You see a scary looking bug in the garden and your first instinct is (A) run to get your camera to take a picture of it; (B) call your spouse to come look right away; or (C) squish it.

Now be honest!

Most of us are squeamish about bugs and our natural instinct is to “do away with it.”

I have to admit my natural instinct is to yell, “Hey, honey, come look at this cool bug!” He doesn’t really want to look at them but he often humors me. So please, humor me, too, and before you step on it, take the time to think about the fact that this could be a good guy. He may be eating thousands of the bugs you don’t want in your garden.

Let me introduce some of these good guys:

• Ladybugs eat aphids, whiteflies and other soft-bodied insects. You know what it looks like but would you recognize the ladybug larvae? They actually eat more than the adults!

• Lacewings can eat 100 aphids in a week and also eat mealybugs, thrips, whiteflies, leafhopper nymphs and spider mites.

• Parasitic wasps lay their eggs in the bodies of insects, killing them from the inside. They prey on flies, moths and beetles.

• Tachinid flies are another parasitic insect and look like a common fly. They prey on corn earworms, cabbage worms, cabbage loopers, cutworms, armyworms, stink bugs, squash bug nymphs, beetle and fly larvae.

• Minute pirate bugs feed on many small insects but have a particular taste for thrips in the spring.

• Big-eyed bugs (these really look like little aliens) feed on leafhoppers, mites and insect eggs.

The list goes on: damsel bugs, hoverflies, assassin bugs and predacious ground beetles.

And let’s not forget our beneficial pollinators in the form of bees and butterflies.

With a computer and Google, you can easily acquaint yourself with what these good guys look like.

Most chemical pesticides will kill the good bugs as well as the bad bugs. Intersperse plants that attract the good bugs throughout your garden, concentrating on the areas where you have the most pest problems, and let them do their job. Now you can put away your sprayer, sit back and relax. It’s better for you, it’s better for the environment and it’s certainly better for the good bugs. Who knows, you may just learn to love them.

Check the sidebar (above) to learn the names of plants you can add to landscape to encourage beneficial insects!

Karen Palmer is a Washington State University-certified Master Gardener in Clark County.

Plants that attract beneficial insects:

Achillea (Yarrow)

Ajuga reptans (Carpet bugleweed)

Alyssum saxatilis (Basket of gold)

Anethum graveolens (Dill)

Anthemus tinctoria (Golden marguerite)

Asclepias tuberosa (Butterfly weed)

Astrantia major (Masterwort)

Callirhoe involucrate (Purple poppy mallow)

Carum carvi (Caraway)

Coriandrum sativum (Coriander)

Cosmos bipinnatus (Cosmos white sensation)

Fagopyrum esculentum (Buckwheat)

Lobelia erinus (Edging lobelia)

Melissa officinalis (Lemon Balm)

Mentha pulegium (Pennyroyal)

Mentha spicata (Spearmint)

Penstemon strictus (Rocky Mt. penstemon)

Petroselinum crispum (Parsley)

Solidago virgaurea (Peter Pan goldenrod)

Tagetes tenuifolia (Marigold lemon gem)

Veronica spicata (Spike speedwell)

Zinnia elegans (Zinnia liliput)