Flowers for beneficial insects, particularly hoverflies.

I am noticing the first few hoverflies of this year, and also i think their pupae. I was sitting watching them around my flowers and of the flowers that are so far out, they seem to much prefer my purple Aubrieta, those seem to be the only flowers in the area where we sit that they really liked. I watched them struggling with the miniature violas, clambering on the leaves and flowers and not for the most part able to find the nectar in the centre of the flower, and many hovering near the violas and then flying off again. They didn't seem to be showing any interest in my crocuses either, or tulips, or even hyacinths. The little purple crocuses with yellow stamens are all open, look beautiful, but the hoverflies don't seem to be interested in them. I have a lot of Erigeron karvinskianus with lots of flower buds on it but the flowers haven't opened yet, I hope when they do open that the hoverflies like them.

Last year I noticed that the hoverflies seemed to especially like the Feverfew and Alyssum, and pretty much seemed to ignore the Lobelia. When the Feverfew started flowering, greenfly suddenly vanished. And the hoverflies were all over the Alyssum. I think the hoverflies also like single flowered roses.

It is still early in the year, and most summer flowers aren't open yet, it is nice to see the hoverflies back but the only flowers so far open that they really like seem to be the Aubrieta. Obviously something pollinates other flowers, such as miniature violas, because they form a lot of seeds. I only ever seem to see the odd bee too, maybe that is just my poor observation. Yesterday I noticed a bee who seemed to be just information gathering, didn't hang around the flowers long enough or close enough to gather nectar.

 

Hi,

Very interesting groundbeetle. I've never noticed any particular insect but a bit of sunshine sure brings out every kind of bug. Our meadow wildflowers attract many types of insect though as well as bees which are always made welcome. I dislike wasps with a passion because wasps just sting for the fun of it. It's like a beautiful summers day today but later next week sleet is forecast. Tonight we alter the clocks and call it British Summer Time (BST). It's been another long winter so it's nice to get into the garden without having to wrap up like an Eskimo.

I'm sure your hoverflies will have plenty of company soon.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

@groundbeetle Insects and flowers the length of the proboscis/tongue is important for which insects choose which flowers, long tongued insects are better adapted to tubular flowers and shorter tongued insects go for more open flowers for examples daisies. Flowers also often have markings visible in the UV to which many insects are sensitive, these show the insect where the nectar is, colour can be important as can scent. Single flowers are better for insects than double as the nectar and pollen is more accessible. So your hoverflies will tend to go for daisies and their relatives, while bees will go for salvias and similar flowers, honeysuckle are often pollinated by moths.
Bear in mind that some hoverflies are predators and catch small midges and gnats on the wing.
Crocuses in my garden are visited by bees as are the hellebores, a bit early here at the moment for hoverflies.

 

I saw a bee visiting all my Aubretia flowers today, but it completely ignored my purple crocuses, which are open in the sun and lots of them. It flew quickly around my other flowers, mainly lots of miniature violas in different colours, showing no interest in them, and then flew away.

When I started out I planted some foxgloves, which the bees did love. I do love foxgloves but was concerned that people could mistake the poisonous leaves for something edible, especially when it is not flowering, and foxgloves seed themselves a lot everywhere. So I pulled up all traces of foxgloves in my garden. Not everyone is as fascinated by plants as I am, trying to recognise what everything is by leaf shape, texture, etc., enough to be able to tell foxglove leaves from the leaves of edible plants. I have all sorts of odd herbs growing, from lemon balm to basil, as well as thymes and chives that are less likely to be confused with foxglove leaves.

 

@groundbeetle Thanks for sharing your observations! The most successful plants for me with visiting hoverflies (both in terms of numbers and species diversity) have been Eupatorium cannabinum (Hemp Agrimony) and Eryngium 'Blaukappe'. Yes, Aubrieta deltoidea is a great one for attracting a variety of insects, but the hoverflies it attracts seem comparatively limited in terms of species, it tends to be mostly the smaller 'marmalade' hoverflies that visit it here from what I remember. I note that the purple-flowered cultivars of aubrieta are always far more successful with pollinators in my garden than the pink.

Nick

 

Am I right in thinking hoverfly larvae are those so called rat tail maggots?

Only I often make up a bucket of nettles and pour water over it, it really stinks after a few days but its also, quite often, full of these maggots which look pretty disgusting but are I believe pretty beneficial.