Help attract ladybirds to your garden or encourage those you already have to stick around by providing a sheltered resting and nesting site for them with a Hexagonal Insect Hotel.
Ladybirds are always looking for a safe space to lay their eggs and somewhere to hibernate over winter. They often use dead stems or old wood, but you can replicate this natural environment in your garden with a pinecone hotel. Plant flowers and herbs around your hotel such as cilantro, dill, fennel, caraway, yarrow, tansy, angelica, scented geraniums, coreopsis and cosmos so that they have a reliable food source.
Ladybirds are also well loved by gardeners as they are voracious aphid eaters, and so are their larvae. Ladybirds are so good at keeping population numbers down, you won’t need to use pesticides.
In placing your Insect Hotel in the garden it’s important to position in sunny aspects but not in a place where it will get excessively hot. The hotel should be at least one metre off the ground and placed in a sheltered area where it will not be disturbed.
For detailed information on insect hotel placement, water and food requirements see our Native Bees – Most Welcome Visitors to the Garden and Growing a Bee Friendly Garden articles. Although this information is centred on native bees it is applicable to all beneficial garden insects and their needs.
15 H x 17 W x 8 D cm