How to Attract Beneficial Insects to the Garden
Read on to discover which insects enjoy a good pest buffet.

Reading Time: 7 minutes
Discover how to attract beneficial insects and which beneficial garden bugs to keep in the garden. Plant flowers that lure beneficial insects for natural pest control.
by Kristi Cook
If you’ve gardened very long, chances are you’ve lost at least a plant or two to pests such as the tomato hornworm, aphids, flea beetles, blister beetles, and more. Some gardeners reach for the nearest chemical to combat these pests, while others throw up their hands in despair and determine they have only a brown thumb. However, a simpler and more inviting tactic when battling these garden-destroying insects is attracting the insects that devour the pests. We call these garden warriors “beneficials” or “predatory insects,” and no garden should be without them. Read on to discover which insects enjoy a good pest buffet and how to attract beneficial insects to your garden.
Beneficial Garden Bugs
Of all the beneficials roaming the garden, lady beetles (AKA ladybugs) are arguably the most easily recognized. Best known as aphid hunters, a single ladybug is capable of cleaning an entire tomato plant of aphids in a single day.

Beetles
The large, shiny, black ground beetle is an often overlooked ally that will happily devour planteating slugs, snails, and caterpillars if you leave them alone. Typically nocturnal, these lumbering beetles prefer to stay cozy under a bed of cool mulch during the hot daytime hours or lounge in the cool shade of a nearby tree until the sun goes down. But don’t worry about planting a shrub or flower for these guys. Just provide the mulch and refrain from squashing them; they should stick around.
Lacewings
Dainty lacewings look like tiny green or brown fairies flitting about the garden. And while some species of adult lacewings do enjoy the occasional insect meal, it’s the larvae, aptly named “aphid lions,” that you want. These hungry guys devour aphids, mites, thrips, caterpillars, and even the occasional beetle to reach adulthood. Lacewings are drawn to many of the same
delicate flowers as the lady beetles, such as fern-leaf yarrow (Achillea filipendulina), common yarrow (Achillea millefolium), and butterfly weed (Asclepius tuberose). However, lacewings also enjoy prairie sunflower (Helianthus maximilianii), cosmos ’Sonata White’ (Cosmos bipinnatus), and tansy (Tanacetum vulgare), to name a few.
Hoverflies
Often mistaken for a tiny bee, the stingless hoverfly is a predatory fly whose larvae enjoy a quick meal of aphids, mealybugs, and other small insects. These babies are so hungry that a single larva can consume up to 400 aphids daily! To attract the nectar-drinking adults, intersperse various plantings of English lavender (Lavandula angustifolia), sweet alyssum (Lobular maritima), and lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) throughout the garden.

Parasitic Wasps
Braconid, Ichneumonid, and Trichogrammatidae wasps are but a few parasitic wasps eager to devour garden pests. Some parasitic wasps deposit eggs on the outside of caterpillars, while others deposit eggs within the eggs of pests. Regardless of how they parasitize, these tiny wasps are almost always stingerless yet offer abundant pest control. Adult wasps are attracted to nectar from a variety of flowers, including pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium), caraway (Carum carvi), Potentilla recta ’Warrenii’ (Sulfur cinquefoil), and lemon gem marigold (Tagetes tenuifolia).
Flowers & Plants That Attract Beneficial Insects
The greater the variety of nectar-producing flowers, the better. Most beneficials are attracted to multiple types of flowers, with most flowers attracting multiple species of predatory or parasitic insects.
- Anethum graveolens — dill
- Angelica gigas — Angelica
- Anthemis tinctoria — golden marguerite
- Atriplex canescens — fourwing saltbush
- Callirhoe involucrata — purple poppy mallow
- Foeniculum vulgare — fennel
- Limnanthes douglasii — poached eggplant
- Limonium latifolium — sea lavender
- Linaria vulgaris — butter and eggs
- Lobelia erinus — trailing lobelia
- Taraxacum officinale — dandelion
- Veronica spicata — spike speedwell
- Vicia villosa — hairy vetch
Create a Welcoming Environment
To invite these — and other — pest-fighting creatures to your garden, utilize a few basic gardening practices, such as avoiding pesticides as much as possible while providing safe havens for the little guys to rest, hide from the sun, and reproduce throughout the season. For instance, just as mulch keeps plants cool and moist throughout the summer, mulch keeps ground dwellers cool and hydrated. Plantings of tall flowers, shrubs, and vegetables offer the perfect place for web weavers to spin their webs while offering platforms and landing pads perfect for beneficials to hang out on while awaiting the arrival of their next meal.

Providing refuge for beneficials continues after summer, however. During fall cleanup, don’t go overboard tidying up for the winter. Instead, leave at least some of the old plant debris, such as cornstalks, flower stalks, seed heads and leaves, and ample ground coverings to offer some of the best places to pass the cold days of winter. Including a few piles of rocks or wood throughout your garden is also a good idea for those who prefer more solid surroundings during hibernation.
To further protect your garden allies, should you accidentally uncover a spider or other insects when it’s cold out, don’t assume it’s dead. Carefully recover and leave that space alone until warmer weather returns.
Inviting beneficials to the garden to aid in the fight against garden pests is a simple matter of incorporating a few strategic practices into your gardening plan. Plantings of various nectar producing plants, year-round mulch, and other ground covers, as well as leaving behind plant debris for winter refuge, all work hand in hand with forgoing synthetic insecticides when creating a beneficial-friendly garden environment.
Safety First
Despite the commonality of arachnophobia, of the nearly 4,000 species in the U.S., only four — recluses, black widows, hobos, and yellow sac spiders — are generally considered venomous or potentially harmful to humans. Fortunately, these particular spiders have one more thing in common — reclusiveness. None are considered aggressive, The black and yellow Argiope spider weaves the prettiest webs with its zigzagged pattern and lace-like webbing. preferring instead to escape by burrowing into their hiding holes or scampering away rather than wasting venom on something too large to eat. As a result, the likelihood of being bitten is quite small, with the side effects of a rare bite being easily treated — in most cases — with little to no long-term effects.

With that being said, inviting spiders into your garden does guarantee the occasional surprise encounter. To avoid accidental bites, wear gloves when reaching under rocks or in crevices, inside plants, or when removing debris. It’s also a good idea to look first and reach in second. By using this approach, I’ve never had a poisonous spider stick around and try to battle it out. Usually, all I see is its tail end as it runs for cover. If, however, you believe a venomous spider has bitten you, seek medical care as soon as possible to reduce the likelihood of complications.
Spiders are Beneficial Garden Bugs
Spiders are perhaps some of the most feared and misunderstood beneficials of any garden. Quickly squashed into “bug juice” without hesitation, these hungry hunters rarely find safe refuge in their garden homes. Yet, despite their fearsome reputations, wise gardeners learn to appreciate these hungry monsters as they go about their daily business patrolling for pests such as mosquitos, flies, aphids, and leafhoppers. Knowing how to live side by side in harmony is a simple matter of understanding what makes them tick.
Spiders catch their prey in roughly three different ways, depending on the species. The most noticeable are the opportunistic web weavers who enjoy spinning delicate-looking curtains throughout the garden and hanging out until a meal arrives. Other web builders prefer unruly-looking cobwebs placed in dark corners to catch their prey, while some ground dwellers create funnel-shaped webs within nooks and crannies along the ground to catch insects and small animals that have the misfortune of falling into the web’s hole.
Some species, however, forego the requisite webs, choosing instead to ambush unsuspecting prey. For instance, crab spiders like to play hide-and-seek by camouflaging themselves inside or atop flowers. As soon as a fly, bee, or other insect stops for a sip of nectar, the spider attacks, instantly devouring its catch.
Others aren’t quite as patient as the web weavers and ambush spiders. Wolf and jumping spiders are two species that prefer to take a more active approach to dinner by literally hunting down prey, much like a wolf or fox. Hidden among the bushes or leaves, these spiders stalk their prey, waiting for the perfect moment to pounce. If you have a water source within your garden, you may even find fishing spiders, or what some call water spiders. These spiders are so eager to capture breakfast that they’ll dive into the water to fetch it.
Regardless of how a spider obtains its prey, each species plays an integral role in keeping the garden’s ecosystem balanced, with aphids, mealy worms, mites, and beetles being just a few of their favorite dishes.
Kristi Cook lives in Arkansas where every year brings something new to her family’s journey for a more sustainable lifestyle. She keeps a flock of laying hens, dairy goats, a rapidly growing apiary, a large garden, and more. When she’s not busy with the critters and veggies, you can find her sharing sustainable living skills through her workshops and articles.
Originally published in the May/June 2024 issue of Countryside and Small Stock Journal and regularly vetted for accuracy.