BC Living
How to Support BC Wineries Now
Embark on Culinary Adventures: 5 Must-Try Solo Dining Experiences Around BC
You Gotta Try this in April 2024
4 Tips on Balancing a Nutritious Diet with a Side of Indulgence
Choosing Connection: A BC Family Day Pledge to Prioritize Presence Over Plans
Embracing Plant-Based Living this Veganuary and Beyond
Inviting the Steller’s Jay to Your Garden
6 Budget-friendly Holiday Decor Pieces
Dream Home: $8 Million for a Modern Surprise
Protected: Spring into Fun in Kamloops: The Best Events in the City
Travel Light, Travel Right: Minimalist Packing Tips for Solo Explorers
A Solo Traveller’s Guide to Cozy Accommodations
Arts Club Theatre Company Celebrates 60 Years
Films and TV Series that Inspire Solo Travel
B.C. Adventures: Our picks for April
8 Gadgets and Gear for Your Solo Adventures
A Solo Traveller’s Guide to Souvenir Hunting in BC
Sḵwálwen Botanicals – Changing the Face of Skincare
Hover flies – also called syrphid flies – are among the most voracious and hardy of our native aphid predators. The adult flies are striped black and yellow or black and white and about 1 cm (1⁄2 in.) long. They are strong, fast fliers, with a distinctive habit of hovering before flower blossoms like tiny hummingbirds. The adults are vegetarians that eat only pollen and nectar.
It is their immature (larva) stage that feeds on aphids (see photo). Hover-fly larvae are tear-drop shaped, legless and rather ugly, but just one larva can eat over 400 aphids. They are a mottled-tan or light-green colour, so you have to look closely to see them among the aphids. You can increase the numbers of larvae attacking aphids in your garden by planting flowers that attract the adults. Once the female flies have filled up on pollen and nectar, they search out nearby aphid colonies to lay their eggs. Plants that particularly attract hover flies are: feverfew, dill, coriander/cilantro, sweet alyssum, yarrow, lavender. – Linda Gilkeson, Ph.D., author of West Coast Gardening: Natural Insect, Weed & Disease Control