Three Garden Bugs You Actually Want

Design and InstallationGarden Caregarden TriviaPlant Health Care
Written By Peter Morris

Why Good ?

All three are carnivorous, and will eat their way through your garden’s pests every day! They tend to have an insatiable appetite and will usually come back every year. Better than any insecticide you could ever purchase - targeted and non toxic !

My two favorite bugs are lady beetles (ladybugs) and praying mantis.  The combo is fierce. They also don't bite and can be amazing to watch up close.

Another great one, although most people don’t want them around - are wasps!  

Lady Bugs

Also known as lady beetles or ladybird beetles there are about 5,000 different species of ladybugs in the world.  They come in many different colors and patterns, but the most familiar in North America is the seven-spotted ladybug, with its shiny, red-and-black body.

Adult 

Their spots and patterns are there for a reason. The markings tell predators "don't eat me cause I taste terrible !" When threatened, the bugs will secrete an oily, foul-tasting fluid from joints in their legs.

Ladybugs lay their eggs in clusters or rows on the underside of a leaf, usually where aphids have gathered.

Eggs in rows

Larvae, which vary in shape and color based on species, emerge in a few days.  They tend to be long, black, and spiky-looking with orange or yellow spots.  They look like tiny alligators. Larvae grow quickly and shed their skin several times.

Mini alligator indeed !

When they reach full size, they attach to a leaf by their tail, and a pupa is formed. Within a week or two, the pupa becomes an adult ladybug.

Pupae

Praying Mantis

There are about 1,800 species of praying mantids around the world.  They are carnivores, eating mainly insects.

Adult

Young nymphs emerge from papery tan egg cases laid in the fall.  They go through several stages where they cast off their old skin and molt into a new large one.

Nymphs emerging from egg case

Papery tan colored egg case     

Wasps

Wasps are distinguished from bees by their slender smooth body, and legs with relatively few hairs.  Also most obvious and different from bees is their narrow petiole (waist) which attaches the abdomen to the thorax. 

They are either predatory or parasitic and have stingers with few barbs that can be removed easily from their victims.

Predatory adult common wasp

Larvae of predatory wasp species typically feed on insects.  That is - cut up pieces of insects brought to them by the adults!

Butchering a caterpillar to feed her larvae !

Parasitic species inject their eggs inside the body of a caterpillar - the larvae feed on their hosts directly and eventually emerge and pupate. Image if wasps were human size - scary !

Larvae emerged and pupated on the surface of the caterpillar

If you don’t see any in your garden – we can purchase them in spring for you as either live insects or egg cases (mantis) and release them amongst your plants.  Many fly away, but many stay, and keep coming back every season.

For some good bugs - Call Plant Specialists TODAY !

Our Garden Care Team can get some mantis egg cases or live ladybugs for your garden!

Don't delay – the sooner the better !

No need to buy Wasps – they are everywhere !

GREENING NEW YORK FOR OVER 52 YEARS !

Article written by our Staff Horticulturist, Peter B Morris, BSc, MSc, MBA

All photographs used with permission from @SHUTTERSTOCK

Peter Morris

Peter was born and raised on a beautiful green island in the midst of a tropical rainforest. He was introduced into the world of plants at the age of six when his grandmother, an avid Spanish gardener herself, asked him to help her grow seeds for her pepper garden. He was hooked! By the time he was a teen, he had his own rose and orchid collection numbering in the hundreds. Botany was in his blood, and that is what he set out to study.

His passion brought him to NY in the late seventies to further his education. His tenacity allowed him to work full time at Plant Specialists while he completed a MS in Plant Biology. As a manager at the time he felt unsatisfied with his knowledge of business and business processes. Peter felt compelled to learn, so he then pursued and completed an MBA in Quality Management within a few short years.

Peter’s other passion is teaching. His natural ability is quickly consumed by our staff in all subjects in Botany, Horticulture, and Landscaping. He created an immense reference library of more than 3,500 plants providing an invaluable resource for our staff.

Peter’s breadth of knowledge and wisdom allows him to effectively diagnose the needs of plants. Sometimes just by walking into a garden he can create a prescription that fixes even the hardest issue. He is our Staff Botanist, Diagnostician, and all around Mentor. Recently, he has put his immense knowledge and skills into developing a new department that focuses on Plant Healthcare. As he puts it, “Magic through Science”. The PHC staff that surround him have avidly consumed his teachings. Substantially developing their own plant wisdom, many have taken on difficult plant health issues with spectacular results.

Plant Healthcare has been an instant success with customers! The proper treatment of insects and diseases including Organic methods has made pest control a necessity for every plant. Correcting hormonal imbalances caused by planting in containers or refurbishing soils leached of nutrients by irrigation systems are big challenges PHC has become quite comfortable addressing. The scientific approach to the complex demands of keeping plants healthy in our harsh city environment has made many a customer say WOW!

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