Bees get all the love when it comes to pollination, but flies, yes flies are incredibly important pollinators for plants world wide, including California. If it weren’t for flies chocolate and many other plants we love to eat would be no more. The most notorious plant in the world for attracting flies is the the Corpse Flower (Amorphophallus titanum), which is native to Sumatra and becoming more common in botanical gardens world wide. This past week Kyle Milligan and Susan Casentini in Oakland had a public viewing of the first flowering of their A. titanum named Victoria that they had been nurturing for 14 years. The below talk goes into the biology of A. titanum, fly pollinators and ultimately a look at the plants in California that are known to have flies as their primary pollinators:

Easy Additions for Fly Pollinator Habitat

Many hoverflies a fantastic pollinators and predators on aphids. For this reason hoverflies can be very beneficial to gardens. Although there are some companies in Europe selling hoverflies in the same way that you can buy ladybugs or lacewings in the US, we don’t have access to them yet, so the best thing to do is put in native plants that can attract them. Below are a few plants that are pollinated by and can attract hoverflies to hang out in your garden: