Identify common garden insects with these garden bugs’ pictures and descriptions and become an expert bug identifier.
I never use pesticides in my gardens. To do so would interfere with the life cycles of some incredible creatures! Here’s a sampling of some creatures I’ve seen in my gardens to inspire readers to take note of their own.
Garden Bug Identifiers
I’ve glimpsed a thread-waisted wasp carrying grass with its front legs. The life cycle of wasps is egg, then larva, then pupa, then adult. The adults emerge by early summer. The female wasp stings a cricket or other insect to paralyze it. She carries her prey back to her nest and lays her eggs right into its body, and the larvae eat the paralyzed prey and complete their development. (Sometimes, people will find the grass of an abandoned nest and a dead cricket in the well of a window or above a door and wonder how it got there!)
Eastern Gray Treefrog
In August, I spotted an eastern gray treefrog (Dryophytes versicolor). I was watering some potted plants behind the house (and using the hose to wash the windows). I thought I saw a leaf stuck on the side of the house, so I directed the water toward it to wash it down, and it landed on the back porch. It was greenish, wart-like, with pads on its toes, indicating it was a tree frog. This frog can camouflage itself, from gray to green or brown. Our house is blue, so green was as close as it could get! Its legs have a dark banded pattern. The undersides of its legs are yellowish. Its skin is rather lumpy.

The males can call, while females are silent. These are tree frogs that can reproduce by laying eggs in a hollow area of a tree that has collected water.
Yellow Garden Spider
In mid-August, I saw a large, gorgeous female yellow garden spider (Argiope aurantia) among the raspberries. All summer long, she fed on insects and grew larger and larger. Spiders molt several times as they grow. (Many times, children bring me “dead” spiders that aren’t really spiders at all, but their shed skins!) Most spiders have two claws on each foot, but this spider has three. The extra claw enables her to make her complex, zig-zaggy webs. She uses venom to immobilize flies and other insects. She often eats her web each night and makes a new one. (Once, I had the privilege of seeing her do this at night. What a thrill!) The male is about a third the size of the female. He plucks on the web to get her attention so they can mate. The female then deposits egg sacs on the web. The males usually die after mating, and the females usually die after the first hard frost.

Bumblebees
I often watch bumblebees visit our lavender, a good source of both nectar and pollen, which they use to feed their young. Their long tongues are great for probing the lavender flowers. Bumblebee colonies can have anywhere from 20 to 400 members that collect nectar to feed the developing larvae. At night, the females sleep in underground nests, although I’ve found them sleeping in a flower early in the morning. This might’ve happened because a storm prevented them from returning home.
We have a new water fixture in our herb garden, so I’m also fascinated by how honeybees tentatively move toward the fixture and use their mouth parts to suck up water, which they store in their crop. They can’t get their feet wet, because that can lead to drowning. They take the water to their hives and use it to keep the humidity for the developing brood at the proper level. The worker bees release the water and fan it. At the hottest time of summer, they can use about a gallon of water per day per hive. Each worker bee can make up to 50 trips a day carrying water back to their hive!
Hummingbird Moth
One day, a hummingbird moth visited my bee balm. The moth gets its common name from the way it flies, darting from flower to flower when taking nectar from a plant, just like a hummingbird. It extends its tubular mouth part to partake of plant nectar and then rolls it up. This moth is active in the daytime. You can recognize it from its beautiful olive-green and burgundy body. The male is characterized by its feathery-looking back end. The caterpillar of this moth feeds on specific plants, especially honeysuckle and hawthorn. When the adult moth emerges from its cocoon, it has a furry body and scales on its wings. On some species, the scales fall off, so their wings are rather transparent.

Assassin Bug
Not one of my favorites, the assassin bug injects its prey after first stabbing it, and then it sucks out the contents of its prey’s body. I’m wary of these creatures, as they can puncture our skin. There are many different species ranging in size from about 1/2 to 1-1/2 inches. They don’t fly well, so they wait for creatures to come near them. Some coat their bodies with dead matter to attract prey.

Bald-faced Hornet
I’ve also seen bald-faced hornets. This black-and-white wasp is a vespid, meaning it’s a relative of yellowjackets. This explains its aggressiveness! It’s not a true hornet. (There are no native hornets in North America. You may have seen a large European hornet around dusk. They can be rather aggressive too.) The bald-faced hornet goes for live prey, such as insects. They have the ability to squirt venom into the eyes of both prey and enemies. We had one nest in an apple tree. I waited for the hive to die in autumn so I could take it to school for my students, but the blue jays tore the nest apart so they could devour the larvae. Another year, we had a nest in our crab apple tree. I didn’t notice it until I was attacked as I walked under the tree. My husband and I made the decision to destroy the nest because it posed a danger to our neighbors (and me!). Bald-faced hornets make new nests every spring from a single queen. They build large nests, but only fertilized females live over the winter. They begin to lay eggs in spring. The workers chew wood to enlarge the nest.

Gardens are so full of life, and these are just a handful of the creatures that call my garden home. Observing them can be engaging and enlightening. I hope you’ll take the time to observe the life present in your garden too!
Check out more information about edible insects and what they offer regarding sustainable food security innovations.
Originally published as “Have You Seen These in Your Garden?” in the December 2024/January 2025 issue of MOTHER EARTH NEWS magazine and regularly vetted for accuracy.
Carol Ann Harlos is a retired award-winning math and science teacher who lives in Amherst, New York. She’s an avid gardener indoors and out, and a Master Gardener, garden speaker, writer, beekeeper, quilter, and knitter.