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Plants That Attract Beneficial Insects
I have found 49 plants so far - pros and cons of these plants. Any plants you can add and the beneficial insect(s) it attracts would be appreciated. Also, places to buy seeds to grow the plants (and let me know which ones if any should not be started by seeds)
[B]Plants That Attract Beneficial Insects[/B] (so far) Insects attracted: LACEWINGS/LADYBUGS/HOVERFLIES/PARASITIC MINI-WASPS/TACHINID FLIES/MINUTE PIRATE BUGS/DAMSEL BUGS/BIG EYED BUGS 1. Alfalfa 2. Alpine cinquefoil 3. Angelica 4. Basket of Gold 5. Buckwheat 6. Butter and eggs 7. Butterfly weed 8. Caraway 9. Carpet bugleweed 10. Common yarrow 11. Coriander 12. Cosmos white sensation 13. Crimson thyme 14. Dandelion 15. Dill 16. Dwarf alpine aster 17. Edging lobelia 18. English lavender 19. Fennel 20. Fern-leaf yarrow 21. Feverfew 22. Four-wing saltbush 23. Gloriosa daisy 24. Golden marguerite 25. Hairy vetch 26. Lavender globe lily 27. Lemon balm 28. Marigold - lemon gem 29. Masterwort 30. Orange stonecrop 31. Parsley 32. Pennyroyal 33. Peter Pan goldenrod 34. Phacelia 35. Poached egg plant 36. Prairie sunflower 37. Purple poppy mallow 38. Queen Anne's lace 39. Rocky Mt. penstemon 40. Spearmint 41. Spike speedwell 42. Statice 43. Stonecrops 44. Sulfur cinquefoil 45. Sweet alyssum - white 46. Tansy 47. Wild bergamot 48. Wood betony 49. Zinnia - liliput |
Missing Honeysuckle...ladybugs love it. I had both the bush type and the climbing type and they were always crawling with Ladybugs (aphids like them a lot so the Ladybugs were well fed.)
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Which types do you grow?
Any Honeysuckle? Winter Honeysuckle Bush Northern Bush Honeysuckle Shrub Tatarian French Mandarin Harlequin Himalayan etc |
i plant alot of borage at the perimeters of garden area
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[QUOTE=John3;265619]Which types do you grow?
Any Honeysuckle? Winter Honeysuckle Bush Northern Bush Honeysuckle Shrub Tatarian French Mandarin Harlequin Himalayan etc[/QUOTE] Tartarian bush type. Loaded with berries also which the birds and chipmunks love. They get about 10' tall. |
[QUOTE=stonysoilseeds;265622]i plant alot of borage at the perimeters of garden area[/QUOTE]
Which beneficial insect(s) does Borage attracts stonysoilseeds? |
[QUOTE=brokenbar;265623]Tartarian bush type. Loaded with berries also which the birds and chipmunks love. They get about 10' tall.[/QUOTE]
Thanks brokenbar another one to add - Honeysuckle - Tartarian bush type. |
it attracts alot of bees and also parasitic wasps john 3 it has edible flowers as well and leaves that taste like cucumbers
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Thanks stonysoilseeds.
add Borage - that brings the count up to 51 plants |
Just thinking out loud here.
I do wonder sometimes tho about planting some of those things if they don't actually keep the good bugs on themselves and away from what you want to protect. I'm guessing there is a tipping point. You want SOME of the attractant plants.but not so many that the good bugs are satisfied staying right there. I know some years we plant a couple of acres of sunflowers and/or buckwheat. Both are good for the bees. But sometimes there seem to be so many bees in there that I wonder if the bees manage to even look at the squash or other crops. Just some stuff to think about. I don't really know the answers. Carol |
If you decide on lemon balm, put it in a pot, or else it will spread
everywhere. I'm getting rid of mine. It doesn't seem to attract beneficials in my yard. Fennel is a good one, and you can grow it from seed. I have a non- bulbing perennial type. Butterfly weed mostly attracts butterfly's in my yard, and monarch caterpillars. You don't have oregano on your list. Best to buy a plant, but you can germinate from seed. In it's second year it starts flowering and the bee's love it. I have noticed that most herb flowers are very popular with all kinds of bee's/wasps. Here is my fennel from last year [IMG]http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/lrgarden/DSCN0018-1.jpg[/IMG] |
Basil, all kinds.
Dill. Cilantro Any alliums allowed to flower-elephant garlic, leeks |
The last couple of years I have planted carrots early and some of them flowered. They were a great attraction for the ladybugs.
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[QUOTE=Wi-sunflower;265639]Just thinking out loud here.
I do wonder sometimes tho about planting some of those things if they don't actually keep the good bugs on themselves and away from what you want to protect. I'm guessing there is a tipping point. You want SOME of the attractant plants.but not so many that the good bugs are satisfied staying right there. I know some years we plant a couple of acres of sunflowers and/or buckwheat. Both are good for the bees. But sometimes there seem to be so many bees in there that I wonder if the bees manage to even look at the squash or other crops. Just some stuff to think about. I don't really know the answers. Carol[/QUOTE] Good point to consider Carol - Thanks |
[QUOTE=roper2008;265692]If you decide on lemon balm, put it in a pot, or else it will spread
everywhere. I'm getting rid of mine. It doesn't seem to attract beneficials in my yard. Fennel is a good one, and you can grow it from seed. I have a non- bulbing perennial type. Butterfly weed mostly attracts butterfly's in my yard, and monarch caterpillars. [SIZE=2][B]You don't have oregano on your list. Best to buy a plant, but you can germinate from seed. In it's second year it starts flowering and the bee's love it. I have noticed that most herb flowers are very popular with all kinds of bee's/wasps.[/B][/SIZE] Here is my fennel from last year [IMG]http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/uu359/lrgarden/DSCN0018-1.jpg[/IMG][/QUOTE] Thanks roper2008 for the tips and the two plants you mentioned - I bold the words about them. Like your picture of fennel. |
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