Flowers for the prairies?

I -suck- at flowers, however I need to attract predators in as I had a bad ant and aphid problem last year. I have borage for the garden (supposedly the 'grandmother' to all vegetable plants in companion gardening), however I've never successfully grown it and I suspect this year will be no different.

I will be planting things like chives and basil, and cat nip and lemonbalm, however I think I need more flowers? The only thing I've managed to grow well (and I am not a fan) is lillies. Even through down a packet of wildflower seeds which all just said 'nope!' and never came up. What are some easy flowers I can put in with the veggies that will tolerate the prairies as well as my black flower thumb, and maybe even come back on their own the next year? These should attract beneficial garden bugs that can feast upon my aphid and ant farms gratefully!

Don't know so much about flowers...

but I think a couple of guinea fowl would clean up those bugs.

Fowler wrote:Don't know so much about flowers...

but I think a couple of guinea fowl would clean up those bugs.

They were too busy eating the ticks and grasshoppers last year. We have 4 this year, instead of one, mind you. I want baby guinea's to hatch this yearrrrr! No eggs though

Anywho, there was a neat line where you'd walk across it and be overwhelmed by grasshoppers, but if you stayed behind it, no bugs -- was niiiiice, however I think grasshoppers are one of those beneficial predators, aren't they?

grasshoppers are mostly benign in suitable numbers.

Perhaps a kettle of boiling water on the anthills would help.

I recall that Nasturtiums are supposed to be good companions for spinach (because the bugs go for the flowers first).

Sweetened, I am not sure if they are suited to your area, but marigolds are very hard to kill! They are a great companion flower for veggie gardens as they help keep away many nasty bugs. I think anything that is bright and showy will encourage the right time of predator insects to your garden.

I was about to suggest marigolds, even I can't kill them. They draw the pests too them though so they often look a little overchewed.

I get too many grasshoppers in August but my guineas love them, they just run across the field snapping as they go.

heda gobbler wrote:I was about to suggest marigolds, even I can't kill them. They draw the pests too them though so they often look a little overchewed.

I get too many grasshoppers in August but my guineas love them, they just run across the field snapping as they go.

Last year after we got the guinea, I was watching my hens abandon the rooster to follow him around. I wasn’t quite sure why, as the new Guinea (bahaha love that joke) was way too fast for the girls. But, they would run after him, wings out and head down, trying to be arrow dynamic. After a while of observing them, I realized the girls kept pecking at his face and that’s why he’d run. So I paid a little more attention and realized they were watching him catch grasshoppers and then biting at the bug to see what it was and try to steal it. After about an hour, the girls would run across the yard after nothing, randomly turning on their heels, bursting into the air, flapping wildly. By the next day, they had figured out how to catch the hoppers for themselves and didn’t need the guinea anymore.

Too awesome. And people say chickens aren’t smart.

Sunflowers are pretty tough, but why don't you go on-line and see what you have in your area for

wildflowers? Jerusalum Artichokes will attract ants and aphids, they're tough plants too. Could always go

around some places where no one lives and dig up the flowers you already know

grow and keep coming up in your area. There are some beautiful wild flowers out there. Some you aren't

allowed to take, but a search should tell you what you can take. These flowers are already tough.

Lilacs are really tough trees too. Beautiful flowers, sadly don't last long enough, but worth having them.

Plus they make good wind breaks. Good Luck.

sunflowers,sunchokes and borage all do very well here,borage is especially easy to grow and readily goes to seed,we have to pull out many dozens of plants every year or it would take over the garden,it really attracts bees.

Zinnias,poppies and Morning Glory are easy favorites for me, California Poppies are incredibly tough but I love the Icelandic and Peony poppies are so pretty!
You will have to pull some out after a few years or they get too thick, but lovely flowers and SO hardy, plus they love the heat and dont mind the drought.
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They can all be direct seeded.
The Zinnias and Poppies are great in summer heat. Morning Glories are late bloomers for me, dont really flower until late Summer.
Also dont forget Flax!
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Blue is a perennial, Scarlet is an annual but they are both easy to grow from seed tossed in the garden!
Chives and Columbine are nice in early summer, and you can eat the chives!
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