Encouraging beneficials
The best plants for beneficial insects do more than look attractive. They provide accessible nectar, pollen, shelter and continuity through the growing season.
Many beneficial insects cannot survive on prey alone. Adult hoverflies, parasitoid wasps and lacewings may depend heavily on nectar or pollen, while predatory bugs and beetles benefit from alternative food and sheltered habitat.
Flowering plants help beneficials remain close to the crop when pest numbers are low. That means populations are already present when pest pressure starts to rise.
Without food and habitat, beneficials may arrive during an outbreak — then disappear again once prey becomes scarce.
Small, open flowers are particularly useful because nectar and pollen are easy for small insects to reach.
Umbellifer flowers such as dill and fennel, and clusters such as alyssum and yarrow, provide many feeding points in a small area.
One large flush of flowers is less useful than having something in flower continuously through spring, summer and early autumn.
Combining early, mid-season and late flowering plants helps prevent gaps in food supply.
Nectar provides energy, particularly for adult parasitoids and hoverflies. Pollen provides protein and can support predatory bugs, mites and other beneficial groups.
A diverse planting provides both rather than relying on one food source.
Dense foliage, ground cover and permanent plants provide shelter from weather, cultivation and disturbance.
Plants therefore work best as part of a habitat network rather than simply as isolated flowering pots.
Long flowering and rich in small accessible flowers. Particularly useful around crop edges, containers and protected cropping areas.
Good for: hoverflies, parasitoids, small predatorsEasy to establish and flowers for a long period. Provides pollen, nectar and useful structure around crop margins.
Good for: hoverflies, predatory bugs, general pollinatorsA perennial with broad flower heads containing many small feeding sites. Useful for long-term margins and less disturbed areas.
Good for: parasitoids, hoverflies, predatory insectsProvides ground cover, flowers and long-term habitat. Particularly useful where a semi-permanent living margin is practical.
Good for: ground predators, pollinators, general beneficialsFast-growing and strongly attractive when in flower. Useful as a mid-season booster or temporary flowering strip.
Good for: hoverflies, parasitoids, pollinatorsQuick to establish and useful where short-term flowering cover is needed between longer-lived species.
Good for: parasitoids, hoverflies, general beneficial insectsProduces open umbels with easily accessible nectar and pollen. Particularly useful during early and mid-season.
Good for: parasitoids, hoverflies, lacewingsTall structure and large umbels provide feeding sites later in the season when some earlier flowers are declining.
Good for: parasitoids, hoverflies, predatory insectsUseful for extending flowering into late summer and early autumn, helping bridge late-season food gaps.
Good for: hoverflies, pollinators, general beneficial insectsLong flowering and easy to integrate into borders, pots and crop margins. Best used as part of a mixed planting rather than alone.
Good for: general beneficial insects and pollinatorsAnnuals such as phacelia, buckwheat, dill and cosmos are useful because they establish quickly and can be sown where and when they are needed.
Perennial or semi-permanent plants such as yarrow and clover provide greater habitat continuity and reduce the need to rebuild the beneficial insect community every season.
In practice, a mixture of both usually gives the best balance between rapid flowering and long-term habitat.
Small areas can still be useful. The aim is to create connected feeding and refuge points rather than turning the whole production area into a wildflower meadow.
Individual species are useful, but combining them gives better flowering continuity and reduces the risk of a seasonal gap.
View the planting mix →