Bug Battle

I come from stubborn stock. That’s why I refuse to give up when it comes to fighting pests in my garden, “never give up, never surrender”. I need to remember though in my battle against whatever is eating my echinacea down to a nubbin that not all creepy crawlies in the garden are “bad bugs”. There are several insects more than happy to help me with my pest control. It’s fairly well known that lady beetles, aka lady bugs, are good when it comes to damage control in the garden. There are other beneficial insects however that don’t get the favored attention the lady beetle does. Green lacewings 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. In return for all their hard work make sure your garden is a welcoming habitat to these tenacious soldiers of the insect world.