goldblush, I'd like to recommend that you purchase a field guide on insects, something to hold in your hands, flip through; one with good photographs and plenty of easy to digest background information about the different insect orders and their roles in the environment.

My favorite is the National Audubon Society Field Guide to Insects and Spiders. I even made it a required book when I taught freshman level Entomology classes. A good field guide is more useful to a novice than the internet.

Thank you rhizo:)! I will look into that...I feel like I have learned a lot about pollinators but more education on all the beneficial insects I discover in the garden would be great! Thanks again!

Don't know where you live, but a book published by the University of California is likely to be helpful. It's "Natural Enemies"

See http://ipm.ucanr.edu/IPMPROJECT/ADS/manual_naturalenemies.html

My biggest newbie garden blooper was moving into a new house and immediately planting a bunch of flowers in the front, only to have them completely dissected and carted away in 24 hours by leaf-cutter type ants! I learned quite a bit about observing the environment before jumping in, lol.

Lol Faith! So many funny lessons to learn in gardening huh?! Sorry about your flowers hey...it can be pretty frustrating to see little critters going after your beauties. I just looked at some sweet pea seedlings that got chopped off by slugs overnight...in the shed:)! What did you end up planting instead?