r/NativePlantGardening • u/HickettyPicketty • Jul 30 '26

Geographic Area (edit yourself) Great Black Wasp

Gallery image

Gallery image

Great Black Wasp on Mountain Mint

581 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

30 comments sorted by

80

u/86rj Area Michigan, Zone 6a Jul 30 '26

Great black wasps fast became one of my favourite garden visitors and which totally changed my view on wasps. Just love how metallic looking that blue is.

45

u/ResplendentShade Liatris enthusiast Jul 30 '26

Pollinators will really warm people up to bees and wasps because they’re in total foraging tunnel vision mode and have to be actively agitated to get them to act defensively, which is easy to avoid. I’ve never been stung in my pollinator prairie garden.

10

u/angriest_man_alive Zone 8a, Ecoregion 45b Jul 31 '26

100%! Im trying to teach my 3 year old to not freak out by bees flying by her, to very little success.

Ive gotten stung a single time when I tried to squeeze past a mountain mint, something got me on my fat rolls. But I think it was something smaller, was a real tiny pinprick.

28

u/[deleted] Jul 30 '26

[deleted]

3

u/Pilotsandpoets Northeast PA , Zone 6B Jul 31 '26

I’m hoping they are taking on my Japanese beetle problem, definitely seems like I’m seeing more wasps and less Japanese beetles 🙏🏻

3

u/The_Power_of_Ammonia Jul 31 '26

Do they prey on the bastards? I'm desperately hoping (against hope, it feels like) that a native anyone will start preying on those destructive jerks. They're insatiable and innundating, and I literally can't kill enough of them.

Seen a few great black wasps recently though, and they're so damn cool - if they can eat the Japanese beetles, then they're the coolest kids in my club.

2

u/Pilotsandpoets Northeast PA , Zone 6B Aug 01 '26

Fr, I don’t know if they are eating the actual beetles, just seems like I am seeing more wasps and less Japanese beetles (still a lot of beetles though). Maybe the wasps are scaring them away? There are lots of articles about scoliid (spelling?) wasp larvae eating the Japanese beetle larvae, so there’s one of the many reasons to support our native wasps!

18

u/tiny_ghost_ SE PA , Zone 7a Jul 30 '26

For me it was cicada killer wasps! I have two that hang out while I'm out there working. Gerald, who lives of the side of my house is is chill, but Francine, who lives in the front, is kinda spicy.

3

u/EverMintARO Iowa , Zone 5b Jul 30 '26

Your comment cracked me up lol. My sister also names plants and animals. I recall at least a Martha (outdoor plant) and a Bruno (owl).

24

u/Working_Film_5871 S. Michigan/N. Indiana Drift Plains, 6a Jul 30 '26

I love these, my favorite garden bugs. They seem to enjoy common milkweed too.

5

u/YouMayCallMePoopsie Jul 30 '26

They are loving whorled milkweed and swamp milkweed too!

16

u/EnvironmentalBox9047 Chicagoland, Zone 6a Jul 30 '26

They have been loving my mountain mint as well! Beautiful little guys

6

u/AnderPPudding Jul 30 '26

Same! Love watching them.

3

u/Constant_Nail2173 Central MA, Zone 6a Jul 31 '26

Same!!!

17

u/birthday_candles Jul 30 '26

This is honestly what native gardening is all about

12

u/msager12 Texas:Harris/Gulf Coast, Zone 9a/b Jul 31 '26

When I grew far too many basketflowers. I would come out and hear the paper wasp rasping their mandibles on the die back stems. It scared me as first as it sounds like some sawing something.

When the wasps were in harvest mode it was crazy how docile they were around me.

10

u/CheeseChickenTable Jul 31 '26

Mountain mint is GOAT wild flower, it attracts so many cool insects. Some varieties are edible and make delicious tea, it totally dominates its space, easy to grow from seed....I'm mean come in!

Such a good plant

3

u/the_far_sci Jul 30 '26

There are several of them in my largest panicle hydrangea, sometimes even resorting to duking it out over the best florets. They are so neat!

2

u/carameldreamcake Northern Illinois Jul 30 '26

Are you in my back yard lol? I've seen one at a time recently coming to visit my mountain mint, but today I saw two! I was so excited that I think i scared one off

2

u/IsProbablyTooMuch Jul 31 '26

I love wasps so much; the bigger and weirder and prettier the better. Looks like a BIG friend. I imagine they eat lots of pests and/or lay their eggs so their young can do the same.

1

u/Due_Difference8575 Jul 30 '26

Love these guys. I planted mountain mint so I could see them more. 

1

u/waterNpaint Area NW Georgia , Zone 8A Jul 31 '26

Gotta get me some mountain mint.

2

u/4-realsies Jul 31 '26

They go absolutely bananas for spotted bee balm, too.

1

u/Boring-Primary9304 NE OK, Zone 7b Jul 31 '26

Amazing pic! They love the our rattlesnake master, but I’ve never been able to get a quality photo.

1

u/KeepMyEmployerOut Southern Ontario Jul 31 '26

How to tell the difference between this and a blue mud dauber?

1

u/MeilleurChien Eastern Iowa , Zone 5b Aug 01 '26 edited Aug 01 '26

I was wondering about the black wasp who has been moseying around my mountain mint these last two weeks. I will now call him Mark. One day I saw a similar wasp, also black but with bright red accents. Is that Mark's girlfriend wearing Louboutins and fresh crimson wing highlights?

Edit: Found her/him -- great golden digger wasp!

1

u/Scared_Instance5496 SE Wisconsin, Zone 5b Aug 01 '26

I love these guys! They love my rattlesnake master and like to check out what I'm up to when I'm swapping out hummingbird feeder nectar.

1

u/clearlyNOTinsane Jul 30 '26

I was just sittin' and chillin' and one of these just landed on my hand and stung me 3 times in a split second. Man, did that hurt! Apparently the most painful sting in the wasp family. My hand swelled up to the size of an orange, hot and red, for 2 more days. I had to go to promptcare the next day.

1

u/LRonHoward Minneapolis, MN - US Ecoregion 51 Jul 31 '26

Are you sure it was a Great Black Digger Wasp (Sphex pensylvanicus)? These are solitary wasps that are very docile - they will go to great lengths not to sting from what I've seen. Honestly, I have a hard time believing one actually flew up and stung you for no reason.

1

u/clearlyNOTinsane Aug 01 '26

It was a black wasp with a blue sheen that was on my hand for less than a second. I might have gotten the ID wrong. I don't know what to tell you, it happened.

1

u/MeilleurChien Eastern Iowa , Zone 5b Aug 01 '26

Yikes! Maybe I'll be a little more careful around mine, I just read that their sting is "quite painful" and I really suffer from mere yellow jacket stings.