An insectary mixture of flowering annuals suitable for use in the high desert irrigated agriculture of New Mexico was developed over 3 years using pumpkins, Cucurbita moschata L., as a model cropping system. Plant establishment, survival, and flowering phenology were assessed in both clay and sandy soils by using weekly quadrat samples. Abundance of beneficial insects and spotted cucumber beetle, Diabrotica undecimpunctata howardi Barber, were monitored with yellow sticky cards (Trécé Inc., Adair, OK). Abundance of squash bug, Anasa tristis (DeGeer), was monitored weekly by sampling eggs and nymphs. Establishment of the flowering mixture was significantly better in clay than sandy soils in each of the 3 years. Of the fifteen plant species tested, California bluebell (Phacelia campanularia A. Gray), buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum Moench), dill (Anethum graveolens L.), Plains coreopsis (Coreopsis tinctoria Nuttall), garden cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus Cavanilles), and sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritima (L.) Desvaux) are suggested as a core mixture for insectary plantings based on their establishment record and bloom periods. Effects on pests and beneficiais varied with taxon and year. Parasitic Hymenoptera showed the most consistent response, being found in significantly higher numbers in plots with insectary plantings than in check plots in all cases except for one field in 2009. Abundance of predatory anthocorids and chrysopids showed the same trend in two of the three years, and the coccinellid Hippodamia convergens Guérin-Menéville in one of the three years. Abundance of spotted cucumber beetles was significantly less in plots with insectary plantings in two of the three years, but squash bug abundance was not influenced in a consistent way by insectary plantings, and there was no effect on the level of parasitism of squash bug eggs.