Attract Ladybugs to Your Garden

Don’t wait for Mother Nature to just send the helpful little ladybugs along. In these days of weed free lawns many of the naturally occurring ladybug-attracting plants have been destroyed as weeds. All is not lost, though. Yes, you can provide a welcoming habitat to attract ladybugs and still keep your esthetics happy. There are many garden plants and some herbs that they love.

However, when it comes to attracting ladybugs you don’t have to keep flowers out of your vegetable garden. No one said you can’t have flowers with food. Feel free to experiment with a few ladybug attracting flowers amongst the vegetables.

The same holds true for flower beds and herbs. Sometimes they are very good companion plants, such as roses and garlic chives. Herbs are also fragrant and the smaller ones make nice border plants.
Butterfly Weed Ladybugs love the following flowers and herbs. Planting some in your garden will invite the little ladybugs for lunch.

Butterfly weed

Asclepias tuberosa Bright yellow and orange flower in summer bring the butterflies, also.

Coriander Coriandrum sativum Known also as cilantro in North America, the leaves have a very different taste than the fruit.

Cornflower    Centaurea sp. Bright blue, these lovelies bloom from May to September.

Basket of Gold   Alyssum saxatile -- A very popular golden yellow-flowered Alyssum. It is a dwarf and compact perennial plant. The foliage of Alyssum Saxatile is silver colored and very fragrant.

Dill   Anethum graveolens Beautiful and tall, this tall herb self seeds, so put it someplace you can contain it.

Fennel    Foeniculum vulgare Licorice tasting and lovely, It is a highly aromatic and flavorful herb with culinary and medicinal uses

Garlic Chives   Allium tuberosum - garlic chives make good companion plants for roses because they repel aphids.

Golden Chamomile Anthemis tinctoria Little yellow flowers that can be dried to make wonderful, soothing chamomile tea.

Prairie sunflower Helianthus maximilianii

Rocky Mountain Penstemon Penstemon_strictus -- Lovely spikes of blue flowers in June and July.

Yarrow (Achillia sp.) – Yarrow is a perennial garden favorite that provides color all season long