North Carolina is a rapidly urbanizing state; many of the state’s new urban landscapes are ecologically simple with a limited diversity of plant material. I examined the occurrence of key arthropod natural enemies on common herbaceous perennials suitable for North Carolina urban landscapes to ascertain if encouraging the use of these plants could enhance the implementation of conservation biological control by the landscape maintenance industry.

During the 2004 and 2005 growing seasons plants were examined for seven key orders that are of interest as natural enemies. The occurrence of Aranae, Coleoptera, Diptera, Heteroptera, Hymenoptera, and Neuroptera were documented twice weekly with timed visual counts and plant vacuum samples. Over both years and with both sampling methods there were significantly more samples with the orders Aranae and Hymenoptera than the other orders. There was also an effect of plant family on the occurrence of natural enemies.