If the turnout at Magnolia Planation and Gardens’ Ladybug Release this past Saturday is any indication, these tiny speckled red bugs are more popular than SpongeBob, Dora the Explorer, and Sesame Street combined. Hundreds of children lined up at the ladybug booth to grab their own small container filled with several dozen of the little critters and free them in various spots around the gardens. More than 150,000 ladybugs began to take to the skies as squeals and giggles echoed across Magnolia’s grassy picnic fields. The kids weren’t the only happy ones. The ladybugs must have been pretty excited to now have a 60-acre plus lush garden of snacks to enjoy.
With temperatures already reaching the mid-eighties at sunrise and humidity at a Charleston-in-July average of 99 percent, the second most popular booth at the Ladybug Release was the free snow cone stand. But once the kids cooled off with their lime green and grape crushed ices, they were able to check out several other wild creatures.
At the Keeper of the Wild booth, a red-shouldered hawk flapped his wings and took bites out of his fresh squirrel snack while a volunteer explained the small raptor’s feeding and sleeping habits. Reptile Innovations had several types of exotic lizards including a blue-tongued skink and a ball python. Blue crabs tapped around sea anemone and a friendly horseshoe crab in the touch tank at the Grice Marine booth, and as always, the Garden’s resident miniature ponies were happy to come up to the split beam fence and sniffle hands for a cracked corn handout.
Costumes abounded for the ladybug costume contest, with competitors as young as four months showing off their stylish red and black. Outfits ranged from homemade to elaborate and there were several contestants for each category, which included under one, one to two, three to five, and six and older.
For more information about Magnolia Gardens and the Ladybug Release on July 26, visit www.magnoliagardens.com.
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