Nature’s Helpers

Tomatoes, eggplants and blueberries lock their pollen inside a pored anther, and honey bees cannot shake it out. Here are the Australian native bees that can, and how to bring them into your garden.

Most wasps in an Australian vegetable patch are hunting your caterpillars and aphids. Here is how to tell the parasitoids, mud nesters and paper wasps apart, what to do about the European wasp, and what to plant.

Green and brown lacewings are different insects with different habits. How to spot the eggs on stalks and the aphid lion larva, what to sow to feed the adults, and what the evidence says about lacewing hotels.

The adult hoverfly pollinates, its larva eats aphids, and almost nobody recognises the larva. How to identify both in an Australian garden, what to sow so the flowers open before the aphids, and which sprays undo the work.

Most Australian ladybirds are predators worth keeping, but two Epilachna species scrape your pumpkin and potato leaves. Tell them apart by the shine on the wing cases, the damage below, and the larvae.

Who you are trying to attract Scientists have described about a million species of insects, and only a small share of them damage garden plants. Mo...

A pollinator garden feeds the bees and beneficial insects that pollinate your crops and keep pests down, and Australian conditions shape what to plant.

A beneficial bug mix feeds the hoverflies, ladybirds, lacewings and tiny wasps that control pests. Here is what is in it, and why your veggie patch needs one.