The garden always has a story to tell. Sometimes, you just have to look a little closer.”- The Grey-Haired Gardener
Sometimes, in the garden, the answer is surprisingly simple:
It’s getting a lift.
Recently, while writing about snails hitchhiking into our gardens, one of my readers, "MJ" left a comment mentioning a word I hadn’t heard in quite a while:
Phoresy.
And of course, that sent this Grey-Haired Gardener down another little garden rabbit hole. 😄
"Sometimes, the best way to travel is to let someone else do the walking."
So, What Exactly Is Phoresy?
Welcome to the world of phoresy.
Put simply, phoresy is hitchhiking.
One small creature attaches itself to a larger, more mobile creature and gets carried from one place to another.
It isn't necessarily feeding on its driver or trying to harm it. It simply needs transportation.
Think of a tiny mite that can't fly. Perhaps it lives among decaying leaves or in another short-lived food source. When that little habitat runs out, walking to the next suitable place isn't much of an option.
But if a beetle comes along?
Hop aboard!
The beetle does the travelling and the mite gets a free ride to a new home. Mites are actually among the best-known examples of creatures that use phoresy.
And mites aren't the only little hitchhikers.
Some tiny creatures will grab onto flies, beetles and other larger insects and simply let them do the travelling. No wings required.
Why walk when you can get a lift? 😄
Nature Has Been Carpooling for a Very Long Time
We gardeners sometimes think of the garden as being made up of plants, insects, birds, soil and maybe the occasional lizard.
But look a little closer.
There is an entire world of tiny creatures moving around us, finding food, finding shelter and finding new places to live.
And some of them have figured out that you don't always have to walk when someone else is going your way.
Nature's version of carpooling has been around for a very, very long time.
So the next time you spot a tiny creature clinging to a larger one, don't immediately assume you've found a pest problem.
Take a closer look.
You might just be watching phoresy—the garden's own version of hitchhiking.
Up close - The hidden tiny creatures in plain sight
🌱 A Little Garden Thought
The more closely we look at our gardens, the more we discover that there is much more happening than meets the eye.
And sometimes, all it takes is one curious question to send us down a fascinating new garden path.
Have you ever spotted one creature clinging to a larger one in your garden? I'd love to hear what you saw!
Grey hair, green thumb and proud of my roots.
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