"Johnnyâ??s Selected Seeds, cooperating with Organic Gardening magazine, has made this idea simple by offering a â??Beneficial Borders â?¢ Flower Seed Collection (page 121 in Johnnyâ??s catalog, in case you have trouble finding it). Included in the blend are packets of seven colorful, easily grown plants that attract beneficial insects: California poppy, bachelor's button, alyssum, cosmos, anise hyssop, borage and blue lace flower (Trachymene coerulea, a member of the carrot family, or Apiaceae, formerly called the Umbelliferae family). You can plant these in a single area of your vegetable garden, or set individual plants wherever you have empty space in the garden."

"Fedco Seeds has a Beneficials Mix of 14 annuals, biennials and perennials in one seed package. (See page 97 in the Fedco catalog.) It includes alyssum, bachelorâ??s button, borage, gem marigold, dill, fennel, fiddleneck (Phacelia tanacetifolia), caraway, parsley, golden marguerite, ajuga, basket of gold alyssum and Rocky Mountain penstemon. So, you could make up your own beneficials mix using either Fedco or Johnnyâ??s list."

"Note that a number of the plants included are in the Apiaceae â?? a family whose umbrella-shaped flower clusters generally do attract beneficial insects because their nectar is accessible and their flower clusters form nice, big landing pads. Fennel, for instance, attracts lady beetles and other beneficials, which, in turn, eat aphids, scale insects, thrips, mealybugs and mites; dill attracts lacewings, which eat aphids for breakfast â?¦ and lunch, dinner and snacks. Aphids are the chocolate of the lacewing world."

"Neither list above includes lovage, but this is a great Apiaceae member for attracting ichneumon wasps, which parasitize the larvae of many insects. Another Apiaceae, coriander, attracts hoverflies, which feed on aphids. It flowers
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