All About Wasps and Hornets

By Andrew Weidman
Updated on June 20, 2023
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Wasps are beneficial bugs in the garden, because they are predatory insects.

Although they get a bad rap for their aggressiveness, wasps and hornets are beneficial predators of common garden pests.

Many people treat their gardens and backyards like a battlefield, waging war on anything they consider pests. Diseases, weeds, animals and insects all find themselves in the crosshairs. Until recently, the standard tactic was a “nuke ’em all” approach of chemical warfare, especially where insects are concerned. Times and attitudes are changing, as gardeners have come to realize dead bugs aren’t necessarily the only good bugs. New strategies include insect-friendly practices like crop rotation, companion plants, buffer zones, and beneficial insect releases.

But one insect ally still can’t get a fair break, thanks to a mostly undeserved reputation for having a bad temper. As a friend of mine noted, no one has ever been described as “happy-go-lucky as a hornet.” For that matter, this may be the only time you’ll ever read the phrase “perky as a paper wasp.”

For the most part, people need not fear these underappreciated beneficial insects. That is, assuming you don’t have an allergy to their venom, and as long as you’re not throwing rocks at their nest. Venom allergies can be life threatening, so those allergic to a wasp sting get a pass on “live and let live” for nests in bad locations. But unless the nest is near a high-traffic area, there’s no reason to mess with it.

Wasps and hornets don’t go out of their way to pick a fight, regardless of popular opinion. They will, however, defend their nest vigorously if they feel it is threatened. That being said, you’re fine as long as you stay away. How far is far enough? For paper wasps, that means no closer than 4 or 5 feet from the nest, and 10 to 15 feet for a hornet’s nest. Yellow jackets will get excited if you step on their nest entrance or approach it with a lawnmower.

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