A beautiful dragonfly perches on a stem of grass in Chase.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Ann Steenhuysen
July 18, 2025 - 4:00 AM
While dragonflies are beautiful with brilliant colours and papery, shiny wings, the insects can also keep mosquitoes at bay for gardeners in Kamloops and the Okanagan.
Dragonflies can prey on up to 100 adult mosquitoes per day from the air, and prey on mosquito larvae in the water, Ducks Unlimited.
There are a few things you can do to attract the mosquito killers to gardens and backyards and that includes providing a water source for them like a pond or fountain and growing certain kinds of flowers and plants.
A dragonfly rests on a stick above the water at Kamloops's Isobel Lake
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Valerie Walsh
Attractive vegetation includes black-eyed Susan, swamp milkweed, meadow sage, aster, Asiatic lily, pickerelweed, borage, bearded iris, pink muhly grass, common cattail.
The plants should be near the water source where the dragonflies can move between pollinating plants and snack on mosquitos drawn to the water.
Area photographers snapped photos of a wide variety of dragonfly species this spring that pop with vibrant colours.
If you have photos of insects you want to share, send them to news@infonews.ca.
Two colourful dragonflies mate in Merritt.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Loekie Vanderwal
A golden coloured dragonfly hovers over grass in Kamloops.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Valerie Walsh
This twelve-spotted skimmer was spotted in Osoyoos.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ June Babish
A darner dragonfly skims along the surface of a lake near Kamloops.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Doug Giles
This dragonfly was spotted at Isobel Lake in Kamloops.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Valerie Walsh
To contact a reporter for this story, email Shannon Ainslie or call 250-819-6089 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. SUBSCRIBE to our awesome newsletter here.
News from © iNFOnews, 2025