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 lady bugs, 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 session is being brought to you by Green Adelaide and Dr Katja Hogendoorn * Photo's courtesy of Martin Stokes