Why do we want insects in our yards?

Insects can be destructive, they can be annoying, and they can be bothersome; some are also feared. But there is one thing that is certain - they are necessary to your yard habitat! You may want to curtail some bugs feasting on your plants, but for the most part, most insects are a very important part of your habitat.

All plants and flowers and trees, at one time or other, produce pollen. Plants can't walk to the other side of the yard to find their mate. They rely on various means of spreading their pollen and seeds. Some live near water so that a stream can carry seeds to other places. Some dangle their loose seed or pollen out into the air and let the wind carry it away. (Achoo!) Still others are designed so that their seed or pollen can be attached to animals who will carry it to other places. In this way plants propagate themselves by very clever means.

"Pollinators" are extremely important animals because they help to spread pollen from one plant to another. When they visit a plant or flower they get pollen on their hairs or fur or legs, and then when they visit another plant or flower they rub this off there and gather more. Many birds are pollinators. The most noticed one in our yard is the hummingbird. Some important insect pollinators that may live in your yard are bees, ants, and butterflies.

Ants

We usually don't like ants, and don't notice them unless they are bothering us. But ants are a very important link in your mini-conservation plan. They are famous for carrying seeds back to their nest. Some plants and wildflowers such as trillium have evolved into a close relationship with ants, by covering their seed with smells and tastes that ants love (pheromones), luring them in to gather, drop, and spread seeds along their wandering paths.

Attracting ants: You don't need to do this. You have enough.

Bees

Most bees love nectar and they all gather pollen. This is what honey is made of. Each time a bee visits a different flower, he deposits pollen from other flowers, and keeps the plants happy. Some bees even have little pouches on their legs into which pollen is deposited for use later! Different flowers give different tastes to honey, providing humans and bears with a variety of honey's from which to choose.

Attracting bees: Install the plants and flowers they love. In the south, we have seen bees have a high old time in magnolia blossoms, rolling around in the pollen that falls into the cupped bottom petal. It is the only time we have seen this particular behavior in bees. No room for a magnolia? Plant salvia or other flowers in a flower pot on your patio. We had one of these dusky bluish-grayish/purplish salvias last summer, a foot-tall spire of tiny flowers, in a pot on the patio. Bees would come and spend hours on them, and some were observed leaving and returning around dusk each night, and actually spending the night, sleeping on the spires! They usually awoke at around 8 a.m. and began another day of gorging on nectar and visiting their hives every few hours. We also found that flower color plays an important part in attracting bees. In our yard we have discovered that white flowers really don't get visited as often by bees as much as purple and bluish ones. Some dark pinks were popular, and some reds. We think it is the way they see through ultraviolet rays. Bees also enjoy spring-budding trees and shrubs such as hollies, which have very small insignificant flowers. In late March and early April our hollies attract huge bumbles who stake out their territory and wait for "their" bushes' flowers to open. Bees are generally around Spring, Summer, and Fall in our yard. The following are lantana, pansy and rose.

Butterflies and moths

What can be nicer than sitting near a window or out on the back step on a lazy summer afternoon and watching butterflies and moths and skippers dart in and out of splashes of color in your garden? Most of these have furry or hairy bodies that pollen can cling to, while the insect is busy sipping nectar.

Attracting butterflies, moths, and skippers: Plant the flowers they like! Butterflies are attracted to a huge variety of flowers. Usually wherever bees sip, butterflies also sip. Very popular in the fritillary set are easy-to-grow low-maintenance flowers such as lantana, verbena, salvia, petunias, butterfly weed, butterfly bush, impatiens, and phlox. They have been seen in our backyard as early as March and as late as December in mild seasons, although they are usually a summer sight.

Moth by KMG - You may use these for educational purposes only, not for commercial purposes.

The clean-up crew

Some bugs eat our plants. So in the balance of the universe, there is some hungry bug lurking to eat some destructive bug. Praying mantis eats bugs you may not want. Lady-bugs eat many types of destructive bugs such as aphids that hide on your rose bushes. You can even purchase a box of lady bugs - get one and populate your neighborhood!

Beneficial bugs! Good bugs eat bad bugs, and birds eat most!   

Bugs as dinner

Many birds and other animals enjoy eating insects. Birds, in particular, must have a large number of protein-filled bugs in a day's diet. Bluebirds, cardinals, thrushes such as robins and thrashers, and most birds love flying insects and catch them in mid-air. Other bugs are plucked out of the grass, off of plants, and from under tree bark. Yum! Mother birds feed their babies bugs to fatten them up and keep them healthy before leaving the nest.

Bugs as singers

A cricket in the house is maddening. A cricket in the yard on a summers evening is delightful. Cicadas also produce wonderful songs for us.

Where bugs live

You can find bugs in many places in your yard. They love to hide from birds, but also be near their food source, so to find bugs (as with any animal) first locate their foods, then their shelters, and there they'll be! Insects live under rocks, near doorways, in bushes, near flowers, under eaves, under the rims of flower pots, near water, and in trees. Unless they are creating some problem, leave them alone to do what they do best - provide an important link in your backyard food chain.

Animated butterfly from steamboats.com