What’s In My Backyard?

Backyard Safari: What visits Yarrow

For the introduction to this series, see here.

Today we are going to find out what visits yarrow. What is yarrow? Yarrow is a tall feathery plant with flat rosettes of small flowers. It is related to chamomile. There are varieties that are native to the US as well as Europe. You may not have any yarrow in your garden. If you are interested in nature, this would be a good plant to have because it is a very important plant for pollinators. This plant will spread rapidly so you should plant it in a place that is separate from the rest of your garden.

During the half an hour that I watched this yarrow plant, I saw sixteen species of insects! I was amazed to see all the insects on this clump of plants! Several of them I had never seen before. Yarrow seems to be especially attractive to solitary native wasp species. If you plant flowers that insects love, you will see many fascinating creatures in your yard.