Did you get the underside of the leaves? Many of us just use a good strong spraying of water.

I have found that soap works on some. Others just need a dose of bayer 3in1.

They were all on the upper part of the leaves and in between. I heard spraying with water will keep them in check but will that really stop them from coming back? They can simply just crawl back up on the plant.

No, they don't crawl back up because their mouth is attached to the plant tissue and the jet of water rips it off. You'll need to spray your plants with water for several days in a row to get the aphids under control then a couple times a week for the remainder of the season.

Since they don't really have any supportive body structure, water actually smushes them if the stream is strong enough. And it should be a good solid hosing down, not a delicate spray. You can also use your fingers to do the same on larger stems or flower buds. And I'd encourage you to leave a portion of your garden wild or native or unkempt to attract both pollinators and beneficials. And look into a small pond to attract other wildlife like frogs and dragonflies, which will then attract other wildlife like birds,

You need to try and get the ecology of your garden more in balance cuz something is really off. I use no pesticides in my garden, I am surrounded by weeds and native plants all manner of wildlife call home, only fertilize planted containers and rarely ever see an aphid.

My rock garden, where my yarrow and sedum is, is not even 15 ft away from my pond. We get a lot of birds and sometimes frogs but never lady bugs, praying mantis, and rarely ever dragon flies. I don’t spray horticultural oil very often either so it’s not even that thats repelling beneficials.

I had an aphid infestation on the roses in my greenhouse. Aphids are the tribbles of the insect world. I'm sure they are born pregnant. I used a light spray of insecticidal soap. Had to spray daily for the first week, but now I almost never see any.

Aphids don't bother me. I have far worse things to worry about. I smoosh them with my fingers.

These are rose cuttings that are just getting started and they were sucking the life out of them, so yes, I worry about them.

SeniorBalloon, greenhouse culture is quite different from an open garden. Aphids generally are easy to deal with outdoors as detailed above.

Agreed. I have many roses in the garden and they generally either can outgrow any aphid attack or are taken care of by other predators, one of them being me. :o) . But in a few cases it's nice to know w few squirts of the insecticidal soap can take care of them.

I have always thought that insecticidal soap was considered a good method for controlling aphids. I remember back when Safr was the leading brand, though I didn't see them at Home Depot when I recently needed some. Is it the general thought that it should not be used?

If some aphids are missed on initial horticultural oil spraying (i.e. on the undersides of leaves), it won't take long for them to repopulate. If this particular strain is somehow resistant to the oil, other control means will be necessary. I find that while knocking down most of an infestation with a water spray helps, followup with a low toxicity pesticide will help kill off the remainder.

Horticultural soap is a useful tool; just be careful when you apply it and note that 1) it may not kill aphid eggs, and 2) it may damage tender/susceptible foliage.

http://www.ladybug.uconn.edu/FactSheets/insecticidal-soaps.php

Incidentally, an insect infestation doesn't mean that the ecology of one's garden is out of whack - there are lots of variables that can result in abundant pests (for instance, many of us have to deal with Japanese beetles every year, regardless of whether we limit use of pesticides to spare beneficial bugs).

*a person who confidently asserts "Bugs? Not in my garden!" often winds up being bitten the hardest. ;)