Ep 242 - Inviting Beneficial Garden Guests

Do hard winters curb garden pests? A listener’s question about whether cold weather reduces “bad bugs” leads to a deeper conversation about beneficial insects, biological control, and sustainable pest management. 

In this episode, Mary Stone shares insights from the NJ Nursery & Landscape Association’s Total Pro Expo, exploring why most insects belong in our ecosystems and how predator-prey relationships naturally regulate pest populations. 

She discusses the importance of native plants, plant diversity, layered landscape design, and nectar-rich flowers in supporting pollinators and beneficial insects. 

Nature reminds us that harmony grows not from elimination, but from inviting more of what sustains life in our gardens and in our garden of life. 

Companion Blog Post: Inviting the Beneficial Garden Guests 

Thanks for tuning in!

Links to Related Podcasts and Posts you’ll Enjoy

Ep 237. Roofs to Roots: Reviving Houseplants

Harvesting Rainwater & Snowmelt Wisdom – Blog Post

Ep 68. Gift of Meadows & Mountain Mint

Gift of Meadows & Mountain Mint – Blog Post

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I'd love to hear your garden and nature stories, as well as your thoughts on topics for future podcast episodes. You can email me at AskMaryStone@gmail.com. 

You can follow Garden Dilemmas on Facebook and Instagram #MaryElaineStone.

Episode web page —Garden Dilemmas Podcast Page

 Thank you for sharing the Garden of Life,

Mary Stone, Columnist & Garden Designer

More about the Podcast and Column:

 Welcome to Garden Dilemmas, Delights, and Discoveries.

 It's not only about gardens; it's about nature's inspirations, about grasping the glories of the world around us, gathering what we learned from Mother Nature, and carrying these lessons into our garden of life. So, let's jump in, in the spirit of learning from each other. We have lots to talk about.

Thanks for tuning in, Mary Stone 
Garden Dilemmas? AskMaryStone.com
Direct Link to Podcast Page

Transcript

Ep 242. Inviting Beneficial Garden Guests

Sat, Feb 21, 2026 7:42PM • 13:13

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Garden dilemmas, beneficial insects, biological control, native plants, pest management, biorational pesticides, pollinators, habitat diversity, winter landscape, insect resilience, predator-prey relationships, neem oil, urban landscapes, plant diversity, ecosystem balance.

SPEAKERS

Mary Stone

Mary Stone  00:00

Hello, fellow lovers of all things green. I'm Mary stone, and welcome to garden dilemmas, delights, and discoveries. It's not only about gardens. It's about nature's inspirations, about grasping the glories of the world around us, gathering what we learn from Mother Nature, and carrying these lessons into our garden of life. So let's jump in, in the spirit of learning from each other, we have lots to talk about. 

Mary Stone  00:26

Hello, there, kind listeners. It's Mary Stone on the screen porch, where the temperatures rose to 40 degrees on this mid-February day. You may hear the gutters delivering that melted snow I've gathered to water my indoor plants, as we spoke about in episode 237: Roofs to Roots, Reviving Houseplants. My house plants already look happier. The big snow is now down to six inches of mashed potato snow. Skiers call it. It slows down the speed in downhill skiing and cross-country skiing as well, which I don't mind at all. In fact, I enjoy taking more time to meander through the trees and the stillness of the winter landscape while admiring the long shadows and reflections in the pond and creek I'm so blessed to enjoy here.

As you know, that was the theme of our last few conversations, and I want to thank those who reached back after our last chat, Reflections in the Garden of Life. There are indeed seasons in our lives, and winter is one of them, filled with beauty, despite the challenges. So, on to this week's story, which starts like this.

Mary Stone  01:34

Susan, here in Blairstown, New Jersey, wrote something many of us are feeling. Spring cannot come soon enough. I miss the flowers and plants of summer. A friend reminded me that the hard winter is long overdue, though, and that it curbs the bad bugs. I hope ticks are on the list. Well, Susan, don't we all hope so. But ticks, like many insects, are remarkably resilient. Even when temperatures drop in the single digits, they don't simply disappear. They tuck themselves beneath the leaf litter and snow cover. And snow acts like a thermal blanket under a foot of snow, soil temperatures often hover close to 32 degrees, even while the air above it is bitterly cold. When temperatures drop below freezing, ticks and other insects enter a dormant state called diapause, slowing down and conserving energy until warmer temperatures return. And when we get mild or wintry days above 35 or 40 degrees, those little buggers come active again. And I had that happen. I was doing some late actually, I wouldn't say, late fall, I was doing some winter leaf cleanup, and I piled up some leaves, and I couldn't believe how many tiny ticks were on Jolie. What a mess that was, but I guess they're nature's creatures too. 

Mary Stone  02:53

Susan's question leads to a bigger conversation, one I found myself immersed in yesterday at the New Jersey Nursery and Landscape Association Total Pro Expo. It was postponed from January's Blizzard, and one of the presentations was really profound to me, given by Steven Rettke of Rutgers Cooperative Extension. His talk was titled Backyard Beneficials, Inviting Insects into the Landscape, but not ticks, you know, just saying. And here's the part that made the whole room lean in. Only about 2% of the insects in North America are exotic, meaning that they come from other countries, and yet, nearly half of our major pest insects are exotic. Isn't that remarkable? I mean, when you think about the statistics. So those conversations we've had about the spotted lantern fly and the emerald ash borer, which have done such damage to trees, are amongst those that came from other countries, as we know. And it's interesting because the spotted lantern flies, I learned yesterday, are starting to kill their host trees through their activity, and I've seen them jumping on maple trees. Emerald ash borers are now jumping on some white fringe trees as well. I don't think it's devastating them yet, but it's concerning me. It just goes to show that, you know, insects that come from overseas can adapt to their new locations here and modify their eating behaviors and so forth. So something to be concerned about. 

Mary Stone  04:28

But most insects belong here. They are part of a balanced living web, which leads to something even more important. Biological control is not about eradicating pests. It's about balance, something I hope continues to change in the mindset of many as we embrace more native plants and the natural way of balancing things, using predators, parasitoids, and pathogens to reduce pests to non-damaging levels, not to eliminate them entirely. Because eradication is neither achievable nor desirable, those bad bugs we sometimes wish would be wiped away, they are food and predators need prey. Lady beetles, lace wings, hover flies, Asian bugs, Assassin bugs, minute pirate bugs, predatory mites, to name a few, occur naturally. And Steve had a bunch of photos of those critters. They often prevent pest outbreaks, and perhaps best of all, they work for free, unless, of course, we unintentionally kill them with broad-spectrum pesticides, which we often do. 

Mary Stone  05:40

t's such a clear cause and effect. We want fewer pests, but some people spray, killing the very allies doing the work for us. Steve reminded us that the fierce, little alligator-shaped creature many gardeners overlook, which is the lady beetle larva. Those are the larvae of the ladybugs we adore, which are not really bugs. They are beetles. It's actually one of the most ferocious predators in the garden, eating roughly 400 aphids before reaching maturity. Then there's the delicate green lacewing larva, the aphid lion, which consumes up to 200 aphids per week. We even saw aphids transformed into papery mummies by tiny parasitic wasps, proof that nature is constantly regulating itself. If we allow it.

Mary Stone  06:34

We can design landscapes that invite beneficial insects by increasing plant and habitat diversity, providing nectar and pollen, and increasing habitat stability. Simple landscapes, which are low in plant diversity, with lots of space between the plants, tend to be hot, dry, and sunny. Whereas complex landscapes rich with plant diversity and layered with native plants, with wall to wall, color and textures, as I like to design, they are cooler, moister, and shadier, a beautiful habitat for our beneficial creatures. 

Mary Stone  07:12

Simple landscapes are far more prone to pest outbreaks. Complex ones buffer extremes and support life. One of Steve's slides, he joked, white marble chips are evil, not morally, of course, but ecologically, they reflect heat, dry the soil, and provide little habitat. His photo was very funny, all these white chips of gravel and a few little shrubs pointed in here and there, and when I moved into my home, there was white gravel all around the foundation of the house, which actually has proved to be rather effective, because that white gravel killed weed seeds. So the border of my house is protected from weeds, and I have shrubs in front of it, so it's not so ugly. 

Mary Stone  07:59

In contrast, dense plantings, layered vegetation, and diverse flowering plants create shelter, food, and stability. Steve shared encouraging research that after 10 to 15 years, diverse urban landscapes often stop experiencing major pest outbreaks. In fact, over 90% of the plants in mature landscapes are essentially pest-free, not because they fought back with nasty chemicals, but because balance had time to grow. 

Mary Stone  08:32

Another beautiful reminder from the slides, flowers are not just decoration. They are invitations for pollinators. Steve is a self-proclaimed non-plant expert, but he provided a list of flowering herbs and wildflowers that produce lots of nectar and pollen, some of which are native plants in our neck of the woods, such as goldenrod. There is the showy goldenrod and the wrinkle leaf goldenrod. And there are sunflowers, such as the giant sunflower and the woodland sunflower. While the popular Purple coneflower, Echinacea purpurea, is often naturalized. Others, like the yellow prairie coneflower and the cutleaf coneflower, are considered native or established there, as is blazing star, such as the dense blazing star and the slender blazing star, which are native to New Jersey wetlands and meadows. And, of course, Angelica, specifically the purple stem Angelica, which is native here on river banks and marshes. Steve mentioned it is underused, and I agree. The leaves can reach two feet wide, and there's this large umbrella-like flower structure —it's so imposing —and purple stems, which add to the beauty—highly recommended. 

Mary Stone  09:48

So in the blog post, I'll be putting links to these plants, as well as the scientific names for you to enjoy, plus some of the plants I'm going to add to Steve's list, such as. The Mountain Mint we've spoken about. There's also northern Bayberry and wild ginger, as well as Black-Eyed Susans, mist flowers, and Wild Blue phlox. And let's not forget the Wild Bergamot, which is Monarda. All of these lovelies just are magnets for pollinators and so good for our beneficial insects. 

Mary Stone  10:21

Steve wrapped up his chat with a list of biorational pesticides, derived from natural plants, microorganisms, or minerals. They break down quickly and target specific pests, suppressing them, rather than eradicating them, with far less impact on non-targeted organisms. Among them is my go-to neem oil, and there are some heavy hitters, too, that are safer than chemical pesticides. I'll be sure to include this slide in the blog post and link it in the show notes. 

Mary Stone  10:53

Even when pest controls become necessary, the message remains the same. Choose targeted, biorational approaches that protect beneficial life whenever possible —horticultural oils, insecticidal soaps, biological products, and carefully selected treatments compatible with pollinators —because the goal is not eradication; it's encouraging harmony in the garden. Ask Mary Stone.com.

Mary Stone  11:23

Driving home from the landscape show, I passed winter-farm fields resting beneath snow and thought how this conversation mirrors our lives. We tried to eliminate every discomfort, frustration, or unwelcome presence, but nature shows us something wiser. Balance doesn't come from removal. It comes from relationships, from diversity, and the patience of allowing time, sometimes 10 or 15 years, for harmony to take root. So it's not how to get rid of bad things, it's how to propagate more of the good things, kindness, beauty, and more life, more love. 

So thanks for coming by. I always enjoy our time together, and I hope you have as well. And if so, please share the podcast with a friend or two, so more can join us in learning and growing in this garden of life. It means so much to me how our community is growing. So until next time, keep growing, noticing, and inviting the valuable guests into your garden of life, because when they arrive, the garden and our hearts begin to care for themselves, and they heal -- such a beautiful thing. I'll see you next time on the screen porch. 

Mary Stone  12:42

You can follow Garden Dilemmas on Facebook, online at GardenDilemmas.com, and on Instagram at the hashtag. Mary Elaine Stone: Garden Dilemmas, Delights, and Discoveries is produced by Alex Bartling. Thanks for coming by.

I look forward to chatting again from my screen porch, and always remember to embrace the unexpected in this garden of life. Have a great day.