🐝 Beneficial Insects & Pollinators
🐞 Beneficial Insects — Your Garden's Free Pest Control
These are the good guys. Learn to recognize them, and don't spray them.
🐞 Lady beetles (ladybugs) — Adults and their spiny, alligator-shaped larvae eat aphids by the hundreds, plus mealybugs and mites.
🦋 Green lacewings — Delicate green adults; the larvae, nicknamed "aphid lions," devour aphids, thrips, mites, whitefly and small caterpillars.
🪰 Hover flies — Look like tiny bees but can't sting. Their larvae eat aphids, and the adults are important pollinators.
🐝 Parasitic wasps — Tiny and harmless to people. They lay eggs inside aphids (look for puffy tan aphid "mummies") and caterpillars. A tomato hornworm covered in small white cocoons has been parasitized — leave it, and a new batch of wasps will hatch to protect your garden.
🪲 Ground beetles — Shiny, dark night-hunters that eat slugs, cutworms and insect eggs. Mulch and stepping stones give them cover.
🐛 Minute pirate bugs — Small but fierce; they eat thrips, spider mites and insect eggs.
🕷 Predatory mites — Hunt the spider mites that speckle leaves in hot, dry weather. We release them in our own greenhouse.
🕸 Spiders — Catch a huge range of flying and crawling pests.
🟠 Soldier beetles — Eat aphids and caterpillar eggs and pollinate flowers along the way.
🙏 Praying mantis — A big, general predator; it eats pests but also some good bugs.
🐝 Bees, butterflies & moths — The pollinators behind roughly one of every three bites of food we eat.
How to invite them in: grow small-flowered plants like dill, cilantro, fennel, yarrow, sweet alyssum and flowering herbs; keep something blooming spring to fall; add a shallow water dish; and skip broad-spectrum sprays.
🐝 How to Plant a Pollinator Garden
Any size works — a 4×8 bed, a sunny border or a few big pots on the patio all feed bees, butterflies and hummingbirds.
1. Pick a sunny spot. Most pollinator plants want 6+ hours of sun. Loosen the soil and mix in a few inches of compost.
2. Plan for blooms all season. Choose plants that flower in spring, summer and fall so there's always food. Summer: coneflower, lavender, zinnias, dianthus, hardy hibiscus, clematis. Late summer & fall: asters and goldenrod.
3. Plant in clumps. Groups of 3–5 of the same plant are easier for pollinators to find than single plants scattered around.
4. Mix flower shapes. Flat, open flowers (coneflower, zinnia) for butterflies; tube-shaped flowers for hummingbirds; tiny flowers (dill, oregano, thyme, cilantro left to bloom) for small native bees and beneficial insects.
5. Add natives and milkweed. Milkweed is the only food monarch caterpillars can eat, so plant native kinds — no milkweed, no monarchs.
6. Give them water. Set out a shallow dish filled with pebbles so bees can land and drink.
7. Leave some mess. Leave hollow stems standing and a few leaves on the beds over winter, and keep a patch of bare soil — many native bees nest in the ground or in old stems.
8. Skip the sprays. Never spray open flowers. See our safe-spraying guide in Part 3.
🌼 Easy starter bed (4×8 ft): 3 coneflower · 3 lavender · 2 dianthus · 1 hardy hibiscus · a row of zinnias from seed · a pot of oregano or thyme allowed to bloom.
Ask us and we'll help you pick plants for your spot.
🐝 Pollinators & Wildflowers
Roughly one in every three bites of food we eat depends on pollinators — bees, butterflies, moths, and hummingbirds. They pollinate the fruits, vegetables, and flowers in your own yard, too. Their numbers are falling fast, but home gardens — even very small ones — add up to real habitat.
🐝 Pollinator-friendly plants we carry: Coneflower, Lavender, Dianthus, Hardy Hibiscus, Clematis, and Dahlia — plus flowering herbs (let sage, oregano, thyme & basil bloom) and zinnias for cutting. Ask us about native milkweed & wildflowers, too.
🌼 Set aside a little room — any size counts. You don't need a meadow. A dedicated bed, a sunny border, a raised bed, or even a few pots gives bees and butterflies a place to feed. Three or four pots of zinnias, lavender, and coneflower draw pollinators all summer — and a pollinator-rich yard sets more fruit and vegetables for you. Most pollinator plants are tough, drought-tolerant, and thrive on a little neglect.
How to help — it's easy:
• Plant a mix that blooms spring through fall: coneflower, lavender, dianthus, hardy hibiscus, clematis, zinnias, and flowering herbs.
• Plant in clusters of the same flower so pollinators can find them.
• Add native wildflowers where you can — they feed our local bees and butterflies best.
• Skip or minimize pesticides, and never spray open blooms.
• Leave coneflower seed heads standing over winter to feed the birds.
• Add a shallow water dish with stones so bees and butterflies can land and drink.
🦋 The Monarch Butterfly — in steep decline. Monarch numbers have dropped dramatically, from lost habitat, especially milkweed (the only plant monarch caterpillars can eat), plus pesticides and a changing climate. What you can do in Northwest Ohio:
• Plant native milkweed (common, swamp, or butterfly milkweed) — no milkweed, no monarchs. Ask us about adding it.
• Plant late-summer and fall nectar flowers (coneflower, zinnias, asters, goldenrod) to fuel their migration.
• Avoid spraying milkweed and nearby blooms.
• Leave a slightly wild, fall-blooming corner — exactly what migrating monarchs need.
🐝 Bees are struggling, too. Honey bees and our native bees alike have struggled from lost flowers and habitat, pesticides, and disease. What helps:
• Keep something blooming spring to fall so bees never go hungry.
• Choose bee favorites: lavender, coneflower, dianthus, hardy hibiscus, flowering herbs, and zinnias.
• Go easy on pesticides; never spray open flowers.
• Leave a little bare ground and some standing stems for native bees to nest.
• Provide a shallow water dish with pebbles.
Ask us about our pollinator-friendly picks, native milkweed & wildflowers, and our coming-soon zinnias — one of the easiest, best cut flowers for drawing in butterflies and bees.
📖 Garden Guides — 5 parts
1. Seasons, Planting & Feeding
2. Plant Terms & Choosing Plants
3. Pests, Disease & Critters
4. Beneficial Insects & Pollinators (you are here)
5. Composting & Smart Plant Buying
🌱 Also: Zone Finder & Plant Care Guides