Gardening for Good Bugs

Mountain mint

As much as gardeners fret over certain herbivorous, seemingly insatiable insects every summer, there are far more varieties of ‘good’ insects that control the hungry few. These beneficial insects prey on or parasitize some of our worst pests. So, how can we attract beneficial insects to our gardens? Obviously, eliminating the use of synthetic pesticides is the first step. These pesticides generally are not designed to target specific insects, but instead kill a wide range of pests and beneficial bugs. If you don’t use artificial insecticides, you will attract predatory insects such as lady bugs, lacewings and praying mantises.

Fennel

Next, provide a diverse habitat so that beneficial insects have a variety of plants where they can live and breed. Both the larvae (immature) and adult life stages of lady bugs are voracious predators of aphids, but, the adults will also feed on pollen and nectar. Herbs such as fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), dill (Anethum graveolens) and cilantro (Coriandrum sativum) are especially good sources of pollen. Lacewing larvae are the ‘tigers’ of the insect world eating a number of plant pests. Similar to the lady bugs, adult lacewings feed exclusively on nectar and pollen so plant Coreopsis and Fernleaf Yarrow (Achillea filipendula) to keep these good bugs happy. Finally, Mountain Mint, Pycnanthemum muticum is a wonderful, low maintenance perennial with silvery foliage and white flowers. It attracts an astounding array of beneficial insects! It’s easy to attract good bugs to your garden – plant it, don’t spray it and they will come!