7 Insects You Actually Want In Your Garden

1. Hoverfly

Benefits of having hoverflies in your garden: Maggots eat softbodied pests such as aphids.

Bait hoverflies with: Feverfew, lavender, sweet alyssum, candytuft, dill, fennel, asters.

2. Ladybugs

Benefits of having ladybugs in your garden: They eat aphids and other softbodied pest eggs, scales and whitefly nymphs.

Bait ladybugs with: Asters, marigolds, cosmos, cilantro, yarrow, dill, cabbages, sweet alyssum, flowering kale.

3. Ground Beetles

Benefits of having ground beetles in your garden: They will destroy slugs, snails, cutworms, flies and rootmaggot eggs and larvae.

Bait ground beetles with: Sweet or white clover and other ground covers; also use mulch to provide habitat.

4. Lacewings

Benefits of having lacewing in your garden: Lacewing larvae prey on pest eggs, aphids, scales and small caterpillars.

Bait lacewing with: Most pollen and nectar flowers, dill, daisies, fennel, angelica.

5. Aphid Midges

Benefits of having aphid midges in your garden: Immature insects (including midges) feed on many species of aphids.

Bait aphid midges with: Nectar-rich flowers and herbs, including Queen Anne’s lace, dill, mustards.

6. Parasitic Wasps

Benefits of having parasitic wasps in your garden: They act as parasites by laying eggs in caterpillar and aphid larvae.

Bait parasitic wasps with: Dill, mint, sage, thyme, lavender, coriander, Queen Anne’s lace, sunflowers.

7. Bumblebees, Honeybees, Mason Bees

Benefits of having bees in your garden: They pollinate food crops.

Bait honeybees with: Orchard fruits, mustards, cress, wildflowers, clover, blueberries, hollyhock.

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