I know exactly the flies you're talking about, I see them on my green bean leaves literally all the time. I can't go out there without finding one sitting on a leaf somewhere.. I tried to take pics but the slightest thing sends them flying, so it's kinda difficult. I'd be very interested to know what they are.

Pretty little iridescent flies usually mean beneficial Long-Legged Flies. Do a google and see if that's not a match.

The "something on the order of a dragonfly " escapes my crystal ball. :-)

Yep, that's what they are for me.

Rhizo, given what little I gave you for identification, it's amazing that you were able to come up with a name. It looks like good news/bad news that I have them. Good in that they eat the bad stuff; bad in that they'd something to eat.

Thanks, but not so amazing really. Practice makes perfect, lol.

Wolverine...I'm going to adjust your attitude about the 'bad news'! It's GOOD that you have something for these insects to patrol for, else they wouldn't spend time in your gardens. The healthiest and most balanced of environments will have a population of good guys AND bad guys.

What's fun is when you begin to learn more about who all the players are (so to speak)...just like your little Long Legged Fly...so that you know what their jobs are.

You're right about balance, but I was just on my way to the garden and saw a squash vine borer moth. She's dead now; I didn't want to wait for whatever eats her.

Something like a dragonfly might be a damselfly...they are similar but smaller.

I have noticed an increase in pests this year due to a mild(er) winter, but I also have more beneficials than previous years. Tons of the long-legged flies and earlier I posted elsewhere about some eggs on a leaf that turned out to be lacewing eggs. I had started to spray plants with Safer soap after seeing aphids under a lot of leaves, but upon learning about the lacewing eggs, ceased spraying and I'm not having the aphid problem I thought I would. And, we've recently had a hatch of toads so there's lots of hungry baby toads lurking about under pots and rocks.