By planting several varieties of “attractor plants” you can invite the good guys in to fend off the bad ones without using harmful, toxic chemicals; certainly not something you want near the food you and your family are going to eat.
Lady Bird Beetles (ladybugs) are good friends to have around if aphids are a problem in your garden. They can eat about 50 aphids per day. They are very attracted to alyssum “Goldkugel” and “White Night”, yarrow, ajuga, marigold “Lemon Gem”, fennel, and sunflowers.
But your new best friend might be the lesser-known lacewing (the aphid lion). It may be so small you don't even see it, but it eats 20 times more aphids each day than a ladybug. You are almost certain to attract them by planting yarrow, dill, cosmos, coriander, Queen Anne's lace, and flowering mustard.
Bees are essential when growing edibles. More than 30 percent of all the food we eat is pollinated by bees. I am happy to report that I have the beautiful buzz of bees in my backyard year-round. To keep them happy I have planted a dozen varieties of salvia. Not only are they beautiful, they are easy to grow, come in all sizes and colors and take very little water once established. What's not to love? And, although most prefer full sun, there are many options that thrive in part sun to fairly deep shade.
Another favorite that both my bees and I love is lavender. It comes in all shades of purple (from very dark to pale purplish-pink) and even white. So why settle for just one? Don't have a lot of space? Choose one of the several dwarf options.
Rosemary is not only hardy, drought-tolerant, fragrant, and great for cooking, it attracts bees even in our wet winter months. For other flowering plants that are attractive as well as attracting try black-eyed Susan, calendula, purple coneflower, butterfly bush, bee balm, and sedums.
Hoverflies, also known as syrphid flies, look like small bees but literally hover over a plant or flower and then quickly dart away. By watching their movement you can easily distinguish them from bees. They do not sting, and they eat aphids, mealybugs, and thrips. They also like yarrow, alyssum, dill, garlic chives, and fennel. But try adding dwarf alpine aster, feverfew, statice, lemon balm and parsley to keep them healthy and happy.
There are many varieties of parasitic wasps. Again, at first glance they may look like a bee, but, if you look closer you will see that they have few if any, hairs. Bees are pollen collectors so are generally quite hairy. Wasps feed on tomato hornworms, cabbage worms, beetles, stink bugs, squash bugs, fly larvae and more. These little guys are great in the garden, and again they do not sting. Plant buckwheat, lemon balm, creeping thyme, cosmos “White Sensation”, lobelia, zinnia “Liliput”, parsley and Linaria.
Your garden is its own ecosystem. It takes time to build a healthy, thriving, environment that can mostly take care of itself. So, be patient, strive for diversity and trust me, if you plant it … they will come.
by UC Master Gardener Rebecca Jepsen
This article first appeared in the May 27, 2018 print issue of the San Jose Mercury News.