Hover’s no bother It masquerades as a wasp, but the hoverfly is a pollinator whose larvae gobble aphids
angelica, parsley, sweet cicely, cow parsley and anthriscus are all ideal and make great companion plants for the veg plot.
Members of the daisy family, such as the bright orange flowers of calendula and tagetes, will attract them, as well as single flowered dahlias, eupatorium, alyssum and cornflowers.
Even a patch of unmown lawn will contain daisies to support this and other beneficial insects.
Some species of hoverfly need water to lay their eggs, which they would naturally do either in stagnant pools of water, rot holes or pools of water in old trees.
You can mimic this environment simply with a tray of water and some leaf litter, left in a corner of the garden during their breeding season from May to October.
Finally, avoid using insecticides. Hoverflies will lay eggs close to aphid populations so if you spray off the aphid population early, hoverflies will seek better places to reproduce and they won’t be around to help you when aphids are at their peak.
Last weekend, the National Botanic Garden of Wales held its Pollinator Festival.
It’s a centre of world-leading pollinator research near Carmarthen, and home to approximately half a million honey bees in its Bee Garden, a kaleidoscope of tropical butterflies in the Butterfly House, as well as thousands of insect pollinator species.
So the Botanic Garden is a great place to visit and learn about bees, butterflies, moths, hoverflies and a host of other pollinator species.
For further information phone 01558 667149 or visit botanicgarden. wales.
Pollinating insects are in decline but the web of gardens that criss-cross the British Isles can help make all the difference to their survival.