Fireflies are a quintessential sign of summer, flitting around at dusk into the night like little moving stars. What better scene is there than seeing them happily flying around your yard from the comfort of your home or sat on the patio?
If you're hoping to attract fireflies to your yard, there are a few key tips and wildlife garden ideas to incorporate which will almost instantly increase your chances of welcoming the stunning species into your space.
Here, insect experts and a professional landscaper share their top tips and experience for attracting fireflies to a yard.
1. Turn off extra lights
Bright outdoor lighting ideas are one of the main disturbances to fireflies. Their harsh artificial illumination makes it harder for fireflies to see and communicate with one another through their own lights, known as bioluminescent signals.
By cutting out these lights altogether or switching off automatic timers so they don't flick on and off as fireflies get closer, your garden will instantly become a more inviting environment.
Ed Dolshun, vice president of business development at Catchmaster pest control, knows a lot about preventing insects from populating a person's yard. But in order to understand how to deter them, he's learned an abundance of information about what attracts them to begin with.
'Artificial lights confuse fireflies and interferes with their mating flashes, so the darker your yard is, the better your chances of seeing fireflies light up within it.'
Switching to a darker toned shaded light like the GLOBE amber glass wall sconce from Amazon or a more subtle one of the garden lighting trends will still enable you to see but is far less bright for your local firefly community.
2. Cut out pesticides
If you're hoping to attract fireflies to your yard but you're using heavy amounts of pesticides, it's unlikely that you'll be seeing them visit anytime soon.
Bryan Clayton, CEO of GreenPal, spent years working as a landscaper and helped a family to welcome fireflies into their yard. Focusing on cutting out pesticides was the second step they took together after limiting outdoor light use.
'[The client] had been using broad-spectrum sprays that not only get rid of mosquitoes but also everything else, including firefly larvae in the soil. We swapped in natural repellents for mosquitoes and let the ecosystem settle in,' he says.
3. Add plants of varying heights
Being surrounded by lots of plants is the dream habitat for groups of fireflies, especially if they are planted at varying heights. Think about it: when you've seen fireflies depicted in books or nature shows, you usually see them among a leafy forest without a perfectly manicured lawn.
By planting greenery at different levels, from trees to raised garden beds and beneficial ground cover plants, you'll be helping to emulate this less pristine environment where fireflies have layers in your yard to explore, breed and raise their young.
Nicole Carpenter, president of Black Pest Prevention, swears by the idea of layers for attracting fireflies to your yard. 'The more vertical variety, the better when it comes to fireflies. They love messy margins, places where trees and grass meet, and where there are some wilder-kept garden beds.
'Straight-edged, clipped landscapes are dead zones in the battle between lived-in vs manicured gardens, so if you're looking to attract fireflies to your yard, I recommend adding in grasses, shrubs, logs, and even trellises, to offer staging points.'
The panacea steel a-frame trellis from Walmart and the costway wooden vegetable raised garden bed, also from Walmart are two great ways to start adding more layers of greenery into your yard.
These vibrant hydrangeas are ideal for placing in plant beds to provide lower level blooms for fireflies.
This beautiful grass offers a soft hue and a safe area for fireflies to dive in and out of.
Fireflies adore pine trees. Their branches provide lots of shade and the perfect place to lay eggs, and the dark canopy of cover helps to keep them protected from predators.
4. Create a firefly zone
Keeping some loose leaves and longer areas of lawn in your yard doesn't have to create an eyesore. In fact, why not purposefully aim to make it a feature and curate a firefly area in the garden? You don't need a large area.
Even just a corner purposefully kept a bit untamed will increase your odds of attracting fireflies to your yard while simultaneously embracing sustainable garden ideas.
'I encouraged my former client to let part of the yard go a little wild, leaving leaves and woody debris in a corner where fireflies could thrive,' says Bryan. 'The more natural you make your garden ideas, the more you'll encourage fireflies not just to visit, but to keep coming back.'
Ed seconds this, adding, 'If you want fireflies in your garden you will want to do less landscaping and clean up. One of the best things you can do is create a low-light, low-disturbance zone with ferns, grasses, or even leaf litter so fireflies can lay eggs and hide during the day.'
You can try garden zoning this area off if you wish to make it more distinct and purposeful. This decorative garden fence from Amazon joins together in separate sections, allowing you to choose and change the size of your designated area. You can also grow climbing plants on it to disguise it.
If you're looking to encourage more wildlife into your yard, adopting some of the best natural garden tips from professional gardeners will go a long way. From limiting pesticides to learning the importance of different kinds of greenery, your yard will become a thriving hub for all forms of life.
