Sacramento Digs Gardening: Dragonflies are garden good guys

This flame skimmer dragonfly rests on a post, waiting for prey. (Photo: Debbie Arrington)

T hey eat their fill of mosquitoes and other pests

They only look monstrous -- if you're a mosquito.

Dragonflies seem to be everywhere this spring in Sacramento, and that's a good thing.

This beneficial insect is a major predator of other insects, specifically mosquitos. They're able to pick off those little buzzers in midair. That talent earned dragonflies the nickname "mosquito hawk."

But dragonflies have a larger appetite than just mosquitoes. They'll eat flying or soft-bodied insects of all sorts including flies, ants and moths. That makes them a natural part of garden pest control.

Several species of dragonflies and their smaller cousin damselflies are native to Northern California. Their presence is generally regarded as a sign of a healthy ecosystem.

Dragonflies at rest keep their wings apart. (Photo:

Kathy Morrison)

Besides size, the difference between dragons and damsels is how they hold their wings; dragonflies at rest keep their wings apart, while damselflies close their wings like a butterfly.

Both gravitate toward fresh water sources such as ponds and springs, but also like to hang out near backyard pools or fountains.

Nymphs -- immature dragonflies -- live in the mud at the bottom of streams or ponds and eat their full of mosquito larvae and other aquatic bugs.

Once mature, they enter their "flight season" -- usually from May to September. That's why we're seeing so many right now.

Particularly eye-catching is the flame skimmer or firecracker skimmer. About 3 to 4 inches long, this dragonfly is brilliant orange-red from head to tail. The males are totally orange -- including their eyes, legs and the veins in their wings. The females are a lot less flashy -- brown with yellow pinstripes.

Some dragonflies hunt from a perch, sitting and watching for potential prey to fly or crawl by. Then in an instant, the dragonfly swoops down and grabs it.

This is something dragonflies have been doing for many thousands of years. Fossilized dragonflies, looking almost identical to present day descendants, date back to when dinosaurs roamed the continent.

Dragonflies may be among the top predators in the insect world, but they're also somebody else's lunch. Birds like dragonflies, too.

GENERAL GARDENING

An article about gardening.

Keywords:

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Food in My Back Yard Series

May 6: Maintain soil moisture with mulch for garden success

April 29: What's (already) wrong with my tomato plants?

April 22: Should you stock up on fertilizer? (Yes!)

April 15: Grow culinary herbs in containers

April 8: When to plant summer vegetables

April 1: Don't be fooled by these garden myths

March 25: Fertilizer tips: How to 'feed' your vegetables for healthy growth

March 18: Time to give vegetable seedlings some more space

March 11: Ways to win the fight against weeds

March 4: Potatoes from the garden

Feb. 25: Plant a fruit tree now -- for later

Feb. 18: How to squeeze more food into less space

Feb. 11: When to plant? Consider staggering your transplants

Feb. 4: Starting in seed starting

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Garden Checklist for week of May 11

Make the most of the lower temperatures early in the week. We’ll be back in the 80s by Thursday.

* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. Time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.

* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.

* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.

* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters. (You also can transplant seedlings for many of the same flowers.)

* Plant dahlia tubers.

* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.

* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.

* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.

* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.

* Add mulch to the garden to maintain moisture. Mulch also cuts down on weeds. But don’t let it mound around the stems or trunks of trees or shrubs. Leave about a 6-inch-to-1-foot circle to avoid crown rot or other problems.

* Remember to weed! Pull those nasties before they set seed.

* Water early in the day and keep seedlings evenly moist.

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