Wasps: The Unsung Heroes of the Garden
20. June 2025Guest Blog Post: Amy is the Director of Marketing and Communications for Joe Lamp’l (AKA joegardener®). In her spare time, she enjoys gardening, preserving her homegrown harvest, and capturing the beauty of nature through photography in her suburban backyard in Northeastern Oklahoma, accompanied by her trusty dog, Scarecrow. Amy shares her garden photography, ecological gardening insights, and observations on wildlife, herbs, vegetables, flowers, and native plants on her website and blog, Toad and Sage Garden. For occasional updates and stories from her garden, subscribe to her Substack newsletter, and be sure to follow her on Instagram.
If there’s one thing gardening has taught me, it’s the importance of ecological balance—how every creature, from the tiniest insect to the largest pollinator, plays a role in the garden’s health. Over the years, observing these connections has deepened my appreciation for the often-overlooked world of insects. But perhaps the biggest surprise has been how much my perception of wasps has changed. Once creatures I feared, they have become some of the most fascinating and beneficial visitors to my garden.
Potter wasp on sedum flowers
Wasps have a bad reputation, often seen as nothing more than aggressive stingers lurking in the garden. I used to feel the same way—every wasp I encountered sent me into retreat mode. But after 14 years of tending an ecologically diverse backyard garden, I’ve only been stung once, and that was entirely my fault—I wasn’t paying attention and I disturbed a hidden nest on my compost bin.
That experience made me pay more attention, but what truly changed my perspective was slowing down and observing these fascinating insects. I started noticing their unique features and colors, the way they visited my flowers, and how they actively patrolled my plants hunting other insects. The more I learned about their role in natural pest control, ecological balance, and even a little bit in pollination, the more I realized wasps aren’t the villains they’re made out to be—they’re actually essential players in a balanced ecosystem.
Not all wasps are the same, and understanding their diversity changed the way I saw them in my garden. Wasps fall into two main categories: social wasps and solitary wasps. Social wasps, like paper wasps, yellowjackets, and hornets, live in colonies and work together to build and defend their nests. These are the wasps most people fear because they will sting when their nest is threatened—like the one that stung me when I unknowingly disturbed its home on my compost bin.
But not all wasps are colony builders. Solitary wasps, like mud daubers, potter wasps, and cicada killers, are hunting wasps that don’t live in groups or defend their nests. Instead, they work alone, often building small mud or underground chambers where they lay their eggs and stock the nest with prey. Both types of wasps play an important role in nature.
Tomato hornworm on tomato. The white cases are cocoons of a braconid wasp that laid its eggs in the hornworm and used it as a food source as it spins its cocoon and emerges as a winged adult. Note that each cocoon is open, indicating that the winged adult emerged. The hornworm will die as a result.
Credit: Gerald Holmes, Strawberry Center, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Bugwood.org licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 License.
Nature’s Pest Control: How Wasps Keep Your Garden in Balance
If you’ve ever battled hornworms on your tomatoes, aphids on your kale, or cabbage worms devouring your brassicas, you may have been unknowingly rooting for wasps to show up. Many wasps are natural predators of common garden pests, keeping populations in check without the need for sprays or interventions.
Social wasps like paper wasps actively patrol plants, snatching caterpillars and other soft-bodied insects to feed their developing larvae. Solitary wasps, like potter wasps, mud daubers, and cicada killers, paralyze their prey and store them in their nests as food for their offspring.
One of the most fascinating examples of wasp-led pest control comes from the braconid wasps (Cotesia spp.). These tiny parasitoid wasps lay their eggs inside tomato hornworms, essentially turning them into zombie caterpillars. As the wasp larvae develop, they emerge from the caterpillar’s body, forming small white cocoons along its back. It’s eerie to witness but a clear demonstration of nature’s built-in pest management. Over time, the hornworm is consumed, preventing it from defoliating tomato plants.
Here are a few different wasps I’ve encountered and observed in my garden over the years and the types of insects they prey on.
Paper wasps on a nest
Paper wasps (Polistes spp.) are some of the most common backyard wasps I’ve observed in my garden. They’re generally mild-mannered unless provoked, and they also help keep caterpillar populations in check. They’re incredible to watch. I enjoy finding their nests on the garden fence and just watching them work together to build their home. They raise their young by patrolling the plants for caterpillars and beetle larva and then chewing them up and feeding them to their young. These wasps are such valuable allies in the garden, but they will sting and aggressively defend the nest. So give these wasps plenty of space.
Mud daubers (Sceliphron spp.) control spider populations but are completely uninterested in humans. My husband and I once removed a mud dauber nest from a patio cushion. When a piece of it broke apart, tiny spiders spilled out. Intrigued, we did some reading and discovered that mud daubers hunt spiders, paralyze them with their sting, and seal them inside their nests as food for their larvae. We were blown away. That moment made me realize just how much wasps contribute to the garden—not just as pest controllers but as fascinating creatures with complex behaviors.
Fraternal potter wasp on a mint flower
Potter wasps (Eumeninae subfamily) are also non-aggressive and lay their eggs in tiny mud pots, stocking them with paralyzed caterpillars and beetle larva for their young. I started seeing them show up in large numbers a few autumns ago. They seem to love the flowers of my rue plant in summer and the sedum plant when it blooms in fall. In my experience, they have always been very gentle and I often see them visiting flowers right alongside bees and butterflies.
Cicada Killer wasps breeding
Cicada killers (Sphecius speciosus) look intimidating due to their size but are gentle giants that help control cicada populations. They’re one of the largest wasps in North America. These solitary wasps hunt cicadas, paralyzing them and dragging them into underground burrows to serve as food for their larvae. Despite their size and loud flight, they are not aggressive and rarely sting unless handled.
This past year was the first time I spotted this wasp. I actually heard it first before seeing it. There was a loud whir and clumsy object flying through the air that I actually thought was a cicada. When it landed on a nearby shrub, I approached with caution, camera in hand, thinking I was going to get a close up shot of a cicada. To my surprise it was two cicada killer wasps locked in a…well, let’s just say romantic embrace.
Hairy-footed scoliid wasp
Scoliid wasps (family Scoliidae) are a group of solitary, ground-nesting wasps that are mostly parasites of white grub larvae. They’re a hairy wasp that’s generally black and yellow. If you see one persistently hanging about your garden or lawn hovering in one area, it’s likely you have an infestation of soil-dwelling beetle larvae like June beetles or perhaps even Japanese beetles. They dig into the soil, paralyze the beetle larva and attach an egg. Unlike social wasps, they don’t form colonies or aggressively defend nests, making them harmless to humans but incredibly valuable to the ecosystem. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing both hairy-footed and feather-legged scoliid wasps.
Feather-legged scoliid wasp on celosia flower
Wasps as an Alternative to Pesticides
By allowing wasps to do what they do best, gardeners can reduce or even eliminate the need for pesticides. Unlike chemical controls, which can harm pollinators and beneficial insects, wasps are targeted predators, attacking pests without disrupting the delicate balance of the garden. Their presence also helps maintain a stable predator-prey relationship, ensuring that no single insect species becomes overwhelmingly destructive. The key is fostering an environment where beneficial wasps thrive—because the healthier the ecosystem, the less a gardener has to intervene.
Wasps as Pollinators: Overlooked but Important
Are wasps pollinators? I wondered that myself. Heather Holm, author of Wasps: Their Biology, Diversity, and Role as Beneficial Insects and Pollinators of Native Plants and a guest on The joe gardener® Show podcast in 2022, says “because wasps, in general, are not as hairy as their bee cousins, they don’t have the structure to carry pollen efficiently. However, when wasps visit flowers frequently, the likelihood of them moving some pollen around is pretty good.”
So while wasps are best known for their hunting skills, they can also play a small role in pollination. And every little bit helps!
One of the most specialized pollination relationships is between fig trees and fig wasps, but maybe not in the way you might think. These tiny wasps crawl inside figs, pollinating the flowers hidden inside the fruit as they go about their business of laying their eggs. They bring with them the pollen they collected from the fig where they were born and spread it around.
Without these wasps, wild fig trees wouldn’t be able to reproduce, demonstrating just how deeply wasps are woven into the natural world.
Euodynerus hidalgo wasp on sedum
Encouraging Beneficial Wasps in the Ecological Garden
Attracting and supporting wasps in the garden isn’t difficult—it just requires a shift in perspective. Instead of seeing them as pests, consider them allies and make small changes to provide the resources they need.
- Grow nectar-rich plants to feed adult wasps. Many wasps, especially solitary species, need nectar as an energy source. Native wildflowers, yarrow, mint, goldenrod, and milkweed are all excellent choices. I see them often on my sedum plant when it blooms as well as various flowering herbs. The potter wasps seem to really like the yellow rue flowers in my garden.
- Avoid broad-spectrum pesticides. These don’t just kill pests—they also harm wasps and other beneficial insects that help maintain balance.
- Leave undisturbed areas for nesting. Many solitary wasps nest in hollow stems, dead wood, or bare soil. Keeping parts of your garden natural gives them a place to raise their young.
- Support biodiversity. A diverse garden filled with different plants and habitats naturally attracts a wide variety of wasps, ensuring a healthy mix of predators and pollinators.
Read our blog post: Learn How to Plant a Pollinator Garden
Thread-waisted wasp
I know wasps can look creepy and we’ve been conditioned to be afraid of them, but by giving them a place in our gardens and landscapes, we can create a more resilient and ecologically rich garden—one where pests are managed naturally and every creature plays its part in the delicate web of life.
I’m not an entomologist but I have an affinity for bugs and insects. I have genuinely enjoyed getting to know wasps over the years through my camera lens and as an ecological gardener and nature lover. In all of my photos included here, I identified the species using iNaturalist. You can find more of my backyard garden wildlife observations on iNaturalist here.
I have gathered many of these wasp facts from iNaturalist but also from the book titled Garden Insects of North America, Second Edition. I highly recommend that book for any curious eco-conscious gardener. And if this article piqued your interest in wasps, be sure to pick up Heather Holm’s book to really do a deep dive.
What about you? Do you encounter and observe wasps going about their lives in your garden? Let us know in the comments below.
Learn How to Plant a Pollinator Garden
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