habitat

Plants to Attract and Provide a Suitable Habitat for Beneficial Insects, Birds and Butterflie

by Nancy Garrison, 1999

Slowly but surely I’m becoming aware and interested in what I can do in my own garden to attract and provide sustenance for beneficial insects for the purpose of creating a more biologically diverse habitat and more ecologically managing “pests” that might otherwise ruin my plants. There are number of excellent references on this subject which I’ll list at the end of this article, since in this article I am only focusing on some key plants you can grow to make the greatest impact on typical “pest “populations.

My strategy is to plant a beneficial plant at each ends of each of my 4X8’ vegetable beds so that there is a ready supply of pollen and nectar for as much of the year as possible. Since the insects that tend to be a problem in the Willow Glen area include aphids, scale, whiteflies, thrips, mites and a number of caterpillars, I’m growing plants that attract beneficials that prey on or parasitize these pests.