Tragedy struck early April 17, 2015 when a semi-truck carrying 14 million honeybees rolled when entering northbound I-5. An estimated 100 truckloads of bees carrying 400-500 hives are on Washington roads at anytime during the spring and summer.

The larger tragedy is the need to truck bees for agriculture at all. Large-scale monoculture attracts fewer pollinators than a varied urban garden. Home vegetable gardeners can potentially increase yield three-fold by attracting pollinators.

What do pollinators like in your area? Here are three tips for creating pollinator attractive plantings:

Select flowers in different sizes and shapes. Plant in clumps for critical mass. Bees go where they find what they want and they favor plants such as acanthus, feverfew, rambling rose, true geraniums, Japanese snowbell, and others with many small flowers. Perennials and fruit trees have clusters of small open-centered flowers that bloom early. Heather, azaleas, lavender, and red flowering current are also great picks. Mid-season suggestions include dahlia, hyssop, and raspberry. A few for late season are sedum, cosmos, pumpkin and squash.

Use parasitoids and beneficial insects to help keep a balance in your yard without chemicals. Any foreign substance can have unintended consequences on people, beneficial insects, pets, and other plants. Using good bugs that eat undesirable insects is an example of Integrated Pest Management (IPM). Here are some to appreciate for what they eat: ladybugs (aphids and mites), beneficial nematodes (root-feeding insects), green lacewings (small insects, caterpillars), and frogs and dragonflies (mosquitoes and flies).

The parasitoids need open-centered flowers with easy access to nectar and pollen too, for energy to lay eggs. Interplant sweet alyssum and/or carrot family flowers among vegetables and shrubs where these beneficials have easy access to any aphids, mites, and other pests. Aphids look like little white smudges on the underside of leaves; mites look like dust that walks around.

Along with early blooms this year come early pests. “Some pests such as aphids, slugs and tent caterpillars are easy to identify. You can hand pick or attract slugs into a trap (a little beer in a bottle works) when they are active during wet periods and at night. Snails weather dryer conditions within their protective shells. Tent caterpillars are particularly bad this year. Their webs are highly visible white triangles in limb notches. Generally, tent caterpillars feed during the day and return to the tent at night. Step-by-step directions for removal can be found at http://tinyurl.com/prunetentcaterpillar.

Pests can be located by their damage. They often hide on the underside of leaves. According to Sharon Collman, WSU Snohomish County Extension Educator, and dedicated entomologist, “Dealing with destructive insects can be as simple as placing a cardboard box beneath them and gently tapping the plant’s central stem. The creatures reflexively drop into the box.”

Remove damaged foliage. Master Gardeners advise that home composting doesn’t reach adequate temperatures to destroy most pests and disease organisms. Always dispose of affected material in city yard waste.

Solutions are pest specific. Diagnose your problem first. WSU supports a publically available science-based website (www.wsu/hortsense/).

Still unsure? Clip some affected foliage and collect a few bugs in a jar. You can preserve eggs by placing them in gel hand sanitizer to bring to the WSU extension office. A Master Gardener will identify the problem and develop a plan.

Collman recently updated Master Gardeners on new pests migrating into our area. “We’re asking for help tracking these new bugs. Everyone can be a citizen scientist. MG’s are now educating the public about these new bugs,” she said. “I want people to email me at collmans@wsu.edu when they see the insects described below. I’ll provide info and update the map.”

For the first time this spring we’ve seen European Chafer, which feeds on roots causing lawns to pull up easily. European crane fly, another lawn pest, feeds on grass blades. Ways of controlling these differ, so a correct diagnosis is key.

Lily Leaf Beetle (bright red) is seen on the underside of leaves of Asiatic lilies, fritillaria and cardiocrinum. Handpicking adults and eggs off the plant is the current way to manage these.

Viburnum leaf beetle adults are brown. Eggs are laid in notches along the twig tips.

Pruning infested tips before the eggs hatch is the best control.

Brown marmorated stinkbugs look like other brown stinkbugs. Unlike our native stinkbugs, they afflict over 100 plants by sucking fruit flesh and leaving hard pockmarks.

Take samples of damaged plants and bugs to the Extension office.

To learn more about IPM, click resources on the WSU Snohomish County website at http://snohomish.wsu.edu. You can visit the pollinator garden MGs Dave Hofeitz and Teri Gaul designed for public education and enjoyment at McCollum Park.

MG’s will be on hand to assist you at the Bi-Annual MG Garage Sale, June 6, from 11 AM – 3 PM at McCollum Park.