Pollinator of the Week!

 Our pollinator of the week goes by several names~Pennsylvania soldier beetle, Goldenrod soldier beetle or Pennsylvania leatherwing. They're a common beetle in the eastern US and they're found in a staggering number on wildflowers in late summer/early fall, where they feed on pollen and meet a mate. Because of their frequent contact with flowers, soldier beetles are important pollinators. (above:Verbesina)

Feeding on Wild garlic

In my garden the adults are commonly seen on my favorite fall blooming  rough and tumble wildflowers~ Solidago, Verbesina, Stokesia, Heleniums and even alliums. They're harmless to humans and the flowers they visit, but, the number of visitors per flower may worry new or inexperienced gardeners. Please leave them be, they're beneficial garden critters.

'Peachie's Pick' Stokesia with Soldier Beetle

Pollination is incidental, soldier beetles are there to feed and mate. It's their larvae that do the most "beneficial" work for our garden systems, feeding on soft bodied critters in the soil. We're unlikely to see the larvae, which have been described as looking like tiny alligators, they're hidden in the leaf litter munching on grasshopper eggs and other soft bodied insects that might harm our garden plants. (Please note, here's another good reason to leave the leaves in place, many beneficial insects over winter in fallen leaves.)

Feeding on Helenium

If your goal is to have a pesticide free garden then you want to attract as many beneficial insects as possible to your garden. If you want soldier beetles, then plant pollen rich wildflowers like goldenrods, Verbesinas and other asteraceas that bloom in the late summer or early fall.

Happy pollinator gardening.
xoxogail

Name:    Chauliognathus pensylvanicus
Family:  Cantharidae
Size:       5/8-inch long
Color:     orange beetles, with two prominent brown-black spots on the elytra
Seen:       August and September in the middle south, July in the upper midwest
Roll:        Beneficial insect: Adult pollinates flowers and the larvae predates on grasshopper eggs and soft 
                bodied bugs

Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.