Best Hoverfly-Attracting Plants (Aphid Predators)

Hoverflies — also called flower flies or syrphids — are the garden’s underappreciated hired guns. The adults look like small bees or wasps but sting nothing; they spend their days sipping nectar and pollen. Their larvae, however, are ferocious aphid predators: a single larva can eat dozens of aphids a day, working the undersides of leaves where lady beetles often miss them.

The best way to recruit them is to grow the right flowers. The plants below are the ones most consistently cited for attracting hoverflies, chosen for their small, open flowers that shallow-mouthed hoverflies can actually feed from.

At a Glance: Our Top Picks

• Top Pick: Sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritima) — the classic hoverfly magnet, useful in beds and containers alike.
• Best edible companion: Dill — lets hoverflies into the vegetable garden while you harvest.
• Best for dry, tough spots: Yarrow — a native-adjacent perennial that blooms for months.
• Best cover-crop ally: Buckwheat — fast, cheap, and irresistible to hoverflies.

The Plants, Reviewed

1. Sweet Alyssum — Top Pick

What it is: A low, spreading annual smothered in tiny white, pink, or purple flowers. It blooms from spring through frost and is practically a hoverfly lodging house.

Who it is for: Vegetable gardeners who want hoverflies right next to aphid-prone crops like lettuce, brassicas, and beans. Tuck it along bed edges or between rows.

• Pros: outstanding hoverfly draw; long bloom; grows from seed in days; works in containers; low and non-competitive.
• Cons: annual, so it must be resown; fades in extreme heat unless watered; its small flowers appeal mainly to small insects.

2. Dill — Best Edible Companion

What it is: A fast-growing culinary herb whose flat-topped umbels are exactly the shape hoverflies (and parasitic wasps) prefer. It is also a host plant for swallowtail caterpillars.

Who it is for: Gardeners who want dual duty — a kitchen herb that doubles as beneficial-insect habitat in the same bed as their vegetables.

• Pros: edible; excellent umbrella-shaped flowers; self-sows; bolts quickly for a long bloom period.
• Cons: leaves get tough once it flowers; short-lived; needs replanting or self-seeding to stay present all season.

3. Yarrow — Best for Dry Spots

What it is: A hardy perennial with flat clusters of small flowers in white, yellow, pink, or red, blooming from early summer into fall. It shrugs off drought and poor soil.

Who it is for: Gardeners with dry, lean, sunny areas where fussier flowers fail. Once established, it needs almost nothing.

• Pros: long bloom; drought-proof; flat flower heads are perfect hoverfly landing pads; divides easily; deer-resistant.
• Cons: can flop in rich soil; spreads by rhizomes and self-seeding; color cultivars vary in pollinator value.

4. Buckwheat — Best Cover-Crop Ally

What it is: A fast-growing annual that smothers weeds and produces clouds of small white flowers within a month of sowing. It is a standard component of pollinator-friendly cover-crop mixes.

Who it is for: Gardeners using cover crops to rest or renovate beds — buckwheat doubles as a hoverfly buffet. See our cover crops guide for how to work it into rotation.

• Pros: germinates and flowers in weeks; attracts hoverflies and bees; smothers weeds; adds biomass to soil.
• Cons: frost-tender; needs resowing each season; flowers only briefly, so stagger sowings for continuous bloom.

Buying Guide: What to Look For

• Small, open flowers: hoverflies have short mouthparts; they cannot reach deep tubular flowers like some hummingbird blooms. Umbel- and flat-topped flowers are best.
• Long bloom: hoverflies are present all season, so choose plants that flower for months or reseed themselves.
• Placement near crops: the flowers only help if they are close to the aphids. Interplant, don’t banish them to an ornamental border.
• Avoid double flowers: doubled cultivars often hide or eliminate the nectar and pollen.

Combine these with reduced tillage so hoverfly larvae — which pupate in soil — have somewhere to go; our no-till guide covers the basics.

Check Current Prices on Amazon

Sweet alyssum seeds · Phacelia seeds · Buckwheat cover-crop seed

FAQ

Do hoverflies sting?

No. They mimic bees and wasps in color and pattern to scare off predators, but they have no stinger and no interest in people. The mimicry is purely a costume.

How do hoverfly larvae control aphids?

The larvae are legless, slug-like grubs that hunt aphids on foliage, often on the undersides of leaves. A single larva consumes dozens of aphids over its development, working alongside lady beetles and lacewings.

Will these plants bring hoverflies if I have no aphids?

Yes — hoverflies visit for nectar and pollen regardless. The larvae need aphids to develop, so hoverfly populations follow the aphids, which is exactly the timing you want.

Should I buy hoverflies?

Buying hoverflies is generally impractical and unnecessary. Flowers plus a no-spray policy reliably recruit wild hoverflies from the surrounding area for free.

Bottom Line

Hoverflies are free, native aphid control — if you plant for them. Alyssum, dill, yarrow, and buckwheat provide the small, open flowers they need, and placing those plants near your crops puts the larvae where the aphids are.

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