Invite those beneficial insects to the garden!

Over ten years ago, when we decided to dedicate a section of our garden to a vegetable patch, I was determined to grow only vegetables that we could eat. This approach turned out to be my first major mistake in gardening.

As a beginner gardener, I struggled to control pests and believed that pesticides were my only solution. However, I soon learned that the best lessons in gardening often come from trial and error. After a few seasons, I realised I had no beneficial insects in my garden. There were no pollinators for my plants and no natural predators to manage aphids or fruit flies.

I needed to attract beneficial insects like bees, ladybugs, lacewings, parasitic wasps, spiders, and hoverflies. To do this, I had to create a habitat that invited these helpful creatures into my garden.

Exploring the world of flowers became a delightful discovery for me. Not only do flowers benefit my vegetable patch, but they also add beauty and color to the garden. Nothing brightens my day quite like a splash of color among the plants. With careful planning and a variety of flowers, I can even bring blooms into the house or cut them as gifts for friends.

5 Insects you want to attract to the garden

• Bees

Bees are among the most important insects we can attract to our gardens. They are the undisputed champions of pollination and play a crucial role in the biodiversity upon which we all depend for survival. Without bees, we would not have many fruits and vegetables, including almonds, apples, blueberries, cherries, avocados, cucumbers, onions, grapefruit, oranges, and pumpkins.

One of their key advantages is their exceptional vision. Nobel Prize-winning scientist Karl von Frisch demonstrated that bees can see color. In fact, bees possess a much broader range of color vision than humans do. Their ability to perceive ultraviolet light gives them an edge when it comes to finding nectar. Many patterns on flowers are invisible to the human eye, but these nectar “bulls-eyes” can be seen by animals such as bees that can detect ultraviolet light. This unique “bee vision” facilitates their search for nectar. For instance, some flowers, like sunflowers, primroses, and pansies, have nectar guides that are only visible under ultraviolet light.

• Ladybugs

Ladybugs have limited vision, so they rely on their sense of smell to locate food. Their pair of antennae help them to smell and navigate their surroundings. Like praying mantises, ladybugs use their mouthparts to grasp, crush, and cut the food they catch.

Ladybugs are among a gardener’s best allies! Both adult ladybugs and their larvae have a strong appetite for aphids. It is said that a single ladybug can consume between 50 to 60 aphids per day. In addition to aphids, they will also eat a variety of other insects and larvae, including scales, mealybugs, leafhoppers, mites, and various types of soft-bodied insects.

Hoverflie                                                                       Lacewing                                                            Ladybug larvae

• Lacewings

While adult lacewings consume a few pests, it is their larvae that make lacewings popular among gardeners. The lacewing larva is highly effective at eating aphids (including greenfly, blackfly, and whitefly), earning it the nickname “aphid lion” (or “aphid wolf”). Remarkably, a single larva can consume up to 200 aphids in a week.

Lacewings are named for their beautifully delicate, transparent wings. Don’t be deceived; they are fierce predators, particularly during their larval stage, and they also serve as excellent pollinators.

• Parasitoid wasps

Parasitoid wasps are a large group of insects that lay their eggs inside other insects to complete their life cycle. These parasitoid wasps are small flying insects that can typically be identified only by experts. Most of these wasps are tiny, with many species measuring smaller than a millimeter, so you may not notice them at work.

Braconid wasps, for example, lay their eggs on the backs of tomato hornworms and other caterpillars, resulting in the formation of white cocoons on the caterpillar’s back. If you encounter a caterpillar that has been parasitized, do not kill it. Instead, relocate it to another area of your garden. The wasp larvae will take care of the caterpillar, eventually turning into adult wasps that will continue to provide benefits in your tomato patch.

Trichogramma wasps lay their eggs inside the eggs of more than 200 insect pests. Another type, the tachinid fly, resembles a small housefly but is a significant parasitizer of corn borers, gypsy moth caterpillars, grasshoppers, Japanese beetles, Mexican bean beetles, squash bugs, and green stinkbugs.

• Hoverflies

The hoverfly is another beneficial insect for your garden. It resembles a tiny yellowjacket but lacks a stinger. Hoverflies feed on pollen and nectar, making them essential pollinators. Their larvae are effective predators, consuming aphids, caterpillars, beetles, and thrips by sucking the juices from their prey.

How do you invite these bad boys into the garden?

One answer! FLOWERS, and with planning, you can create an environment for all these beneficial insects and have cut flowers.

These are my Top 10 flowers to add to your garden. They are easy to grow, will give your garden a pop of colour, and will attract beneficial insects.

1. Sunflowers
2. Zinnia
3. Cosmos
4. Poppies
5. Asters
6. Calendula
7. Marigold
8. Yarrow
9. Bachelor’s button
10. Queen Anne’s Lace

All these seeds are available from “The Flower Cartel.” What I love about this company is that, yes, you can get calendula seeds at your major nursery store, but they have a variety that you won’t find anywhere else. They have a wide variety of flower and bulb seeds available, and their online journal is packed with advice on growing seedlings and post-cutting care. And then the packaging is just gorgeous!

Happy Gardening Friends

Tash and Family