Rancho Mirage — It was ladies day at Sunnylands on Sunday, where hundreds of kids and adults lined up for small paper cups full of ladybugs to release into the estate's gardens.
“Bugs in the Garden” marked the first family oriented educational event held at Sunnylands since the near 200-acre estate, owned by the late Walter and Leonore Annenberg, opened to the public in March.
The free daylong event included arts and crafts, interactive webcasts, games and storytelling — all centered around the ladybug.
“We saw this as an opportunity to provide a science lesson,” Sunnylands spokeswoman Susan Davis said.
“Each year we will add new programs so people can see what is available,” said Michaeleen Gallagher, who works with education programs at Sunnylands.
Sunnylands prides itself on being eco-friendly, and ladybugs are a good example, Davis said.
The tiny red bugs with black spots on their backs eat aphids, making them a natural pesticide, Gallagher said.
About a million ladybugs have been released at the estate since March, including the more than 200,000 set free on Sunday.
“It's a lot,” 5-year-old Savannah King of Palm Desert said, looking at the small paper cup she was carrying, filled with ladybugs, many of which started crawling up her arms.
“I did not want that,” she said with a laugh, adding the ladybug is one of her favorite insects.
Her mother, Nicole King, thought the event was a good way for Savannah to learn more about the outdoors.
“She's just so into anything nature right now,” King said.
For Christine Caldwell, the event was a way to connect with her deceased mother.
Caldwell's husband was in the military and when the family moved to Europe, her mother wrote a note to her grandchildren saying, “I wish I was a ladybug so I could get into your suitcase. Then when you open the suitcase I would fly out and turn back into Grandma.”
After she died in 1996, the family started seeing ladybugs turn up in all kinds of places, such as hospitals when a baby was born into the family, giving a sense that her mother was there.
Sunday was also Christine Caldwell's birthday, so the ladybug event brought some added warmth to her day, she said.
Sherry Barkas covers the city of Palm Desert for The Desert Sun. She can be reached at sherry.barkas@thedesertsun.com or (760) 778-4694.
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