GET AWAY FROM ME!!

Let’s take a look at some creatures (some) people love to hate, but they serve a purpose in the garden world. I know for me personally, I'm not allergic to them, but I surely don't want to get stung by them. My father is allergic to them and I've seen the effects of near death experience because of an unexpected sting. Here's some photos of wasps and a bald faced hornet doing their thing.

Below is some text regarding what benefit wasps, hornets, and Yellowjackets bring to humanity, and why they aren't so bad. Enjoy the read! I know I learned a lot. Note the text was sourced from this Thoughtco article: https://www.thoughtco.com/what-good-are-wasps-1968081#some-benefits-of-wasps In general: Paper wasps, hornets, and yellowjackets all belong to the same family—the Vespidae—and they all provide extraordinarily important ecological services. Specifically, they help us through pollination, predation, and parasitism. Put simply, without wasps, we would be overrun with insect pests, and we would have no figs—and no Fig Newtons.

Hornets and paper wasps prey on other insects and help keep pest insect populations under control. For instance, paper wasps carry caterpillars and leaf beetle larvae back to their nests to feed their growing young. Hornets provision their nests with all manner of live insects to sate the appetites of their developing larvae. It takes a lot of bugs to feed a hungry brood, and it's through these needs that both hornets and paper wasps provide vital pest control services.

Yellowjackets don't get quite as much credit for being beneficial, although they should. Yellowjackets mostly scavenge dead insects to feed their offspring, meaning they prevent the bodies from piling up—like a cleaning service. Unfortunately, their scavenging habits and love of sugar puts them in close proximity to people, which almost never ends well for the yellowjacket or the person.