There is a period of heightened vigilance after bringing in container trees to overwinter in a sunny window. They have been out in nature since spring and nature will come in with them.This year I found a couple of small spiders on my trees who were left to carry on and a cabbage worm chomping on my fig's leaves who was not. To my surprise, almost a month after bringing them in I noticed delicate, white structures on the underside of a Meyer Lemon leaf. They were too perfect, too orderly, too fragile to not call them beautiful.
Some quick research gave them a name - they are the eggs of the Lacewing, a beneficial insect that has a fondness for eating aphids. I have known the name for many years but could not have said if they were pests or beneficial (somewhat arbitrary terms anyway) or what they looked like.You meet the most interesting bugs when you garden...