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Attracting Beneficial Insects to Your Garden

Join forces with nature and increase garden productivity while keeping garden pests under control.

Honeybees pollinate our flowers, are essential for much of our food production and plant reproduction. But other insects like the hummingbird moth do the same. Many garden flowers like bee balm and phlox help bring them to your garden.

Grow a few plants to attract predatory insects to your landscape. Dill and its relatives attract parasitic wasps, coreopsis brings in the aphid-eating lacewings, and milkweed attracts lady beetles as well as monarch butterflies. Add some hyssop to attract the pirate bugs that eat thrips, spider mites and leafhoppers and members of the aster family to attract spiders that eat a variety of insects.

And avoid pesticides that kill both the good and bad insects in the garden.

A bit more information: The small Trichogramma wasp helps keep harmful caterpillars like cabbage worms under control. The adult lays its eggs in the caterpillar eggs preventing the caterpillar eggs from hatching and feeding on the plants. These wasps also attack gypsy moths, tomato hornworm, cutworms, codling moths, armyworms, corn borers, fruitworms, and cane borers.

Upcoming Webinars & Appearances


March 25, 2023
OCMGA Annual Garden Conference
Appleton, Wisconsin

March 26, 2023
REALTORS Home & Garden Show
West Allis, Wisconsin

March 29, 2023
FREE WEBINAR: 
Gardening Basics to Boost Your Success
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April 1, 2023

REALTORS Home & Garden Show
West Allis, Wisconsin

April 5, 2023
FREE WEBINAR: 
What's New - Discover
New & Unique Plants!
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April 11, 2023

Southwestern Indiana Master Gardener Association's 2023 Speaker Series
Darmstadt, Indiana
 

April 18, 2023
FREE WEBINAR: 
Growing a Bountiful Harvest even when Time, Space & Budget are Limited

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April 20, 2023
SC Johnson Golden Rondelle Theater Speaker Series
Racine, WI
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April 22, 2023
Pasquesi Home & Gardens
Lake Bluff, IL

April 25, 2023
Frederik Meijer Gardens
Grand Rapids, MI

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