Preying Mantis

The preying mantis is a most valuable asset in any garden and you will only find them if you stop using insect sprays, as they are pretty sensitive to toxins and at the upper end of the insect food chain. That means if you spray to control aphids, which they eat, then they get a toxic load of aphids and the mantis' die too. 

The solution if you have lots of aphids is to target spray just the worst affected plants. Most mantis are not this conspicuous, being well camouflaged in general.