We had a large hatch maybe 20 years ago - trying to figure out the time frame & that sounds about right. The sound was enough to drive you crazy - they were in the woods behind our place - a few made it up into the yard.
During that hatch, when I was hiking in the mountains, there were patchy areas with the cicadas & their non-stop, maddening noise .... it was a relief to hike out of those areas & into some quiet, peaceful woods.
Speaking of ‘bugs’, our Japanese beetle problem appears to be over - haven’t seen any for maybe 2 weeks. They were definitely ‘lighter’ this year than last. Last year, they about ate my zinnias up before I figured out what to do without poisoning the blooms .... they ate my mom’s knockout roses down to virtually bare branches. This year, I didn’t spray the rose foliage, just kept an eye out. Used a pyrethrin Japanese beetle spray to ‘spot shot’ them on the zinnias with no harm to any of the pollenators.
I’m getting ready to plant another crop of zinnias for fall blooms - some cactus & candy stripe ones. They should be gorgeous.
Aside from the Zahara Zinnias I grew on purpose, mine are all a mish-mash mix of colors, and mostly the HUGE ones, good for cutting. I used up whatever seed I had on hand.
Mom and a few other relatives are coming over on Wednesday, so I am not harvesting anything until then so they have plenty to choose from if they want to make bouquets. I’m going to have Mom harvest some potatoes which should make her happy and she LOVES picking beans, so I’m going to let her have at that, too, LOL! Still don’t have tomatoes to share, but it’s going to be UGLY when they all ripen on me at once!
Had our FIRST red slicers (three) from the garden today; ‘Grandma’s Favorite.’ We had the first BLTs of the season for supper tonight and this afternoon I made ‘Chicken Zoodle Soup’ from scratch. Both were really good, if I do say so myself. ;)