Attracting Beneficial Insects

How to attract beneficial insects to your garden: plant flowers they love!

Since most beneficial insects snack on pollen and nectar at some stage in their life, planting loads of flowers in and amongst your veggies is one of the best ways to encourage good bugs to visit your garden and stay awhile. By adding certain plants (from the list below), to your garden or farm will encourage biodiversity and a healthy population of beneficial garden insects that act as Mother Nature’s best organic pest control.

You’ll want to attract pollinators, predators and parasites. The pollinators, such as honeybees, fertilize flowers, which increases the productivity of food crops ranging from apples to zucchini. The predators, such as lady-bugs and soldier bugs, consume pest insects as food. The parasites use pests as nurseries for their young. On any given day, all three ‘P’s’ are feeding on pests or on flower pollen and nectar in a diversified garden.

Because pesticides, even organic varieties, make no distinction between helpful and hurtful insects, in the end their regular use can have many negative impacts, including the suppression of the soil food web and pollution of waterways. Instead, encouraging the presence of predatory warriors that will defend and protect your garden plants from common pests is not only an environmentally sound strategy but it also encourages biodiversity and plant pollination.

The list below is a compilation of the best plants to attract the good bugs to your own farm or garden. For more specific planting information, including hardiness zones and bloom dates, you can search for each plant at Wildflowerinformation.org.

Annual Plants

Arroyo Lupine (Lupinus succulentus)
Baby’s Breath (Gypsophila elegans)
Bachelor’s Buttons (Centaurea cyanus)
Barley (Hordeum vulgare)
Basils (Ocimum basilicum)
Bee Phacelia (Phacelia tanacetifolia)
Bird’s Eyes (Gilia tricolor)
Birdsfoot Trefoil (Lotus corniculatus)
Blue Lace Flower (Trachymene coerulea, aka Didiscus coeruleas)
Borage (Borago officinalis)
Calendula (Calendula officinalis)
California Poppy (Eschscholtzia californica)
Candytuft (Iberis umbellata)
Celery (Apium graveolens)
Chervil (Anthriscus cerefolium)
Chinese Houses (Collinsia heterophylla)
Common Vetch (Vicia sativa)
Coriander (Coriandrum sativum)
Corn (Zea mays)
Corn Poppy (Papaver rhoeas)
Cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus)
Crimson Clover (Trifolium incarnatum)
Dill (Anethum graveolens)
Goldfields (Lasthenia californica)
Gopher Stopper (Melilotus indica)
Johnny Jump-Up (Viola cornuta)
Lobelia (Lobelia erinus)
Meadow Foam (Limnanthes douglasii)
Mexican Sunflower (Tithonia rotundifolia)
Pincushion Flower, aka Sweet Scabious (Scabiosa atropurpurea)
Rye (Secale cereale)
Signet Marigolds (Tagetes tenuifolia)
Subterranean Clover (Trifolium subterraneum)
Sunflowers (Helianthus annuus)
Sweet Alyssum (Lobularia maritima)
Sweet Marjoram (Origanum majorana)
Tidy Tips (Layia platyglossa)
Triticale (X Triticosecale)
White Sweetclover (Trifolium repens)
Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)

Perennial Plants

Angelica (Angelica atropurpurea)
Anise Hyssop (Anastache foeniculum)
Asters (Aster alpinus and A. tartaricus)
Basket of Gold (Aurinia saxatilis)
Blanketflowers (Gaillardia)
Blue Cardinal Flower (Lobelia syphilitica)
Blue Wild Rye (Elymus glaucus)
Bog Rosemary (Andromeda polifolia)
Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum)
Califonia Lilac (Ceanothus Spp.)
California Brome (Bromus carinatus)
California Buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum)
Canada Anemone (Anemone canadensis)
Carpet Bugleweeds (Ajuga)
Catmints (Nepeta)
Cinquefoils (Potentilla)
Coffeeberry (Rhamnus california)
Comfrey (Symphytum)
Coneflowers (Echinacea)
Coral Vine (Antigonon leptopus)
Coreopsis (Coreopsis)
Cowparsnip (Heracleum maximum)
Coyote Brush (Baccharis pilularis)
Creeping Boobialla (Myoporum pavifolium)
Crimson Thyme (Thymus serpyllum coccineus)
Crocus (Crocus)
Culver’s Root (Veronicastrum virginicum)
Cup Plant (Silphium perfoliatum)
Deergrass (Muhlenbergia rigens)
Elderberry (Sambucus mexicana)
Evening Primrose (Oenothera biennis)
Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare)
Fernleaf Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare var. crispum)
Feverfew (Chrysanthemum parthenium)
Garlic Chives (Allium tuberosum)
Golden Alexanders (Zizia aurea)
Golden Marguerite (Anthemis tinctoria)
Goldenrod (Solidago)
Green Lace Flower, aka Toothpick Ammi (Ammi visnaga)
Horsemint (Monarda punctata)
Indian Hemp (Apocynum cannabinum)
Jerusalem Artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus)
Korean Mint (Anastache rugosa)
Late Figwort (Scrophularia marilandica)
Lavender Globe Lily (Allium tanguticum)
Lavenders (Lavandula)
Lovage (Levisticum officinale)
Lupines (Lupinus)
Meadow Barley (Hordeum brachyantherum)
Meadowsweet (Spiraea alba)
Milkweeds (Asclepias)
Mints (Mentha)
Missouri Ironweed (Vernonia missurica)
Mountain Mints (Pycnanthemum muticum and P. virginianum)
Mountain Sandwort (Arenaria montana)
New England Aster (Symphyotrichumnovae-angliae)
Pale Indian Plantain (Cacalia atriplicifolium)
Paleleaf Sunflower (Helianthus strumosus)
Patrinia (Patrinia)
Penstemon (Penstemon hirsutus)
Peonies (Paeonia)
Pincushion Flower (Scabiosa caucasica)
Poppy Mallow (Callirhoe involucrata)
Purple-Needle Grass (Nassella pulchra)
Queen Anne’s Lace (Daucus carota)
Riddell’s Goldenrod (Oligoneuron riddellii)
Rocky Mountain Penstemon (Penstemon strictus)
Sand Coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata)
Sea Lavender (Limonium latifolium)
Sea Pink (Armeria alliacea)
Shrubby Cinquefoil (Potentilla fruticosa)
Smooth Aster (Symphyotrichum laeve)
Soapbark Tree (Quillaja saponaria)
St. Catherine’s Lace (Eriogonum giganteum)
Stonecrops (Sedum kamtschaticum, S. spurim, S. album)
Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata)
Teasel (Dipsacus)
Thrift (Armeria maritima)
Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia)
White Lace Flower, aka Bishop’s Weed (Ammi majus)
Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa)
Wild Strawberry (Fragaria virginiana)
Willow (Salix Spp.)
Wood Betony (Stachys officinalis)
Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
Yellow Coneflower (Ratibida pinnata)
Yellow Giant Hyssop (Agastache nepetoides)
Yolo Slender Wheatgrass (Elymus trachycaulus magus)

Trees and Shrubs

Burning Bush (Euonymous)
California Lilac (Ceanothus)
Firethorn (Pyracantha)
Four-Winged Saltbush (Atriplex canescens)
Golden Bells (Forsythia)
PotentillaTexas Sage (Leucophyllum frutescens)
Willows

Sources: motherearthnews.com and http://www.apartmenttherapy.com