Garden View: Insects: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

By Jeff Quinlan on July 19, 2025.

Every season, Medicine Hat yards play host to a wide variety of insects.

This semi-arid climate has crawlers, tunnellers and wood borers. There are winged varieties and non-winged, long legged and no legged. Early risers and nighttime bustlers all make their home here, and to survive our extreme climate requires serious grit. This year, we have had the regulars, boxelder bugs of early spring, bouncing off windows in their wayward flight out of the home, the welcome sight of butterflies in the afternoon, stopping to fill up at each flower, or crickets chirping away in the moonlight.

Most of these critters come and go without much fuss and many are beneficial to our gardens and landscapes.

Insects can contribute to soil health, control other unwanted insects, and help with flower and fruit yields through pollination. There are those, however, that take more than they contribute-the dreaded pests. When an insect is adversely affecting our landscape, such as reducing our garden harvests or defoliating our trees and shrubs, it can be a real hurdle to deal with.

Let us look at some of the insects that may be visiting your yard this year, those that either bring you joy or have you concocting plans for their imminent demise.

I will leave it you to determine the Good, the Bad and the Ugly, in your landscape…

Blister beetles

(Epicauta sp.)

Parks and Recreation received a few concerns from homeowners regarding these long and slender, winged beetles with the unusual trait of irritating skin on contact. These insects can cause extensive foliar damage to shrubs and trees, and caragana seems to be a favored food for them. While unsightly and concerning, most damage is minimal for resilient plants. Healthy trees and shrubs will endure this pest’s feeding. On the bright side, in their larval stage, these insects feed on grasshopper eggs found in the soil. The significant amount of grasshoppers we saw last season may partially explain this season’s high blister beetle count.

Elm Seed bugs (Arocatus melanocephalus)

These little specimens look like a shrunken boxelder bug, and you may find them on the sleeve of your shirt, trying to hitch a ride to a cooler location as you work in your yard on a sweltering day. They feed on elm seeds and leaves, but do not cause extensive damage to the tree. They seem especially prevalent this year.

Leafy Spurge Flea beetles (Aphthona sp.)

These small but mighty beetles are somewhat of a hero in the war on the noxious weed known as leafy spurge. Only 3.5 mm in size, Parks and Recreation have recruited these beetles to combat leafy spurge in Police Point Park, because the aggressive plant displaces native species in our natural areas. The beetles will only feed on leafy spurge and are entirely different from the cabbage flea beetle (Psylliodes chrysocephala).

Lady bird beetles (Coccinellidae)

The marching beetle, with it’s bold red coloring and black spots are a welcome sight to gardeners. There are many different species of these found in Alberta, and they are very beneficial to a landscape in dealing with aphids, mites and scale insects. In their larval stage, they almost resemble a tiny alligator and are very effective at dealing with the piercing and sucking insects that would do your plants harm.

Short-horned grasshoppers (Melanoplus sp.)

These voracious feeders are of significant concern to agriculture crops, and they certainly do a number on urban gardens and ornamental landscapes as well. They prefer drier, warmer climates, making them right at home in southern Alberta. Look for their numbers to increase as we make our way into the hottest days of summer. Fortunately, they are a great food source for birds and other animals, and with any luck our “frenemies” the blister beetles, will have reduced their numbers.

Leaf cutter bees (Megachilidae)

While sitting on your patio, you may have noticed a bee descending into the ground with a piece of… leaf? That’s right, these resourceful little bees utilize small pieces of leaf or flower petals to close off their egg laying chambers, usually in the ground or in small holes in wood material. They are not aggressive, are very effective pollinators, and the leaf damage is relatively minor and will not affect the tree’s health.

Hopefully you are enjoying the season and the variety of characters that crawl or fly around the gardens of your home or favourite park. From all of us at Parks and Recreation, happy gardening!

Jeff Quinlan is the parks technician for the City of Medicine Hat, which involves technical support for the department through research, insect and disease monitoring (of trees), and public education/engagement through things like the Adopt a Tree program and the annual Litter Blitz. Quinlan is an ISA certified arborist with a Bachelor of Applied Science in Horticulture. Prior to being in Medicine Hat, Quinlan also worked as a Japanese Garden Technician for several years at Nikka Yuko, Japanese Gardens in Lethbridge. His gardening tips will appear in the News throughout the growing season.

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