When a homeowner has contracted professional landscaping services they often don’t realize that new greenery will attract new wildlife. Attracting butterflies, birds, or even curious garden insects may be the goal of your landscape, but few people would set out to attract the potter wasp.

What is a potter wasp?

These solitary wasps are non-aggressive and leave small “pots” on plants that contain a single egg. In southern Indiana, the most common variety has pale yellow stripes around the abdomen and may be mistaken for a hornet at first glance. They are one of many interesting garden insects in the area.

Will these garden insects hurt my professional landscaping?

Absolutely not. In fact, potter wasps stuff those pots full of caterpillars that do damage your greenery to feed their hatching larvae. The pots often are placed in the foliage of plants so you may never even notice that these “potters” are working in your landscaping. If you do notice some of the tiny nests, you can safely remove them from your plants if you don’t like the way they look, but if left behind they won’t damage to the plant. If anything, these potter wasps and their pots are helping save your plants from potentially damaging caterpillars.

I’d like to know more about Potter Wasps and other garden insects.

Elizabeth Barnes has an excellent article on potter wasps on the Purdue University Landscape Report, which includes details about these fascinating garden insects. She is an expert in our garden insects, working in the department of Entomology at Perdue.

I’d like to know more about professional landscaping

You’ve come to the right place. If you’re overrun with potter wasps or just have a dream project you’d like Walnut Ridge Landscape and Design to help bring to reality, then contact us for a free consultation today. Our experts can handle all your concerns about garden insects.