Backyard Activities

During the summer, I take a walk around the yard every day to observe the dozens of insects in the garden. It is fun to identify the species and watch the activities they are engaged in and learn how they keep my backyard healthy and looking so wonderful.  Here are some of the insects I recently observed.

Bees, wasps, and flies often visit ‘Walker’s Low’ catmint, Nepeta faassenii, a purplish, low-spreading perennial that flourishes in bright sunny locations.  I most often see honey bees,  Apis mellifera, and cabbage white butterflies, Pieris rapae, visit the catmint.  Both insect species are taking nectar for food from the catmint.  They don’t stay long in any one place, and flit constantly from one flower stalk to another, taking small sips and moving on.

Another hotspot for insects is in the vegetable garden.  We have tomatoes, peppers, beets, carrots, parsley and dill, Anethum graveolens, an annual herb in the celery family used as a spice for flavoring food.  Dill is also a host plant for the Eastern Black Swallowtail Butterfly, Papilio polyxenes.  After the eggs hatch, the earlier stage caterpillar is black overall, with sharp orange spikes covering the body and a white “saddle” in the middle.  As the caterpillar matures, it will lose the spikes, turn light green with yellow spots and whitish stripes, then enter the chrysalis stage and eventually emerge as an adult butterfly.

Another winged insect you may see, the Crane Fly, a member of the Tipulidae family, has a bright orange body and glowing green eyes.  These insects can be found in moist woodlands or around bodies of water including a creek or pond running through your backyard.  They lay their eggs in water or moist environments, and the larvae live in the top layers of soil.  The larvae help to break down organic material in soils while the adults are an important food source for spiders, fish, small amphibians and birds.  The typical lifespan for an adult is only 1-2 weeks.

Monarch butterflies, Danaus plexippus, are starting to appear daily.  The monarch is the State Insect of Illinois, and it is found throughout the state in all habitats except deep forest.  Up to  three generations are born each summer, and the last generation in late summer / early autumn is migratory, flying to overwintering sites mainly in the high altitude regions of Mexico.  Monarchs are dependent upon the many species of plants in the milkweed family, Asclepiadaceae.  Eggs are laid on leaves and the caterpillars feed exclusively on species of milkweed.  In recent years, we have seen a decline in the number of milkweed plants everywhere in Illinois, but you can help monarchs by planting them in your own yards and encouraging local business and government to do the same.

The Japanese beetle, Popillia japonica, can be found on many plants in the garden.  It is an invasive species that does very little harm in its native country, but is a pest of over 300 species of roses, grapes, linden trees and numerous other plants.  The adults eat everything between the veins of the leaves, then the plants can no longer create their own food.  Japanese beetles display iridescent copper-colored wings folded over their backs behind a dark green head.  Several insects and parasitoids have been brought into the U.S. to control these beetles, with limited success.  Traps have also been developed, but data suggests that these merely entice the beetle to a host plant.

The common green bottle fly, Lucilia sericata, also known as a blow fly, is a member of the fly family, Calliphoridae, comprising over 1200 known species.  Members of this family occur worldwide in almost every location that includes humans.  Adult flies feed on carbohydrate-rich nectar in the garden, as well as any decaying meat or garbage.  Dumpsters and garbage containers accessible from outside may attract flies in huge numbers.  Eggs are laid on carrion and larvae feed on the carrion.  The time period from egg to adult can be between 2 and 4 weeks, and a female may lay 10-15 clutches of 200 eggs each in her lifetime.  The best control for these insects is to keep refuse covered at all times.