Allison Mia Starcher, author of Good Bugs for Your Garden, visits Meshach Taylor, host of HGTV's The Urban Gardener, and explains how to plant a container that will attract beneficial insects to your garden.
Beneficial insects include both predators and pollinators. Predators -- including predatory wasps, ladybugs and cryptolinas -- eat harmful insects that can damage your plants. Pollinators -- such as butterflies, hover flies and honeybees -- carry pollen from one plant to another, making it possible for us to grow fruits and vegetables. Pollen-rich plants provide food for young beneficial insects.
By using plants attractive to beneficials, you increase the chances that they'll make your garden their home. And because you're planting in a container, you can move the plants wherever you need them most.
Here's a list of plants to consider for your container garden:
Depending on the variety, pincushion flower, or scabiosa, may be an annual, a perennial or a biennial. Scabiosas require full sun.
Salvia coccinea (figure A) is a graceful self-seeding annual that requires full sun and reaches a height of 2' to 3'.
Yarrow (Achillea) (figure B) is a hardy, drought-tolerant perennial that requires full sun. After the first bloom, cut the flower stalks back for a possible repeat performance. Achillea attracts hover flies.
Dwarf morning glory (Convolvulus) (figure C) is a low-growing trailing annual that needs full sun. If you grow it from seed, scarify the seeds before planting by rubbing them with rough sandpaper, nicking them with a knife or soaking them in warm water overnight.
Catmint (Nepeta) (figure D), a perennial, needs afternoon shade in the hottest climates. Most catmints attract bees.
The genus verbena includes both annual and perennial species. Verbenas (figure E) prefer full sun and a lot of heat.
Lavender cotton (Santolina chamaecyparissus) (figure F) is an evergreen shrub with a compact, mounding habit. It requires full sun. Deadhead spent flowers to prolong the bloom period. Santolina attracts parasitic wasps, which lay their eggs inside undesirable insects' eggs and in caterpillars and eat their way out.
Lemon-scented thyme (Thymus x citriodorus) (figure G) is a rounded shrub that prefers full sun; in very hot regions it appreciates afternoon shade. Keep plants bushy by frequently pinching back the growth tips.
Here's how to plant your container:
Materials:
18-gallon galvanized steel tub
Drill or hammer and nail
Plastic window screen
Potting soil
Plants
Slow-release fertilizer
Fish emulsion
Optional: casters
- Use a drill or a hammer and a large nail to make 10 or 12 drainage holes in the tub. If you like, add casters to the bottom of the washtub before planting to make moving it easier.
- Cover the holes with plastic window screen, which will prevent the soil from running out and help keep out slugs.
- Fill the tub half-full of good-quality potting soil.
- Mix a slow-release fertilizer such as Osmocote into the soil if you like.
- Begin planting, keeping in mind that taller plants should be placed near the center and shorter and trailing varieties on the sides. Add potting soil as needed to cover the plants' root balls.
- Water well.
- As the plants begin to grow, fertilize with half-strength fish emulsion twice as often as recommended on the label.
- If plants become stringy as the season goes on, cut them back to keep them bushy.
- Move the container around your garden for maximum benefit.
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