Riddle Me This.....

Gardening is a fickle thing.  There will be plants that you baby, water, and obsess over (hydrangeas, I'm talking to you!), and they'll die every year.  And then there are other plants (weeds, tree saplings, etc.) that pop up everywhere without the tiniest bit of consideration for your gardening desires.  We've been experiencing a pretty extreme drought, with many nearby areas actually enforcing watering bans.  I literally have to laugh as I drive along the highway and see the brown, dead grass littered with brand new weeds growing like there's no tomorrow.  How?

The photographic evidence below is another illustration of my gardening frustrations.  I've battled tiny little beetle bugs all summer long.  At first, they threatened to destroy my perilla and sweet potato vine.  Now they are devouring my Scarlett Runner Bean and Ruby Hyacinth vines  (Which I had earlier hailed in this post).  

See Below:

As if this photo isn't maddening enough, I moved my camera lens a few inches down to capture yet this completely unbothered red bud sapling.  This little guy is one of a dozen that maddeningly continue to pop up in my mulched and Preen-ified flower beds:

Why do the bugs leave these saplings completely alone?  How can they even tell the difference?  I mean they are right next to each other.  Yet another one of gardening's little mysteries.