The pedigree of honey does not concern the bee,
a clover, anytime, to him, is aristocracy. – Emily Dickinson
All gardens are full of insects and other wildlife. Most of them go about their business with little thought to humans. Butterflies roam from flower to flower, and caterpillars feast upon host plants, like parsley, dill or tropical milkweed. In the middle of summer, depending on the time of day, I may see bumblebees, paper wasps, honeybees, carpenter bees, hornets and flower flies feasting upon nectar while spreading pollen on every flower they touch. At night, moths come out to play.
Inevitably, when a bumblebee gets too close, visiting friends ask with an involuntary shiver, “What do you do about the bugs?”
I give them a knowing smile and say, “Not much.”
I try to garden as organically as possible, and so a lot of wildlife other than insects also exists beneath and in between my plants. In my garden, we have several kinds of lizards, tree frogs, toads and even a few garden snakes that feast upon the insects and small animals. Fortunately, the snakes are shy and rarely appear in the daytime much to the relief of my friends. I never tell them about the time I had to chase off a Speckled Kingsnake with a concentrated spray from the garden hose because he kept surprising me in the garden.
My personal fright bug is the common paper wasp, but after seeing one carry a caterpillar three times its size away from my vegetable garden, the wasp earned my instant respect and admiration. Allowing the insects to do their jobs also lets me observe patterns of behavior I would normally miss like male butterflies fighting over a prime puddling spot, or parasitic wasp larvae emerging from a tomato hornworm.
So, how does a gardener get to observe without being bitten or stung? Here are a few simple guidelines:
- Try not to wear perfume in the garden. This includes deodorant/antiperspirant, lotions and soap.
- No bright colors, especially blue and yellow. Bees and wasps are attracted to these. I also don’t wear red or pink.
- No clothing with complicated color patterns, especially those resembling flowers. Leave the printed capris at home and instead, opt for clothes in white, tan, khaki or green. Think foliage.
- Most gardeners like something to drink in the garden. Take water, or drinks like unsweetened iced tea. Sorry, to all my Southern friends! Sugary drinks are a magnet for yellow jackets and bees.
- Move throughout the garden at a measured pace. That way, if you encounter a snake or a lizard, it will usually move quickly away from you.
- I use an organic insect repellent that doesn’t contain DEET, like Burt’s Bees Herbal Insect Repellent to ward off mosquitoes. Because it’s oil based, you may need to reapply it. If you’re not afraid of DEET, you can use any of the regular repellents on the market.
- All of the spiders I come in contact with in the garden, usually the Wolf Spider (shown above,) the Brown Recluse and the Flower Spider, aren’t aggressive. However, it’s important that I know what they look like and watch out for them. I always wear gloves when clearing brush and/or mulch, places the wolf spider and brown recluse tend to hide. I’ve been bitten by a brown recluse, and it wasn’t pretty. I was bitten in the house.
Dragonflies in for a landing
- Wearing gloves is a good idea. Don’t squish an unknown bug with your bare hands. Once I did this, and I regretted it when blisters began to form. I discovered the culprit was a Blister Beetle. Also, Assassin Bugs (or as we call them in my house, Satan Bugs) will give you a nasty bite too if they get into your clothing, or you accidentally grab one. Like many bugs, they drop to the ground if threatened. I was weeding some grass, and grabbed one by mistake.
I also remind myself that for the insects my garden is their entire world. They live, procreate and die here. Just as I consider a plant’s needs for sun, good soil and rain, I also need to be aware of the small creatures abiding therein. To them, I am the visitor, even if for me, it’s partly my home too.
Enjoyed this post…. I just love that frog in the daylily…what a perfect shot!! He looks quite content in there!
Thank you so much. That is the Diva’s favorite photo too. We were just talking about it last night.~~Dee
I like the Burt’s Bees stuff, too. Not only because it doesn’t have DEET, but also because it smells really good on. I despise “bug spray smell.” 🙂
Yeah, I’d forgotten how bad Off smells, Kim.~~Dee
Great post! I like to keep my garden organic too.
Hi Eric, thank you. I have to admit thought that my garden is only 99.9% organic. I do use Daconil every once in awhile on the roses for blackspot.~~Dee
Great advice, Dee, very sensible and informative. I will even try to take some of it (gloves when handling mulch). But I’m afraid my favorite gardening tee is bright blue, and I will always wear antiperspirant in this heat. 😉
Knock on wood, I’ve never been stung by a bee or wasp, though a hairy caterpillar got me once. Like you, I move slowly through the garden and just let them do their thing. Many bees don’t even mind if you get up close for a macro-shot. I haven’t tried it with wasps though.
Pam, I wear antiperspirant too, girl. I just don’t wear perfume or wash my hair with the good smelling stuff. I’ve been stung several times, but it was always when I got close to their nest. In this heat and this time of year, wasps get testy. It’s raising all those children, I think.~~Dee
Hi, honey. Your article reminds me of a hundred years ago when I was young and a Navy wife. I had a neighbor who was raised in the city. She went out to garden in front of her apartment, wearing gloves, digging dirt with one hand and spray Raid with the other.
Jim and I planted this palmy plant for TJ, and when digging the hole, we dug up turtle eggs! I forgot to get a picture.
xxxooo
Oh, Curtiss Ann, that’s funny. Turtle eggs. Wow.~~Dee
Hi Dee,
Great job on explaining how to keep our fellow critters from mistaking us for something to attack in the garden! Love your work and will peruse your gluten free links as I am always looking for easier ways to avoid the stuff I’m allergic to!
Thanks for sharing!
Hi Stacey, thank you so much. I’ve haven’t done a gf/cf post in awhile. It’s long overdue.~~Dee
It’s funny, but we seem to be plagued more by insects here in Illinois than we were in NW Florida. Maybe it’s because of the many toads and frogs living in and around our yard. Most of our neighbors are careful not to contraminate the groundwater with pesticides, and I guess that makes all the difference. The horseflies have been especially annoying here lately. The other day we tried to walk on one of our favorite trails at Rend Lake, and the nasty flies descended on us like a bomb squadron on the attack.
Oh, I hate horseflies. We had them something terrible when we had horses.~~Dee
Dee, this is an awesome blog post. I garden organic too,
but am still learning. I don’t use chemicals, and so many of
the organic solutions are expensive, so often I end up with
every bug known to man in my garden. BAHAHAHAHA I have
to admit I’m really bad at wearing gardening gloves …and you
make some dang good reasons to wear them. I’ll try– really…
Brenda, thanks. I don’t always wear them either, hence why I’ve got hard knock experience. Some years the bad bugs are worse than others.~~Dee
I don’t do much about bugs either, I just let nature take its course. The only bane in my gardening life are the slugs and snails and not even all my little garden friends can keep those under control during a wet summer like we are having now.
Love the first pic of that pretty daylily with dito froggy!
BTW I do wear bright colours while gardening and perfume too but have never been bothered by any of the stinging insects. Perhaps they know I’m their friend.
Yolanda Elizabet, I think our bugs are crankier because of the heat. 🙂 ~~Dee
Oh, Dee, you know how I love bugs of all stripes.
Great post and your photos are fab.
Thanks, Martha.~~Dee
LOL! I love the critter in the Daylily. I guess it thought it found a good house. I’d love to have seen what happened when its house melted. I like your attitude. I’m trying to impart that to my daughter, who has a serious bug phobia. She wants me to kill or get rid of all the bugs in the garden. I try to tell her that they have as much right, if not more, to live in the garden than we do. She’s not buying it.
MMD, I have them all over the garden, and I still don’t know which variety of frog they are although I’ve looked and looked for names. They leave by mid-morning, the smart little critters. I think age helps with the bug thing. I used to be terrified.~~Dee
Great post, Dee! I often find that the “dangers” of bugs and snakes are vastly over-emphasized. Anything unfamiliar is scary, huh?
Absolutely, but Kathy, why didn’t you put your url up there?~~Dee
I’ve been posting on my own blog a lot recently about observing insects in my garden – those that are eating my plants and those that are eating the insects that are eating my plants. It is a fascinating world out there, and, as caretakers of organic gardens, we get to observe Nature in all its glorious diversity. For me at least, it is one of the major reasons I am a gardener. It’s not just about the pretty flowers.
Hi Dorothy, all of that is so true. I wish the world were filled with more gardeners. It would be a more peace filled place.~~Dee
Good post…and having been stung this year for the first time in almost 50 years I appreciate the advice! Also I found out the venom from a bee sting takes two to three minutes to enter the body so it’s important to get the stinger out fast. I luckily did so the swelling didn’t last long and the pain was not too bad after the first hour or so.
Leslie, thanks for the info about bee stings. It hurts like %&*), I know that.~~Dee
I really like the Burt’s Bees although I am not bothered much by mosquitos. (they live in my yard, but don’t seem to like me!) I noticed the picture of “butterfly weed”. I get aphids on mine–terrible, they cover it. But I leave it alone, don’t even spray with water, because of wishing for monarch caterpillars. Do you have the same problem?
Linda, thus far I don’t, but there’s always time for them to come.~~Dee
What a lovely thoughtful post.
Thank you so much.~~Dee
You are not just a role model for Oklahoma gardeners — I think you should be made a saint. The point of a garden should not just be for its spectacular beauty – but for the circle of life it engenders. Thank you for that thoughtful, compassionate post — the power of the pen is extraordinary and you wield it with such grace.
TR, my goodness, I’m all aflutter at your praise. I just read your most recent post on your blog. You can turn a pretty phrase yourself, my friend. I quote: “I realize this soil is my soil; the sodden earth my feet first touched when I learned to walk; the same soil that sustained me for years with vegetables from my grandfather’s garden; and the same bit of earth that my first beloved pets found final refuge in.” That’s some heady stuff. Oh, and your garden is fabulous too. Your famous cousin has nothing on you.~~Dee
That is such good advice. I didn’t know about the Burt’s Bees repellant but I’ll give it a go. Guess I’ll have to drink my sweet tea on the screened porch.
Thank you, Anna, I really like Burt’s Bees products.~~Dee
Excellent post with excellent advice, especially about avoiding perfumes and colorful clothing in the garden.
We do have brown recluse spiders in Indiana, but not too many, thankfully. But we’ve got plenty of wolf spiders and I jump every time I see one. But in all my years of gardening, I’ve never encountered a snake. I hope to avoid them my entire life!
Sooner or later, though, every gardener gets bitten or stung by something. It’s important to try to know what bit you, and watch the bite/sting site for signs of swelling or infection and don’t be afraid to seek medical attention if warranted.
Thanks, Carol. You’re right. I’ve been stung and bitten a few times, usually my own fault. I forgot to write that wasps often give you a warning if you’re too close to the nest. They’ll buzz you and then even bump you. I ignored this once and got stung twice on the leg. Ouch!!~~Dee
Love the daylily with the frog. Is that your photo? Miraclulous. I’ll keep reading your blog. D.
Hi Daniel, thanks so much. All photos are mine unless otherwise attributed. I’m glad he caught your fancy.~~Dee