Insect Wars

I come from stubborn stock. One of my Mom’s favorite retorts to a challenge is, “you and who’s army?” That’s why I refuse to give up when it comes to fighting pests in my garden, “never give up, never surrender”. But remember, not all creepy crawlies in the garden are “bad bugs”. There are several insects more than happy to help you with pest control. It’s fairly well known that lady beetles, aka lady bugs, are good when it comes to damage control in the garden. But there are other beneficial insects that don’t get the favored attention the lady beetle does. Green lacewings, or as my grandson likes to call them, wiffle waffles, are the proud parents of larvae often known as aphid lions; voracious little buggers that love to chow down on aphids, caterpillars, and scales. Parasitic wasps really get a bum rap. Instead of swatting these when you seen them in your garden, back quietly away and let them get on with their work, which is attacking different host insects like stinkbugs, wood boring beetles, aphids, and caterpillars. Of course you’ll need to do something for these insect helpers in return. Make sure your garden is a welcoming habitat to these soldiers of the insect world.