Insect Music

The more diverse the plantings on your property, the more environmental niches will be available, and consequently, the more varied the inhabitants, including the insects. Some insect sounds are unpleasant—the sound of frass dropping from a tree infested with gypsy moths, for instance. But what pleasure we get from fields and trees in bloom when they are full of buzzing bees. Or a night full of crickets—the definitive sound of late summer. And katydid choruses in the late August woodlands of the eastern United States can be deafening. Water helps diversity, and with diversity comes a greater multitude of nature's voices.

This natural symphony never repeats and never ends. It is the rush and roar of all life working in interlocked splendor, but to hear it we need to be quiet.