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@bedap
From what I can tell, the biggest thing is to keep a pond for the dragonflies to lay their eggs in. Ideally something with shallow edges and a centre depth of maybe half a metre, which gets a few hours of sunlight each day. Keep it free of animals like fish and frogs which will eat the dragonfly larvae. And grow aquatic plants, like lotuses, which rise above the water's surface.
Also, I'm pretty sure they're territorial as adults, so maybe more than one pond, if you have space?
@InvaderXan
Won't those ponds also serve as breeding sites for mosquitoes?
@bedap
@anne @bedap
True. Midges too. But that should give the dragonflies plentiful food. They're amazingly efficient predators in both adult and juvenile forms, and they eat something like 10% of their own body weight every day.
Catching a few dragonfly nymphs and releasing them into the ponds would probably be a good idea to kick start the process.
@InvaderXan
Would encouraging bats be an option? You can build bat houses, I know. Or is their population too devastated by white-nose syndrome?
@bedap
@anne @bedap
Personally, I think encouraging bats is always a good idea!
@InvaderXan
These are fruit bats, and in captivity, but they sure are cute.
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@anne @bedap
Fruit bats are among the cutest, I think!