Photo by L.A. Jackson
It happened every summer: When I drove out of my driveway, on occasion, it felt like I was being stalked. And I was. Well, not me personally but rather the prey was my truck’s antenna. The stalkers? Dragonflies. And when I returned home, sometimes they would be anxiously waiting to, once again, alight on top of my steely signal receiver.
Dragonflies’ attraction to auto antennas is not unusual because such high perches have advantages for them that vary between love and war. One theory is that the peak of an auto aerial is the perfect place to see and be seen during mating season. It has also been reasoned that dragonflies use such high, unobstructed roosts to hunt for prey like mosquitoes and no-see-ums—both of which find gardeners delicious.
Short of parking my truck in the planting beds, I wondered if I could attract dragonflies (as well as closely related damselflies) to my garden. I already had a small artificial pond that served as a source of the water they need to lay eggs to complete their life cycles but was short an antenna alternative.
I settled on rebar (builder speak for “reinforcing bar”), not because it was slim and metal, like an auto antenna, but because I had four rusty six-footers clanging around in my shed that constantly reminded me I was due for a tetanus shot.
Although the rebar could have been left raggedy, I decided to add a little garden glam by using liquid rust remover to clean the poles and then spray-painting them with bright, metallic-flake paint. The rehabbed rebar was scattered across sunny, open areas in my landscape, and pounded 18 inches into the ground for stability.
And dragonflies came. Not in swarms, mind you, but their more frequent fly-ins were enough to give me the satisfaction to think I was, at the very least, making mosquitoes and no-see-ums nervous. And as an aesthetic bonus, this uptick in their visits created a new, enjoyable dimension of kinetic, flitting color in my garden.
Wooden poles like common tomato stakes will probably work, too, but the heavy-metal durability of rebar does make for a more persistent presence in the garden, which can also turn them into double-duty possibilities such as trellis posts, vertical supports for lanky perennials, or guards for plants in areas frequently snaked by floppy hoses.
July in the Garden
• Monitor your squash, zucchini and pumpkin plants for squash bug eggs on the undersides of leaves and squash vine borer eggs on stems. Both will look like clusters of dark dots and should be carefully scraped off with a dull knife to prevent infestations from wrecking your summer harvests.
• If the mulch in your garden beds has been worn down by heat, rain and decomposition, apply another round to keep the thickness at least two inches deep. This will help prevent soil compaction, discourage weeds, conserve ground moisture and keep plant roots cool.
Tip of the Month
Black spot has long been a big bugaboo for rose growers. There are fungicide sprays that, if applied regularly, are effective against this foliar disease. However, since black spot thrives in moist conditions, it is also a good idea to plant roses in open areas, where better air circulation will aid in keeping the leaves dry. In addition, water early in the morning so the sun can quickly evaporate any extra moisture on the foliage. Installing a drip irrigation system around the plants is another way to help roses stay high, dry and pretty.
L.A. Jackson is the former editor of Carolina Gardener magazine. Contact him at lajackson1@gmail.com.