In This Article >  Beneficial Borders >  Plants for Pollen and Nectar >  Plants that Shelter Beneficials     Related Articles >  Meet The Beneficial Insects >  Control Insects Without Pesticides >  A Flowering Herb Garden >  Wildlife Garden Products >  Annuals for Every Purpose >  Perennial All-Stars Discussions >  New Gardeners

Clump-forming grasses:
Blue wildrye (Elymus glaucus)
Deer grass (Muhlenbergia rigens)
Orchard grass (Dactylis glomerata)
Tufted hairgrass (Deschampsia caespitosa)
Velvet grass (Holcus lanatus)

Permanent plantings of perennials, trees and shrubs.
Especially good are dense low-growing groundcovers, perennial cover crops, and certain perennial flowers with woody stems and/or dense crowns, such as yarrows, comfrey, and coneflowers. Comfrey provides highly attractive hibernation sites for spiders, with up to 240 spiders per square yard, compared to only 10 spiders per square yard in adjoining wheat fields.

These plant lists were compiled from a variety of scientific sources, including Enhancing Biological Control—Habitat Management to Promote Natural Enemies of Agricultural Pests, edited by Charles H. Pickett and Robert L. Bugg, and a 3-year study of 170 species of ornamental plants by Mohammed Al-Doghairi and Whitney Cranshaw, Ph.D. of Colorado State University.

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