08/24/2026
Did you know?
⏱️ Just now · 📌 Goodhue County, MN🪲
FRIEND OR FOE? Spotting these colorful visitors in your garden right now? 👇
If you’ve noticed these bright yellow/orange-and-black insects hanging out on your mid-to-late summer blooms (like the beautiful Allium 'Millenium' pictured here), don't panic!
You are looking at Soldier Beetles (often called leatherwings), specifically the Common Red Soldier Beetle (Rhagonycha fulva).
According to the University of Minnesota Extension, large numbers of these beetles naturally emerge in Minnesota gardens from late July through September.
Here is what our Goodhue County gardeners need to know about these seasonal guests:
✅ They are excellent pollinators: As they crawl from bloom to bloom sipping nectar, they actively transfer pollen and help your garden thrive.
✅ They provide natural pest control: Adult soldier beetles are voracious predators of soft-bodied garden pests like aphids, thrips, and small caterpillars. Meanwhile, their soil-dwelling larvae work underground to eat destructive slugs and snails!
✅ They are completely harmless: They do not bite or sting humans, and they will not chew, damage, or harm your plants or flowers.
🌱 How to Attract More Beneficial Insects to Your Landscape:Want to invite soldier beetles, lady beetles, lacewings, and tiny parasitic wasps to do your garden chores for you?
The U of MN Extension recommends a few simple adjustments:
Provide Season-Long Blooms: Mix a variety of plants that flower from spring through autumn. For late-summer soldier beetles and syrphid flies, white, purple, and yellow compound or shallow flowers (like alliums, coneflowers, coriander, and dill) are absolute magnets!
Tolerate a Few Pests: It sounds counterintuitive, but you need to allow a low level of pests (like a few aphids) in your garden. If there is no food, beneficial predators won't move in or lay their eggs.
Leave Some Garden Debris: Instead of completely clearing your beds in autumn, leave some fallen leaves, brush, or hollow native plant stems in your outdoor spaces. This provides critical overwintering shelter for next year's generation of predatory beetles.
Skip the Sprays: Limit or eliminate broad-spectrum insecticide applications. These chemical sprays are non-selective and will eliminate your hard-working beneficial insects right along with the pests.
Master Gardener Tip:There is absolutely no need to control or spray them! Chemical treatments would only harm these helpful helpers and other native pollinators. Just sit back, enjoy their hard work, and let them do what they do best.
They will move on naturally as autumn approaches.Have you spotted any soldier beetles in your yard this week?
Let us know what flowers they are visiting in the comments below! 👇Learn more about managing your yard and garden insects from the U of MN Extension: https://extension.umn.edu/garden-and-home/yard-and-garden/yard-and-garden-insects
