How to Attract Fireflies to Your Garden

Fireflies add a magical glow to lawns and gardens. Invite these flashy visitors to light up your summer nights by giving them the habitat they crave.

September 09, 2021

By: Lynn Coulter

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Find Out How to Attract Fireflies to Your Yard or Garden

Yards and gardens feel magical when fireflies flash and glow. If you live in the Southern or Eastern United States, you probably call them "lightning bugs," says Radim Schreiber, an award-winning nature photographer who posts at Firefly Experience. “The name ‘firefly’ is more common in the North and West.”

It's both fun and helpful to have fireflies around. As Schreiber writes in his Firefly Experience book, their larva eat snails and slugs that feast on our plants. Unfortunately, they're disappearing due to pesticide use, light pollution and habitat loss. Use our tips to attract these good guys and put nature’s twinkle lights in your garden.

What Is the Difference Between Fireflies and Lightning Bugs?

Regional differences aside, another theory suggests that people who say "lighting bug" live in parts of the country that get a lot of lighting strikes. Whatever you call them, these little insects are actually beetles (family Lampyridae), and most species use their cool lights, produced by chemical reactions, to flirt with potential mates or warn off predators.

More than 2000 species of these bioluminescent beetles live on every continent except Antarctica. Flash colors vary, Schreiber says, from amber to bright green. Once they're adults, fireflies feed on nectar and pollen and live just a few weeks. Some adults don’t eat at all.

To Attract Fireflies, Add a Water Feature

One way to invite fireflies to your garden is by adding a water feature. They live and mate around the standing water in marshes, lakes and ponds, and around rivers, creeks and streams. If mosquitoes aren’t a problem, try setting up a couple of birdbaths, container water gardens or fountains that spill water into large basins. Surround the water feature with shrubs, ornamental grasses and other plants of different heights. Shown in the foreground of this image: Graceful Grasses Purple Fountain Grass.

Give Fireflies a Buffet of Plants Rich in Nectar and Pollen

Some adult fireflies don't eat at all, but others eat nectar or pollen. Amp up your garden’s appeal by planting nectar-rich monarda in shades of red, purple or pink, like the flowers shown here. Penstemon, verbena, salvia, wisteria, foxgloves, lupine and cardinal flowers are high in nectar, too. Bonus: they also attract butterflies and bees. If you have room, add a pollen-heavy buffet of asters, daisies, mums and sunflowers. Don’t worry too much about birds showing up to feast on your fireflies. After one bitter bite, predators tend to leave them alone.

When the Sun Goes Down, Turn Off Your Outside Lights

Fireflies are sensitive to light pollution, Schreiber says, so consider turning off your outside lights at night. Light pollution can confuse them and make it hard for them to see the flickers of potential mates.

Plant Native Trees to Shield Fireflies From Light Pollution and Support Their Life Cycle

Planting native trees also helps by blocking the artificial light from porches and streetlights. Pine trees are a great choice, thanks to their thick branches and clusters of needles. Piles of fallen pine needles also give firefly larvae a safe place to live until they can fly; they can take from one to three years to become adults and leave the ground.

From: The TomKat Studio

Grow Native Flowers and Vines in Your Firefly Garden

While fireflies can thrive in moist, open areas covered in grasses or wildflowers, you don’t need a meadow or field to provide habitat for them. If you have a small space or suburban garden, plant a variety of wildflowers, grasses, herbs and vines, like these pale purple coneflowers, coreopsis, purple poppy mallows, foxgloves and Lewis flax.

Let Your Lawn Grow to Attract Lighting Bugs

Unless you live in a homeowners association or community that requires regular mowing, leave some of your grass uncut, so fireflies will have a place to lay their eggs and sleep during the day, or at least set your mower blade to cut high.

From: Jeff Troyer Associates

Give Fireflies a Fighting Chance by Avoiding Pesticides and Chemicals

If your climate is temperate or tropical, and you live on the edge of a woodland or near a park, wetland or marsh, fireflies are almost sure to visit on summer evenings. They’ll also look for grasses or stems they can perch on in your garden. Offer them native flowers, grasses, trees and shrubs and avoid using chemicals to treat your plants or garden pests. Remember: firefly larva eat slugs and snails, so you don’t want toxins to get into their food chain. Use natural controls as much as possible.

Offer Rest Stops in Tall Grasses and Low-Hanging Trees

During the heat of the day, fireflies like to get out of the sun. Tall grasses like switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) and pink muhly grass (Muhlenbrgia capillaris) make excellent rest stations, along with trees with low-hanging branches. Ornamental grasses like zebra grass (Miscanthus sinensis) also provide cover for these bioluminescent beetles, but zebra grass is a non-native that's invasive in some states. If you think any plant you want to grow might be invasive or harmful, check it out at the USDA National Invasive Species Information Center. The tall switchgrass in the foreground of this image is Prairie Winds 'Totem Pole'.

Welcome Fireflies by Resisting the Urge to Keep Them in Jars

Wildflowers like butterfly weed, blue asters, Joe Pye weed, coneflowers and goldenrod lure useful pollinators like butterflies, bees — and fireflies. Adult fireflies can be considered pollinators thanks to the appetite some species have for pollen and nectar.

Although it may be tempting to gently scoop up lightning bugs and put them into jars to light up the night, resist the urge. If you can't, keep them in a jar with a small amount of fresh grass and a damp paper towel in the bottom. Use a lid with holes punched in it or a piece of screen on top, and release them after a day so they can brighten another garden.

Plant Plenty of Native Shrubs and Trees for Fireflies

Native shrubs and trees make ideal firefly habitat. Depending on your region, consider growing cottonwoods, elderberries, pecans, buttonbushes and dogwoods. Not sure what to plant? The National Wildlife Federation has a native plant finder that uses your ZIP code to recommend the best choices for your location. Shown here: ‘Lemony Lace’ elderberry (Sambucus racemosa), a low-maintenance, native shrub that’s hardy in USDA Zones 4 to 7.

Gather Fallen Leaves to Make a Firefly Habitat

Along with pine tree needles, fallen leaves make great habitat for firefly larvae. Female fireflies like the damp soil often found under the leaves, Schreiber says, where they can lay from 40 to 1,000 eggs at a time. Use your autumn leaves as mulch, but keep them about six inches away from trunks and stems to avoid decay and discourage insect pests. If you have fallen branches or logs, stack them for fireflies, too. Keep dead wood away from your home and other structures to deter termites and other pests.

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Photo By: Radim Schreiber/FireflyExperience.org

Photo By: Jennifer Hopwood/Xerces.org

Photo By: Reflections by Carey/ProvenWinners.com

Photo By: ProvenWinners.com

Photo By: Radim Schreiber/FireflyExperience.org

Photo By: Rennai Hoefer

Photo By: Jennifer Hopwood/Xerces.org

Photo By: Lee Manning Photography

Photo By: Radim Schreiber/FireflyExperience.org

Photo By: Walters Gardens, Inc.

Photo By: PrairieNursery.com

Photo By: ProvenWinners.com

Photo By: Matthew Shepherd

How to Attract Fireflies to Your Garden

Related To:

Find Out How to Attract Fireflies to Your Yard or Garden

What Is the Difference Between Fireflies and Lightning Bugs?

To Attract Fireflies, Add a Water Feature

Give Fireflies a Buffet of Plants Rich in Nectar and Pollen

When the Sun Goes Down, Turn Off Your Outside Lights

Plant Native Trees to Shield Fireflies From Light Pollution and Support Their Life Cycle

Grow Native Flowers and Vines in Your Firefly Garden

Let Your Lawn Grow to Attract Lighting Bugs

Give Fireflies a Fighting Chance by Avoiding Pesticides and Chemicals

Offer Rest Stops in Tall Grasses and Low-Hanging Trees

Welcome Fireflies by Resisting the Urge to Keep Them in Jars

Plant Plenty of Native Shrubs and Trees for Fireflies

Gather Fallen Leaves to Make a Firefly Habitat

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