During the swarm, a lot of this was going on.  Even though the majority of the ladybugs flew away over the next few days, this picture gives me hope that soon my plants will be crawling with ladybug larvae.  Overall still uncertain about the overall benefits of the ladybugs we put on our plants, but it was a fun and interesting experiment.  Over 95% of the bugs were delivered alive (Hirt's Garden supply, via Amazon). Delivery took about 5 days. Our porch garden was probably not the ideal place to test the benefits of these aphid and other pest predators, as 1500 ladybugs probably need much more food then our paltry garden could provide.

As it warms up during mid-morning, the ladybugs become more active

and start making their way up to the top of the plants.

after a cold night (45 degrees F), the ladybugs are sluggish again

and are catching some morning rays on our anti-bird netting.

Me and my wife have a small and stragley porch garden that is infested with small gnats. These gnats look like they are breeding in the soil of the plants and the plants look like they are suffering as a result.  We've sprayed the soil with fungucide and pesticides, and while temporarily getting rid of the problem, the plants themselves show very negative health.  We decided to try and put live ladybugs on them and see if there was any improvement.  I bought 1500 live ladybugs through amazon and Hirt's garden supply.  A bit of overkill for 4 plants, but my wife likes ladybugs and even if it didn't work, it would be fun to have thousands of ladybugs living on our porch if even for a short while. 

After a night in the refrigerator hibernating, the ladybugs are sluggish, but 

still moving around.  While still slow, I spread the ladybugs around my plants

 at dusk (just after sunset).  

After waking up a little the ladybugs started to get to 

know their new home