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Plants To Attract Beneficial Insects, Pt. 1
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Plants To Attract Beneficial Insects, Pt. 1

And, the life stages of lacewings, ladybugs and hoverflies (so you don't accidentally squish a good guy!)

Farmer Fred Hoffman
May 13
4
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Plants To Attract Beneficial Insects, Pt. 1
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Nature wants to make your job as a gardener as easy as possible; but you have to help. We've talked about putting in plants that attract insects whose primary job is to pollinate your garden, helping to insure a bountiful harvest of food and flowers. 

But what about attracting those other "good bugs", the crawling and flying creatures whose diet includes pests that are ravaging your garden plants? These beneficial predatory insects do not live on aphid steaks alone. They need other natural sources of food and shelter for their entire life cycle before they call your backyard a permanent home. 

What are these "Welcome Mat" plants and the beneficial insects they attract? Here is a list of three of those good bugs and the plants that they like to visit for shelter and as another source of food for their diet and their children. Next week, we’ll have even more beneficials and plants. For best results, group these plants nearby or along the garden border to attract the garden good guys.

Click Here for the Farmer Fred Smart Pot Discount!

LACEWINGS

Adult Lacewing (photo: Wikimedia Commons/AJC1)

Beautiful, little (3/4”) green or brown insects with large lacy wings. 

Lacewing Eggs (Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Dinesh Valke)

Individual white eggs of lacewings are found laid on the ends of inch-long, stiff threads, usually along the undersides of leaves. 

Lacewing Larva (Wikimedia Commons/xpda)

It is the larvae (which look like little alligators) that destroy most of the pests. They are sometimes called “aphid lions” for their habit of dining on aphids. They also feed on mites, other small insects and insect eggs. On spring and summer evenings, lacewings can sometimes be seen clinging to porch lights, screens or windows.

Plants that attract lacewings:
•Achillea filipendulina    Fern-leaf yarrow
•Anethum graveolens    Dill
•Angelica gigas    Angelica
•Anthemis tinctoria    Golden marguerite
•Atriplex canescens    Four-wing saltbush
•Callirhoe involucrata    Purple poppy mallow
•Carum carvi    Caraway
•Coriandrum sativum    Coriander
•Cosmos bipinnatus    Cosmos white sensation
•Daucus carota    Queen Anne’s lace
•Foeniculum vulgare    Fennel
•Helianthus maximilianii    Prairie sunflower
•Tanacetum vulgare    Tansy
•Taraxacum officinale    Dandelion 

LADYBUGS (Ladybeetles)

Photo by Anton Atanasov on Unsplash

Easily recognized when they are adults by most gardeners. However, the young larvae, black with orange markings, eat more pests than the adults, and they can’t fly. Yellowish eggs are laid in clusters usually on the undersides of leaves.

Ladybug larva (photo: M Palmer photorasa.com)
Ladybug eggs (Photo: Björn S. Wikimedia Commons)

Plants that attract ladybugs:
•Achillea filipendulina    Fern-leaf yarrow
•Achillea millefolium    Common yarrow
•Ajuga reptans    Carpet bugleweed
•Alyssum saxatilis    Basket of Gold
•Anethum graveolens    Dill
•Anthemis tinctoria    Golden marguerite
•Asclepias tuberosa    Butterfly weed
•Atriplex canescens    Four-wing saltbush
•Coriandrum sativum   Coriander
•Daucus carota    Queen Anne’s lace
•Eriogonum fasciculatum   CA  Buckwheat
•Foeniculum vulgare    Fennel
•Helianthus maximilianii    Prairie sunflower
•Penstemon strictus    Rocky Mt. penstemon
•Potentilla recta ‘warrenii’   Sulfur cinquefoil
•Potentilla villosa    Alpine cinquefoil
•Tagetes tenuifolia    Marigold “lemon gem”
•Tanacetum vulgare    Tansy
•Taraxacum officinale    Dandelion
•Veronica spicata    Spike speedwell
•Vicia villosa    Hairy vetch

Another planting tip to keep ladybugs around throughout the year in mild climates: put in ornamental grasses, especially deer grass (Muhlenbergia). Don’t prune it back until spring. You just might witness the newest crop of ladybugs emerging from this winter hideaway on a warm, sunny day!

HOVERFLIES (incl. syrphid flies, predatory aphid flies, flower flies)

Hoverfly (photo: Wikimedia Commons BARAKAT2011)

Also known as syrphid fly, predatory aphid fly or flower fly. Adults look like little bees that hover over and dart quickly away. They don’t sting! They lay eggs (white, oval, laid singly or in groups on leaves) which hatch into green, yellow, brown, orange, or white half-inch maggots that look like caterpillars. They raise up on their hind legs to catch and feed on aphids, mealybugs and others.

Hoverfly Larva Jacopo Werther/Photography Wikimedia Commons
Hoverfly Egg Jacopo Werther/Photography Wikimedia Commons

Plants that attract hoverflies:
•Achillea filipendulina    Fern-leaf yarrow
•Achillea millefolium    Common yarrow
•Ajuga reptans    Carpet bugleweed
•Allium tanguticum    Lavender globe lily
•Alyssum saxatilis    Basket of Gold
•Anethum graveolens    Dill
•Anthemis tinctoria    Golden marguerite
•Aster alpinus    Dwarf alpine aster
•Astrantia major    Masterwort
•Atriplex canescens    Four-wing saltbush
•Callirhoe involucrata    Purple poppy mallow
•Carum carvi    Caraway
•Chrysanthemum parthenium    Feverfew
•Coriandrum sativum    Coriander
•Cosmos bipinnatus    Cosmos white sensation
•Daucus carota    Queen Anne’s lace
•Eriogonum fasciculatum    CA Buckwheat
•Foeniculum vulgare    Fennel
•Lavandula angustifolia    English lavender
•Limnanthes douglasii    Poached egg plant
•Limonium latifolium    Statice
•Linaria vulgaris    Butter and eggs
•Lobelia erinus    Edging lobelia
•Lobularia maritima    Sweet alyssum white
•Melissa officinalis    Lemon balm
•Mentha pulegium    Pennyroyal
•Mentha spicata    Spearmint
•Monarda fistulosa    Wild bergamot
•Penstemon strictus    Rocky Mt. penstemon
•Petroselinum crispum    Parsley
•Potentilla recta ‘warrenii’   Sulfur cinquefoil
•Potentilla villosa    Alpine cinquefoil
•Rudbeckia•Rudbeckia fulgida    Gloriosa daisy
•Sedum kamtschaticum    Orange stonecrop
•Sedum spurium    Stonecrops
•Solidago virgaurea    Peter Pan goldenrod
•Stachys officinalis    Wood betony
•Tagetes tenuifolia    Marigold “lemon gem”
•Thymus serpylum coccineus    Crimson thyme
•Veronica spicata    Spike speedwell
•Zinnia elegans    Zinnia "liliput"

In the Next Newsletter: More Beneficial Insects

Including parasitic mini wasps, tachinid flies, minute pirate bugs, damsel bugs, big-eyed bugs - and the plants they need to build a home and raise a family.

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As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases from some of the underlined links in the newsletter. This is how I am trying to keep this a free newsletter. And as long as you buy whatever you want from Amazon using any of those links to get into the Amazon site, I get a few pennies. Thank you.

Thanks for Subscribing and Spreading the Word About the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred newsletter, I appreciate your support. 

And thank you for listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County.

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