Book Review: The Very Lazy Ladybug
Karen Isobel Finn’s book, The Very Lazy Ladybug, tells the story of a ladybug that likes to sleep all day and all night so never learns to fly. One day the…
Beneficial Insects and How to Attract Them: Brown Lacewings
Brown lacewings are in the insect family Hemerobiidae and are more closely related to duskywings than to green lacewings. Although common world wild, brown lacewings are most abundant in North…
Plants That Attract Beneficial Insects: Laceflower (Ammi majus)
Also called false Queen Anne’s lace, bishop’s flower, and bullwort, this annual is native to parts of Europe and the Middle East. It is a member of the carrot family…
Plants That Attract Beneficial Insects: Snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus)
Snapdragons are tender perennials usually grown as annual and are native to Europe, North Africa and the US. They are members of the plantago family, Plantaginaceae, that also includes foxgloves,…
Beneficial Insects and How to Attract Them: Fireflies
Also known as lightening bugs, fireflies , are actually beetles belonging to the Lampyridae family of insects. There are over two thousand species, about one hundred fifty of which live…
Beneficial Insects and how to Attract Them: Dragonfly
Dragonflies belong to a group of insects that have very small antennae, very large eyestwo pairs of transparent wings, and colorful elongated bodies. There are over 3000 species of dragonfly…
Beneficial Insects and How To Attract Them: Damsel Bugs
There are over five hundred species of damsel bugs worldwide, forty of which are found in North America. They belong to the insect family Nabidae and the most common ones…
Beneficial Insects and How to Attract Them: Ground Beetles
Ground beetles are members of the Carabidae family of insect with about forty thousand species worldwide, two thousand of which live in North America. They are variable in size and…
Beneficial Insects and How to Attract Them: Soldier Beetle
Soldier beetles belong to the Cantharidae family of insects with about four hundred seventy species in North America. They are also known as leatherwings because of their tough wing covers…
Beneficial Insects and How to Attract Them: Minute Pirate Bugs
Minute pirate bugs are predatory insects belonging to the Anthocoridae family. There are up to six hundred species worldwide of which about seventy species occur in North America. Most are…