company supplying biological pest control agents 

 and associated pest and disease management supplies 

 nationwide He can be reached at 603-942-8925. 



October & November 1995 



