Enhance beneficial insects, pollinators with native plants

About the project

Why native plants?

Which plants are best?

Create your own native planting

Plant fact sheets

Biological control &
Natural enemies

Pollination and bees

Field days

Publications and teaching tools

What do "small," "medium" and "large" numbers mean?
They refer to how many insects were collected per meter square in a 30 second sample. Small means less than 2 insects; medium indicates 2 to 10 insects, and large suggests greater than 10 insects.

Enhancing Beneficial Insects with Native Plants
Columbine
Aquilegia Canadensis L.

Group: Dicot
Family: Ranunculaceae (buttercup)
Growth Habit: Forb/herb
Duration: Perennial
U.S. Nativity: Native Natural

Enemies Attracted: None.

Pests Attracted: Small numbers of lygus bugs, aphids, thrips and froghoppers.

Bees attracted: Low numbers (less than 1 bee per meter square in a 30 second sample) of sweat bees.

Species Notes: Striking red and yellow rocket-shaped blossoms. The plant filled in during its third year of growth and was 2-3 ft tall. Columbine bloomed from mid May to mid June. Although visually attractive, we collected almost no insects at this hummingbird-pollinated plant, and zero natural enemies. This species was the least attractive to natural enemies in the early season and the entire growing season, with zero natural enemies.

C. A. Rechenthin and J. Anderson. plants.usda.gov

About the Plant Species Graph: Average number of beneficial insects collected at each plant species the week before, during, and after peak bloom, for plant species blooming from mid-August through early October
(+ standard error). Columbine (Aquilegia Canadensis) boxed in red. Bars for natural enemies are in green, bars for bees are in yellow. Bars for native plants are solid and nonnative plants are striped. The black line on the top graph shows the number of natural enemies in grass with no flowering plants (grass control). Plants are listed in order of peak bloom.

Habitat: Includes full sun to partial shade, and soils of mid-range moisture (neither very wet nor very dry). Naturally occurring in wood borders or clearings, roadsides, riverbanks; generally associated with mixed or deciduous woods and thickets. Map indicates plant distribution by state.

Cultivation and Management: Flowers from seed in second or third year . Also can be grown from plug material (flowers in first or second year). A short lived perennial that self-seeds on disturbed soils.

Availability: Species is available as seed, plug or container grown material from various native plant nurseries. Michigan Native Plant Producers Association

For more information: USDA-NRCS PLANTS database

This fact sheet prepared by: Doug Landis, Anna Fiedler, Department of Entomology, Michigan State University. Please note: The information presented at this web site should be considered a guideline to be adapted for your situation. MSU makes no warranty about the use of the information presented here. Read disclaimer.

Web site information prepared by: Doug Landis, Anna Fiedler, Rufus Isaacs and Julianna Tuell, Department of Entomology, Michigan State University. Funding support: USDA SARE with Project GREEEN, the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station, MSU Extension, and the MSU IPM Program.
Web developer: J.N. Landis, MSU IPM Program. Updated: 11/21/06