momoese

Early Blooming Plants

Ladybugs don't just eat garden pests: they eat plants too. Specifically, ladybugs like to munch on pollen if they can't get a juicy aphid to snack on. Early blooming plants offer your ladybugs an alternate food source that will attract them to your garden. The ladybugs help pollinate these flowers, just like bees do. For this reason, don't worry that your replacing one plant killer with another. Good early blooming plants include buckwheat, cilantro, and legumes red or crimson clover.

Attract Aphids, Attract Ladybugs

Plants that bring in aphids will bring in ladybugs in pursuit of them. Again, this is a worthwhile strategy because ladybugs don't just eat aphids. They munch on spider mites and mealy insects, too. Plants that attract aphids include bronze fennel and vegetables, such as potatoes and cabbage. You'll find ladybug eggs in these plants. The ladybugs lay their eggs here so that when the eggs hatch the young larvae will have a ready source of food: aphids!