Not all insects are garden villains.

According to the National Garden Bureau, besides honeybees and butterflies, one finds garden heroes.  Six of these – not all of them, however – are worth inviting to the garden. Here they are, and here’s how to encourage them to stay and help:

Bumblebees need little coaxing. The trick is to plant an array of nectar-rich plants, to bloom in succession from spring into fall. Clover’s an easy one. Herb cousins like mint, basil or thyme are good. Daisies, sunflowers, cone flowers, asters and others should add drama to the garden while nourishing the bumblebees. Would you believe tomato flowers?

Bumblebees can sting, but not often, and they’re likely to ignore people and animals. (Carbon dioxide bothers them, so hold your breath if you’re close to one.) Endangered they may be, but right now, they’re fine pollen spreaders

Some of the kinds of Syrphid, or hover fly larvae (maggots) eat aphids, thrips and other plant-sucking insects. The flies are drawn to scented flowers. Edge a flower bed, window box or walk with fragrant, all-summer-blooming alyssum.

Braconid flies lay many eggs. Larvae feast on tomato hornworms. Tempt their mothers with dill, carrots or fennel.

A tachnid fly likes nectar and pollen from mint flowers. Grow an herb garden with mint relatives like basil. Plant nasturtiums as a trap crop to attract aphids for those larvae.

Lacewings, found throughout the U.S., like sandy, dry soils. They go for soft-bodied insects such as white flies, thrips, spiders and mites.

Last of this group of hero/heroines is the ladybeetle. Here’s another member of a large family. Those we know best gobble aphids; and so do their larvae. To attract the ladybeetles, plant another favorite – buckwheat – near flower or vegetable gardens.

Much of this information was furnished by National Garden Bureau member, Home Garden Seed Association.

Now, get out there and garden!