Blue-banded Bees and Other Beneficial Native Insects, with Dr Katja Hogendoorn

1 hour

Online

Insects provide a wealth of services to the home gardener. In fact, our gardens cannot thrive without them. You are probably familiar with the introduced European honeybee, but did you know that Australia is home to over 2,000 species of native bees, including the much-loved blue-banded bee? Our native bees range in size from the tiny Quasihesma bees which are only 2mm long, up to the Large Carpenter bees at 24mm long. In this session, Dr Katja Hogendoorn will discuss how our gardens, including our food gardens, benefit from native bees and many other lesser-known native insects, including ladybugs, hoverflies, lacewings and parasitic wasps. Katja will discuss some of these key native insects, why they are so important, how to attract them to your garden and what you can do to harness their services. Katja Hogendoorn is a senior researcher at the University of Adelaide’s School of Agriculture, Food and Wine. Her research focuses on the maintenance and enhancement of beneficial insects, in particular pollinators in crops and urban environments This workshop is available on-demand, for you to watch whenever suits you best. Sign up below (or log in, if you're already a Grow It Local member) to get instant access. This FREE, live and exclusive session is part of our Grow It Local ongoing monthly 'learn to grow' workshop series — designed to help educate, inspire and support more Australians to grow, share and eat locally grown food.​​​​​​​​ * This session is proudly brought to you by Green Adelaide and Dr Katja Hogendoorn * Photos courtesy of Martin Stokes