10 Beneficial Garden Insects
You Want in Your Yard

Bumble bee on a garden flower.

Not every bug in the garden is plotting against your tomatoes.

Some of the creatures crawling, buzzing, and flying around your yard are doing work you'd otherwise have to do yourself.

They pollinate flowers, eat aphids and caterpillars, break down organic matter, and help keep the garden ecosystem in balance.

In other words, before you reach for the bug spray, check the suspect's résumé.

Here are 10 beneficial garden insects and other garden helpers worth having around—and what each one does for your plants.

1.  Ladybugs

Ladybug on a garden stalk.

Ladybugs may be cute, but they're also predators.

Adult ladybugs and their larvae both feed on soft-bodied garden pests, including aphids. If aphids are colonizing new growth on your roses or vegetables, ladybugs are among the garden visitors you want to see.

And don't mistake the larvae for pests. Ladybug larvae look nothing like the familiar round red adults, but they're valuable pest hunters too.

2.  Green Lacewings

Lacewings are another formidable aphid-control crew.

Adult green lacewings are delicate insects with translucent wings. Their larvae are considerably less delicate about lunch. They prey on aphids and other small, soft-bodied pests.

If you're trying to reduce garden pests without automatically reaching for pesticides, lacewings are useful allies.

3.  Bumble Bees

Bumble bees aren't pest control—they're pollinators.

As they move from flower to flower collecting pollen and nectar, they transfer pollen between blossoms. That helps flowering plants reproduce and helps many fruits and vegetables produce a crop.

A garden with plenty of flowering plants can provide bees with food while the bees provide your garden with pollination. Fair trade.

4.  Braconid Wasps

Wasp in an outdoor nest.

These tiny parasitic wasps don't have the name recognition of ladybugs, but gardeners—especially tomato growers—have good reason to appreciate them.

Different species attack different garden pests. Some lay their eggs in or on caterpillars such as tomato hornworms. The developing wasps eventually kill the host.

If you see a hornworm covered with small white cocoons, leave it alone. The cavalry has already arrived.

5.  Praying Mantises

Praying mantises are impressive predators that eat a variety of insects.

There is one catch: mantises aren't particularly interested in whether an insect is on your good list or bad list. They can eat pests, but they may also catch pollinators and other beneficial insects.

So appreciate a mantis when you find one, but don't treat it as a precision pest-control system. It isn't taking requests.

6.  Predatory Wasps

Wasps tend to have a public-relations problem. Understandably so, when one is circling your lemonade. But many wasps are important predators in the garden.

Depending on the species, they capture caterpillars and other insects to feed their young. Some also visit flowers and contribute to pollination.

That doesn't mean you need to tolerate a dangerous nest beside the back door. It simply means a wasp visiting the garden isn't automatically an enemy.

7.  Butterflies

Butterflies are primarily welcome for their role as pollinators—and, admittedly, because few people complain when a butterfly moves into the neighborhood.

As adults, they visit flowers for nectar and can transfer pollen between blossoms. Remember, however, that butterflies begin life as caterpillars. Some caterpillars feed on plants you'd prefer they didn't.

Others depend on specific host plants to survive. Identifying the species before taking action is the sensible approach.

8.  Dung Beetles

Dung beetles are nature's sanitation department.

They feed on and move animal dung, helping return nutrients to the soil and break down waste. They're not likely to be the star of your flower bed, but ecologically they're doing decidedly unglamorous and useful work.

Somebody has to.

9.  Earthworms

Earthworms in soil.

Earthworms aren't insects, but no list of useful garden creatures would be complete without them.

As earthworms move through soil and eat decaying organic matter, they improve soil structure and nutrient cycling. Their presence often indicates soil with organic matter and favorable conditions for soil life.

So if you turn over some soil and find earthworms, there's generally no reason to evict them.

10.  Pillbugs

Pillbugs—also called roly-polies—aren't insects either. They're terrestrial crustaceans. They generally feed on decaying plant material, helping break down organic matter.

But pillbugs aren't entirely innocent. In large numbers, particularly in very damp areas, they can sometimes nibble tender seedlings or plant material close to the soil.

Translation: A few pillbugs under a log are part of the cleanup crew. A convention of them surrounding your seedlings deserves a closer look.

Why Beneficial Insects Matter

A healthy garden isn't supposed to be insect-free.

The goal is balance.

Predators help control other insects. Pollinators help plants reproduce. Decomposers help recycle organic matter. And all of them are part of a larger food web involving birds, spiders, and other wildlife.

Trying to eliminate every insect you see can also eliminate the creatures helping you.

How to Attract Beneficial Insects to Your Garden

You don't need to order a box of bugs and hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Start by making the garden hospitable to the beneficial insects already in your area.

Grow a variety of flowering plants so something is blooming through as much of the growing season as possible. Include different flower shapes and sizes to accommodate different pollinators and beneficial insects.

Avoid spraying pesticides indiscriminately. A product that kills the pest you're targeting may also affect beneficial insects.

Provide some habitat rather than making every inch of the yard sterile. Plants, mulch, soil, and small undisturbed areas can provide shelter for useful garden creatures.

And most important: identify an insect before deciding it has to go.

Sometimes the ugly creature on your plant is eating it. Sometimes it's eating the creature that's eating it.

That's a fairly important distinction.

Good Bug or Bad Bug?

When you spot something unfamiliar, look at what it's actually doing.

Is it chewing leaves? Gathering pollen? Hunting another insect? Sitting beside obvious plant damage—or simply happening to be nearby?

Identification matters because some beneficial insects look decidedly unfriendly in their immature stages.

Ladybug larvae are a perfect example. Someone unfamiliar with them could easily assume they're pests and eliminate exactly the predators the garden needs.

A Garden Doesn't Need to Be Bug-Free

A garden without insects isn't the goal. A garden with enough ecological balance that every aphid doesn't become a five-alarm emergency is considerably more useful.

So welcome the pollinators. Give the predators a chance to work. Let the decomposers handle the dirty jobs.

And before declaring war on the next six-legged visitor, figure out whose side it's on.

Keep Going

Learn more in our Backyard & Garden Guide, including practical gardening, outdoor cleaning, and family backyard ideas.

If the insects you find really are eating your plants, continue with Dirty Dozen Bad Garden Bugs to identify some of the less welcome visitors.