Question: What are the benefits of growing perennials?

Answer: Webster defines perennial as “… having a life cycle of more than two years, …plants that produce flowers and seed from the same root structure year after year.” The UC Davis Arboretum All-Star list says, “Perennials are long-lived, soft-stemmed plants that don’t form woody stems.” These definitions give us a broad grouping of plants that includes ornamental grasses, ferns, succulents, bulbs and other showy flowering plants.

Perennials are usually easy to obtain, small enough to move around the garden if necessary, and endlessly varied in their visual qualities. They can be arranged in combinations that bring color/blooms to every season of the year. Some are chosen for vibrant leaf color or texture, while others are chosen for outstanding, colorful blooms or interesting structure. Whereas annuals must be bought, planted and removed at the end of the seasonal year, perennials are planted once and enjoyed for years to come.

The UC Davis Arboretrum All Star (arboretum.ucdavis.edu) list is full of native perennials. By choosing native perennials, watering needs can be reduced and natives bring the “native beneficials” also mentioned in the Garden Doctor this month. Perennials do need seasonal care such as deadheading (removing spent blossoms), or cutting back dormant stems to the ground. The reward for minimal maintenance is season after season of garden enjoyment.

Question: I hear a lot about beneficial insects. What are they and how do they help in my garden?

Answer: Insects benefit us in many ways in the garden and are, in fact, essential to its well-being. The most important function they serve is that of pollinators, thereby keeping the life cycle of all plants thriving. When we read in the newspaper about hive collapse among honeybees and its ramifications, we are indeed reminded of the key role insects play in ensuring our food supply.

Beneficial insects act as predators to many species that eat what we grow, both food and ornamentals. Correctly identifying and encouraging their presence helps us reduce the use of pesticides, which are harmful to good bugs as well as bad ones.

When we walk out into the garden, we notice many insects at work. Rather than regarding all of them as just “bugs” and assuming they are making trouble, we can discover which ones are helping us by learning what they look like. Some of the good ones to know are lady beetles in several styles, assassin bugs, lacewings, soldier beetles, syrphid (hover) flies, predatory wasps, spiders, green lacewings and pirate bugs.

It is important to be able to identify what the larvae and eggs of the helpful insects look like on the leaves of your plants. By not disposing the larvae of these beneficials, one ensures future generations of good predators.

The University of California IPM (Integrated Pest Management) website is loaded with information about beneficial insects and has excellent pictures that make for easy identification (http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu). The site is very easy to navigate and offers a vast amount of information about not only controlling garden pests naturally but also tips on handling household and other common pests.

All of us know how beneficial bees are to pollinating our food supply and also our flowers. There are many different kinds of bees, and in a healthy garden we usually observe several types at work. Bees do a lot of the heavy lifting here, but moths, butterflies and certain flies are pollinators as well.

We can make our gardens friendly places for pollinators to do their job. Not using pesticides and herbicides is a good start because most pollinators do not flourish when chemicals are used to the exclusion of natural controls. We can attract pollinators to our garden by supplying them with plenty of nectar and pollen to eat. Remember that native flowers will attract native bees and other native insects, another good reason to go native.

Simple flowers produce more pollen than double-headed ones do. Many flowering plants have been highly hybridized and are not bred for seed, which means they do not produce as much pollen.

To keep bees in your garden, plan to have flowers that will bloom over the seasons and plant flowers in clumps or groups rather than as single individuals. Blue, purple, violet, white and yellow flowers seem to be big attractors. Just look at all the bees on lavender and rosemary when they bloom. Remember: Think native and simple.

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The free Master Gardener workshops on attracting beneficial insects to your garden and on lavender distillation were rained out last Saturday. They have been rescheduled for 9:30 and 11 a.m., respectively, Saturday, June 25, in the Central Park Gardens at Third and B streets.

— Send questions, addressed to the “Garden Doctor,” by email to [email protected], voice mail to (530) 666-8737 or regular mail to UCCE Master Gardeners, 70 Cottonwood St., Woodland, CA 95695. Be sure to include your contact information, because any questions not answered in the Garden Doctor column will be answered with a phone call or email to you.

lavender and beesW

Lavender plants — as well as plants that have blue, purple, violet, white and yellow flowers — are big attractors of bees, Mother Nature’s most efficient pollinators. Courtesy photo

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