How to make beneficial insects welcome in your garden (earthsky.org/conversation.com)

[eppur_se_muova]

Brian Lovett, West Virginia University

As winter phases into spring across North America, gardeners are laying in supplies and making plans. Meanwhile, as the weather warms, common garden insects such as bees, beetles and butterflies will emerge from underground burrows or nests within or on plants.

Most gardeners know how beneficial insects can be for their plots. Flies pollinate flowers. Predatory bugs, such as the spined shoulder bug, eat pest insects that otherwise would tuck into garden plants.

As a scientist whose research involves insects and as a gardener, I know that many beneficial insect species are declining and need humans’ help. If you’re a gardener looking for a new challenge this year, consider revamping all or part of your yard to support beneficial insects.
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A well-manicured lawn is a sure sign that humanity has imposed its will on nature. Lawns provide an accessible and familiar landscape, but they come at a cost for our six-legged neighbors. Grasses grown as turf provide very few places for insects to safely tuck themselves away, because homeowners and groundskeepers cut them short – before they send up flowering spikes – and apply fertilizers and pesticides to keep them green.

Entomologists have a recommendation: Dig up some fraction of your lawn and convert it into a meadow by replacing grass with native wildflowers. Wildflowers provide pollen and nectar that feed and attract a variety of insects like ants, native bees and butterflies. Just as you may have a favorite local restaurant, insects that live around you have a taste for the flowers that are native to their areas.
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more: https://earthsky.org/earth/how-to-help-insects-in-garden

https://xerces.org/publications/guidelines/establishing-pollinator-meadows-from-seed

https://extension.unh.edu/resource/planting-pollinators-establishing-wildflower-meadow-seed-fact-sheet

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=mason+bees+for+sale+near+me




I know many here may be familiar with the basics, but look for the many links within the article for more details.

[zuul]

1. Within the first year of buying my house I removed every blade of grass and replaced it

with shrubs and groundcover.

I have a huge bed of lantana, plus several jessamine vines growing up the fence, that the bees and butterflies absolutely love.

Every time I hear a neighbor sparking up the lawnmower, I'm so glad I got rid of all the grass.

[eppur_se_muova]

2. LOL, we share a powerful motivation ! nt

[hibbing]

3. I'm slowly replacing my lawn

I have a large, flat and open backyard. I think I've planted well over 200 native grasses and herbaceous perennials. Yet I still have too much lawn, getting a lot of volunteers coming up to transplant. My whole yard is buzzing with pollinators from spring through fall, I love it.


I am in year four, it is a process.



Peace