(upbeat music) - "Modern Gardener" presents Bugs & Blooms, a family-friendly event all about beneficial garden insects.

And here to share what's in store is Cynthia Stringham, the host of "Modern Gardener".

Hi Cynthia.

- Hi, how are you.

- Thanks for being here.

Great to have you.

- I'm so happy to be here with you.

- I'm just so curious about the beneficial insects.

- Honestly, there are so many cool insects out there that people aren't aware of.

And I'm so excited for this event, because it's family friendly.

We're inviting all your kids to come and meet with Amanda Barth and me, and we're gonna talk about all of our beneficial insects out there.

And Amanda, she's an expert.

She's Utah state's rare insect coordinator, and she has so much wealth of knowledge that she needs to share with everybody.

And on top of that, it's just gonna be such a fun event.

- Oh, that's great.

And you're at the Cultural Celebration Center, right?

- Yes.

- Okay.

- And it's free, it's from 6:00 to 8:00 pm We're gonna be showing off some really awesome clips from some of "Modern Gardener's" episodes on beneficial insects along with our pollinator friends.

And then on top of that, there's a bunch of kid activities that we're gonna be doing.

- Okay.

Okay.

- Yeah.

- Well, this is great, because you know, we all look at our gardens and we think, what's eating these leaves?

- Yes.

- What's destroying my plants?

What bugs?

- Well, and also, sometimes bugs are scary, right?

- Yeah.

- Like you see a wasp and you think it's going to bite you or it's gonna sting you, and most of the time that's not the case.

There's those few bad bugs out there that are gonna hurt you, but for the most part, a lot of these bugs are beneficial.

Or when you see a beautiful monarch fly by, or a swallow tail, that you will be able to identify these and understand what they're doing for your garden.

- Ah, see, I love it that we'll finally get to know, because a lot of us just think, okay, do I spray it with vinegar?

How do I get rid the aphids?

- No, no!

No, you don't do any of that, Mary.

Yeah.

So, it'll be super fun.

And like I said, it's fun to get the kids involved.

We're gonna have a bunch of kids' crafts and activities.

They're gonna make little mud cups where it's not real mud.

It's like Oreos crushed up with pudding and put in like one of those gummy worms in there.

And we have some other activities where they're gonna be building their own bugs so.

- Great.

Well, thanks for being here and thanks for doing it.

- Thanks.

- And if you'd like to know more about that upcoming event at the Utah Cultural Celebration Center, Bugs & Blooms, August 6th from 06:00 to 8:00 pm, pbsutah.org/events.

I'm Mary Dickson.

Thanks for watching "Contact".

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It's what brings us together.

Hi, I'm Mary Dickson.

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