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Dragonflies are garden good guys

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED JUN 8, 2020

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.

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Garden Checklist for week of July 21

Your garden needs you!

* Keep your vegetable garden watered, mulched and weeded. Water before 8 a.m. to reduce the chance of fungal infection and to conserve moisture.

* Feed vegetable plants bone meal, rock phosphate or other fertilizers high in phosphate to stimulate more blooms and fruiting. (But wait until daily high temperatures drop out of the 100s.)

* Don’t let tomatoes wilt or dry out completely. Give tomatoes a deep watering two to three times a week.

* Harvest vegetables promptly to encourage plants to produce more. Squash especially tends to grow rapidly in hot weather. Keep an eye on zucchini.

* Pinch back chrysanthemums for bushy plants and more flowers in September.

* Remove spent flowers from roses, daylilies and other bloomers as they finish flowering.

* Pinch off blooms from basil so the plant will grow more leaves.

* Cut back lavender after flowering to promote a second bloom.

* It's not too late to add a splash of color. Plant petunias, snapdragons, zinnias and marigolds.

* From seed, plant corn, pumpkins, radishes, winter squash and sunflowers.

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