A Kid's Guide to Bugs and Flowers

Sometimes, it's nice to stop and smell the flowers. But where there are flowers, there are also bugs! When people see bugs, they often just want to get rid of them, but that would be a mistake. It's natural to think that all insects are scary or dangerous, but that isn't true. Not all bugs that are on flowers and plants are bad. Some of them are actually beneficial. When something is beneficial, it means that it's helpful and serves a good purpose. So a beneficial bug is a good bug! But there are bad bugs, too, and these are called pests. A bad bug is one that injures or kills a plant by chewing on the roots, flowers, or leaves. Other pests can kill a plant by spreading plant diseases or by putting holes in the roots or stems.

There are several ways that a bug can help plants. It can be a predator, or it can be a pollinator. A pollinator is a bug that carries pollen from one plant to another. This helps plants reproduce. When plants can reproduce, more plants grow. Other bugs are pest predators. That means they like to eat the bad bugs that hurt or destroy plants. Some predators are also parasites. A parasite lives on or in another insect and uses it for food.

There are a lot of different bugs out there. When looking at flowers or helping an adult take care of them, it's good to know what some of the good bugs are so you'll know which ones to leave alone.

Dragonflies

A dragonfly is a flying insect that's usually found near water. It has two pairs of wings that are thin and see-through. There are thousands of different dragonflies. Some are plain, and others are bright and colorful, with beautiful patterns on their wings. They don't look like dragons or flies, but they can hover in the air like a helicopter and even fly backward! Dragonflies are predators that don't hurt humans; they love to eat pests that can destroy flowering plants.

Ladybugs

Round with spots, ladybugs are some of the cutest bugs around. Ladybugs are beetles, and some people even call them lady beetles. Although they are called ladybugs, there are male ladybugs, too! This shiny red bug's color helps protect it from animals that may want to eat it. In nature, red and black coloring often warns other animals that it won't taste good or is dangerous to eat.

These charming little bugs are also predators. One of their favorite pests to eat is aphids and their eggs. An aphid is a bug that eats the leaves off of plants.

Praying Mantis

Praying mantises are pretty scary and also kind of cool. They have triangle-shaped heads that can turn 180 degrees (that's half a circle!), and their enormous eyes always seem to look right at you. Their wings let them fly, but on land, they walk on four legs. They also have two front limbs, or forelegs, that they hold in a position that makes them look like they're praying. That's why they're called praying mantises. They use these forelegs to catch and hold onto the insects that they eat. Because of their green color and their shape, they can blend in with leaves, stems, and sticks. This coloring makes it hard for other bugs to see them. It also makes it easier for them to catch pests by surprise. Although they are good to have around, be careful: Praying mantises will eat other good bugs, too.

Green Lacewing

Green lacewings are small flying insects that have two delicate wings that are thin like netting. Their color is usually pale green, but they can also be tan or light brown. When they are in their larval stage, they are beneficial predators that like to eat aphids, mealybugs, spider mites, and other pests. They're so good at eating pests that some gardeners buy them for that reason.

Ground Beetles

This type of beetle lives on the ground and likes areas with lots of shade. Instead of eating insects from the leaves or flowers of a plant, the ground beetle finds its food in the soil. Slugs and maggots are just some of the bugs that it likes to munch on. A ground beetle will also help stop weeds from growing by eating their seeds.

Wasps

Most people are pretty scared when they see a wasp. That's because wasps have a very painful sting. But having wasps around isn't always bad. There are a lot of different wasps, like hornets and yellowjackets. Depending on the type of wasp, they can do a lot of good, like helping to control pests and pollinating flowers and other plants. Some wasps get rid of bad insects by feeding them to their larva. Other wasps inject their eggs into the larvae of other insects so they have food to eat when they hatch.

Adult wasps also feed off of nectar from shallow blooms. Like other insects, they spread pollen as they move from one flower to the next.

Bees

Bees are at the top of the list of good bugs. Thanks to bees, we have pretty flowers and tasty fruits and vegetables! That's because they're pollinators. In fact, honey bees pollinate more than any other insect. That's because their flat legs and bodies are very hairy. Whenever they land on flowers to suck up their nectar, the pollen sticks to the hair. This helps them transfer pollen from one plant to another.

Butterflies

Butterflies are so pretty to look at, and they are pollinators, too. Like bees, they like to sip nectar from bright flowers. To reach the nectar, they use a part of their mouth that's sort of like a straw. This part, called a proboscis, unrolls and goes into the flower where the nectar is. While they feed, their bodies touch and collect pollen. They collect less pollen than bees because their legs and proboscises are so long and they don't have hairy bodies. The pollen that they collect gets transferred to other flowers as they continue to search for more nectar.