{"id":12776,"date":"2023-06-07T19:54:32","date_gmt":"2023-06-07T19:54:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/?p=12776"},"modified":"2023-06-07T19:55:55","modified_gmt":"2023-06-07T19:55:55","slug":"five-ways-to-attract-dragonflies-to-your-backyard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/en\/five-ways-to-attract-dragonflies-to-your-backyard\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Ways to Attract Dragonflies to Your Backyard"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>They\u2019ll Keep Your Garden Mosquito Free (or close to!) All Summer Long!<\/h2>\n<p>Did you know that dragonflies are natural mosquito predators? These amazing creatures can eat hundreds of mosquitos in a day! In fact, mosquitos make up about 90 per cent of a dragonfly&#8217;s diet. Lucky for us, there are 154 species of dragonflies that call Canada home, so there are plenty of these beneficial insects you can attract to your backyard.<\/p>\n<h3>#1. Add a Water Feature<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-12777\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/garden-pond-small-115027197-640x427.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/garden-pond-small-115027197-640x427.jpg 640w, https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/garden-pond-small-115027197-1100x733.jpg 1100w, https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/garden-pond-small-115027197-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/garden-pond-small-115027197-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/garden-pond-small-115027197-530x353.jpg 530w, https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/garden-pond-small-115027197.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Dragonflies thrive near water, so you\u2019ll want to add a water source in your backyard. Best bet? Add a pond. It might take up a bit of real estate on your property, but ponds are not only good for dragonflies \u2013 they\u2019re serene for us too! When you\u2019re deciding where to place the pond, pick a spot that\u2019s sheltered from the wind and gets plenty of afternoon sun.<\/p>\n<p>If you don&#8217;t have the space for a pond, don&#8217;t worry! You can create a mini garden pond instead. Simply grab a ceramic pot, add some stones to the bottom (and extra stones higher up towards the edge of the pot to give dragonflies a spot to perch), and fill it up with water. Add a bubbler to make it even more attractive to dragonflies.<\/p>\n<h3>#2. Offer Dragonflies a Place to Perch by the Pond<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/kathy-webb-bill-depew-widow-skimmer-dragonfly-1920x1440.jpg\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" \/><\/p>\n<p>And if you do go ahead and build a pond, be sure to add some rocks around it. This will give dragonflies a place to rest and bask in the sun to keep warm. You can also add tall plants, shrubs and grasses to offer more perching spots.<\/p>\n<h3>#3. Add Pond Plants<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-12778\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/cattail-dragonfly-105780261-640x427.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/cattail-dragonfly-105780261-640x427.jpg 640w, https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/cattail-dragonfly-105780261-1100x733.jpg 1100w, https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/cattail-dragonfly-105780261-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/cattail-dragonfly-105780261-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/cattail-dragonfly-105780261-530x353.jpg 530w, https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/cattail-dragonfly-105780261.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Pond plants not only give dragonflies a spot to hide away from predators, it also gives them a place to lay their eggs.<br \/>\nAdd aquatic vegetation to provide nymphs with places to hunt for food and hide from predators. There are all sorts of plants that are perfect for your pond including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cattail (Typha latifolia)<\/li>\n<li>Pickerelweed (Pontederia cordata)<\/li>\n<li>White bulrush (Scirpus albescens)<\/li>\n<li>Swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnate)<\/li>\n<li>Joe Pye Weed (Eupatorium fistulosum)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>#4. Ditch the Pesticides<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/pesticide-garden-1092812454-640x427.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Pesticides don\u2019t just kill off pests! They kill off all sorts of beneficial insects too including pollinators and dragonflies.<\/p>\n<h3>#5. Offer Native Plants<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/brown-eyed-susans-rudbeckia-505872185-640x427.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Native plants attract all kinds of beneficial insects, from bees to butterflies to dragonflies. Plant some Black-eyed Susan, White Yarrow or Meadow Sage if you want to attract dragonflies to your property!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"post-excerpt\">They\u2019ll Keep Your Garden Mosquito Free (or close to!) All Summer Long! Did you know that dragonflies are natural mosquito predators? These amazing creatures can eat hundreds of mosquitos in&hellip;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":12777,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[631],"tags":[284,603],"class_list":["post-12776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-connect-with-nature","tag-dragonfly","tag-pollinators"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/60"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12776"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12776\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12779,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12776\/revisions\/12779"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}