Swinging With Native Vines

Vines are one of nature’s greatest gifts to gardeners. They can cover ugly fences and utility poles, camouflage storage sheds, or bring color, fragrance, and panache to trellises and arbors. Vines fit into almost any available space, whether spilling out of a balcony window box, climbing up the front of a town house, or running free like a ground cover. It is too bad gardeners seldom think to use vines, or else plant the wrong ones by mistake.

There are hundreds of vines and climbers from which to choose. Traditional ornamental favorites include perennials like climbing roses, clematis, and numerous grape varieties; while fast-growing annuals such as sweet peas, morning glories, moonflowers, or climbing nasturtiums have a popular following, especially for porches and trellises.

Unfortunately, there are some real thugs being planted in gardens. These invasive vines, usually “exotic” species, can easily overrun a garden. Some of the best known invasives are kudzu, the “vine that ate the South,” multiflora rose, English ivy, and oriental bittersweet. These noxious vines gobble up yards, forests, and farmland, pushing out our friendly natives. In addition, watch out for porcelain berry, Japanese honeysuckle, and both Chinese and Japanese wisteria, which are still being promoted and sold by mail-order catalog.

Native vines provide the perfect and preferred alternative to these aggressive invaders, and often provide more desirable qualities than their exotic cousins. For example, while wisteria adds a rich, fragrant, and distinctive quality to a home when trained along fence tops, railings, or atop arbors, you can avoid the frost-sensitive Asian varieties and plant American wisteria (Wisteria frutescens) instead. The native wisteria has lavender or mauve flowers which not only bloom in late spring, but often will bloom again in September, and usually flower the year after the vines are planted; Asian wisteria can take years and heavy pruning before blooming.

Or consider Japanese honeysuckle. The aroma is intoxicating, but the vines will quickly overwhelm any garden area and continue to strangle vegetation far afield. In fact, gardeners should make a point of eradicating this vine wherever it appears – although perhaps not on someone else’s property. Native coral honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens), is a dazzling substitute which twines like the Japanese variety, and offers a rich array of yellowish-red and orange blossoms for about two months during the summer. Coral honeysuckle’s deep floral throat offers a welcome mat for hummingbirds and butterflies, and the red berries which follow are prized by birds.

Oriental and Chinese bittersweet are both colorful invaders to be avoided – and eradicated – while American bittersweet (Celastrus scandens) is ideally suited for fence coverage, stout trellises, and even as a ground cover. Native bittersweet is prized more for its brilliant reddish-orange fruits and golden fall foliage than for its flowers, but a snow-covered winter garden comes alive when the vine’s bright red seeds attract the attention of hungry birds. Note that bittersweet is dioecious: there are male and female plants, and to produce the desired fruits you must plant at least one male vine in addition to female vines.

In addition to the sometimes staggering beauty of ornamental clematis, there are two native clematis species worth noting. Leather flower (Clematis viorna), is a reddish, bell-shaped flower which can be trained onto a mailbox post, or allowed to amble free as a ground cover. Virgins bower (Clematis virginiana), a late-summer bloomer, almost explodes into heavily-laden panicles of small white flowers. A bit rambling in form, virgins bower works well in gardens seeking a wild or natural look.

Trumpet vine (Campsis radicans) is as loud and bold as its name. From summer through fall, the vine’s intense scarlet, trumpet-shaped blooms stand out along agricultural fencerows, with vines which clamber up cedar trees or creep across rock faces. The flowers delight children – and hummingbirds – but should not be used in smaller spaces. This vine needs either support or space to spread out, which also qualifies it as a wonderful ground cover.

Like kudzu, English ivy has a ravenous appetite and has often devoured yards and natural areas throughout the East and Midwest. A more suitable and colorful alternative is Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia), which has inspired the name of a railroad line, found praise from conservationists using it for erosion control, and by gardeners enraptured by its crimson-purple autumn foliage. The Scone Palace, ancient crowning site for the kings of Scotland, is perhaps more memorable for the imported Virginia creeper covering its walls and battlements than any other visual feature. Virginia creeper can serve as a ground cover in sunny areas, or cover fences and walls. It will also produce clusters of purple berries delectable to birds.

Crossvine (Bignonia capreolata) is one of the toughest and most versatile native vines. It functions as a ground cover, climbs with ease using twining tendrils, and endures the toughest environmental conditions. It features two-inch long, trumpet-shaped flowers reminiscent of trumpet vine, which bloom in spring and feature a scarlet-orange exterior, and yellowish-red throat, attractant to hummingbirds. Flowers are replaced with long seed pods, and the evergreen leaves turn reddish-purple for late autumn and winter color.

You can use a host of vines to accent architectural lines, fill in empty spaces, or mask unpleasant structural features, but using native vines will invite the natural community to your yard, while still offering a rich pallette of color, fragrance, and texture. For more information and plant suggestions, visit “Using Vines in the Garden” at http://bbg.org. Also look for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Flowering Vines, and Allen Lacy’s delightful Gardening with Groundcovers and Vines.

Copyright 2009, Joseph M. Keyser

Zen Gardens Provide Space for Meditation

Troubled times and a hectic world have often called people to natural places, or cultivated man made spaces, which emphasize quiet and reflection. A wonderful blend of the two is readily found in Zen gardens, which sometimes imply island-studded ponds, tea houses and pagodas, although a personal meditation garden might simply include a small corner of a backyard artfully designed and carefully tended.

Zen gardens function much like our notion of medieval cloistered gardens, which shut out external distractions while inviting peaceful contemplation. In a Zen garden, every element is further layered with abstract meaning and significance. A bed of raked sand or gravel, with concentric circles expanding outward from islands of stone, is both a metaphoric ocean and a reflection of a larger, unfolding universe. As a visitor, you are invited to reflect on the metaphor and participate in it.

Zen gardens are also places rich with subtle color and texture, a dynamic peaceful play of plants against stone, wood, and water. Everything is interrelated and important to the whole, which leads to one of the most enjoyable aspects of such designs: their year-round appeal. Zen gardens are not clusters of colorful borders or showy seasonal displays. Although there may be an exciting burst of color in spring from some flowering trees and shrubs, like dogwoods and azaleas, the overall goal is to create a sense of permanence and timelessness.

A Zen garden should be equally attractive and inviting throughout the year, which is why evergreens play such an important role in their design. Black pines and hollies, moss and other evergreen ground covers provide a seasonal continuity, always green and alive, whether capped by snow, dripping with rain, or resting quietly through the hottest months of summer.

While larger garden areas may permit the visitor to wander about, obtaining a variety of perspectives, it is more common for smaller spaces to provide perhaps just one unique vantage point. In many ways, you can approach the overall design as though working with a three-dimensional canvas, ensuring that every detail of the visible space is well-ordered, balancing key Zen aspects of asymmetry, simplicity, the natural world, and transcendent reality.

To facilitate a sense of mellow timelessness, it helps to introduce rocks with blended tones of light and dark grey, covered with patches of lichen. Contrast these specimens with smooth, river-polished stones, as well as black-pitted volcanic rock, which can be highlighted with tufts of delicate maidenhair ferns tucked into crevices.

Obtaining just the right stones will require a bit of shopping around, and will take time. But taking time and making careful choices is an important part of transforming simple gardening into an act of “meditation.” Zen gardening means that design, pruning, raking up leaves, nurturing transplants, is all part of the garden itself. Your Zen garden is a process – to create and participate in the garden is the goal of the experience.

Beyond stone, water is an important, primal component in a Zen garden, whether found in a quiet pool, a fountain softly dripping into a granite basin, or simply implied by a sea of gravel or lush flowing mosses. Water can represent stillness and calm; it sustains life and flows around impediments. A simple bamboo fountain embraces all the aspects of water, dropping from the sky, falling atop mountains, moving down through forests, across fertile land, and into the sea.

The plants in a Zen garden are most often woodland species. Ferns and mosses help reflect the quiet and venerable nature of a deep, ancient forest, as does lichen clinging to rock surfaces. Moss can be transplanted from one area of your yard to the Zen garden, although it is often propagated using a not-so-Zenlike kitchen blender. Remove a healthy patch of moss, place it in a blender with a water and buttermilk solution, and frappe thoroughly. The resulting mixture can then be applied to stones, and “painted” onto other desirable surfaces.

Other shade-loving ground covers include fragrant Corsican mint, Irish moss, or varieties of creeping thyme for sunnier spots. Even club moss, sometimes called ground pine, a native of wooded areas, can be employed, appealing both for its Precambrian appearance and its bonsai-like resemblance to a forest of miniature pine trees.

Evergreen selections can include an assortment of traditional Japanese pines and hollies, as well as native species, like hemlock, American holly, and mountain laurel. Deciduous trees can range from a large selection of Japanese maples, with lacey, scarlet foliage, to native redbuds, viburnum, witchhazel, and so on, depending on desired height at maturity, texture, and growing conditions. Remember, of course, that simplicity is part of your design. You do not need large numbers of trees, just a few can create a metaphoric forest primeval.

The plants in your garden, especially trees and shrubs, will almost certainly require ongoing pruning and training. Zen gardens are not low maintenance, they are a commitment of time and self. More significantly, Zen gardens are not places for noisy, sputtering lawn mowers, leaf blowers, and weed whackers. They are places out of the melee of daily living which require infinite care and attention. Every leaf which falls to the ground is deserving of attention as you become a living part of the garden itself.

Copyright 2009, Joseph M. Keyser

Raising Children in Your Garden

For many of us, our love of gardening began in childhood, often with a single defining moment, such as kneeling beside a mother or grandmother and setting a few seeds in the soil. That simple act has the power to introduce a child to a larger, wondrous world of color, beauty, and delicious flavors, while instilling forever an appreciation for plants and soil, the web of life, and the rhythm of the seasons.

Of course, launching a child on a horticultural voyage of discovery need not involve rototilling your entire backyard and erecting a greenhouse. A child’s garden can be as simple as a few square feet of planting area that the child can cherish as their own. On the other hand, developing a more extensive children’s garden might help bring out the child in you, while establishing a meaningful family project that everyone can share and enjoy.

Key elements to consider in any children’s garden or gardening activity include fun, success, and variety. Without fun and a playful, positive attitude, gardening becomes a chore, and very few chores become hobbies or passions.

A child’s garden requires imagination and a dollop of fantasy. My earliest memory involves planting what I was told – and still believe – were “magic beans.” They were, in fact, pole beans, large in my small hands, and easily planted by less than precise fingers.

I still recall the excitement of setting the beans in light fluffy soil and seeing sprouts unfurl their first set of leaves and then shoot skywards several days later. I would begin each day thereafter with a visit to these fast-growing plants as they twisted higher and higher up the side of our house. I cannot remember anything else from that period of my life which was as much fun or anywhere near so wonderful.

Selecting plants which practically guarantee success is also important to inspire confidence and fuel a child’s enthusiasm. Excellent candidates include fool-proof seeds, like my magic beans, and easily grown plants like marigolds and zinnias. In addition, it is valuable to include a variety of plants to help maintain interest, and to impart lessons about the different roles plants play. While it might be fun to plant flowers which feature a child’s favorite color, it might be useful to show that plants are more than just pretty or sweet-smelling.

For example, plants can be a source of food, a fact many children (and adults) overlook in a world of pre-packed supermarket salad mixes. Show children where food comes from by helping them to plant and nurture cherry tomatoes, radishes, carrots, cucumbers, lettuce, delightfully sweet alpine strawberries, a blueberry bush, and even a pumpkin patch, if space permits. You can combine food and fun by training pole beans to climb up a simple teepee constructed from bamboo poles or long, straight branches. Children delight in sitting inside the teepee, especially in midsummer, when a secret, shady retreat has been created by the twining vines.

Children are also fascinated by plants taller than themselves, especially by bright-faced, towering sunflowers and swaying stalks of corn. Both are easily grown, impressive to watch, and fun to eat – or share with wildlife, which is not always intentional, but contains an important lesson about ecosystems nevertheless. Actually, the lessons children learn about the natural world extend far beyond the growth habits of flowers and vegetables.

Children digging in soil will discover the hidden world of worms and other insects, mostly good and sometimes bad. They can see bees buzzing from blossom to blossom, and can enjoy butterflies as they sip nectar from various flowers. Add some parsley and dill, and a child might be able to witness the entire lifecycle of a swallowtail butterfly, from egg to caterpillar, cocoon to adult.

With a little extra effort, a child’s garden can become an open book for learning, even for toddlers. In Germantown, Maryland, Susanne Brunhart Wiggins developed an alphabet garden for her son with wooden letters purchased over the Internet. The letters were painted in primary colors, attached to aluminum stakes, and mounted in the garden among plants whose name began with each letter. Already the future gardener is associating the bright letters with words, although not all of them are botanical at this point. However, with just a couple of dedicated beds, the family has created an eclectic planting scheme which is as much colorful as instructional.

Older children might also benefit from the addition of a water feature, such as a small pond, in which fish or tadpoles might be watched and wondered over. Add a few rocks and a decaying log to create a zoological hunting ground, where overturned rocks reveal sowbugs, worms, beetles, and other invertebrates.

Above all, as a child grows, their garden will continue to provide new lessons and fresh opportunities for observation and responsibility. While young children may delight in planting seeds or seedlings, watching them grow, and harvesting goodies, an older child will develop a special, mature relationship with the garden. They can take charge of weeding the garden, feeding a compost pile, and protecting their realm through mulching, watering, and even patrolling for bad bugs. As a child grows, so does the garden, until the garden itself becomes the world, and the child a worthy steward of the land.

Copyright 2009, Joseph M. Keyser

Creating a Butterfly Garden

Butterflies are on the wing! They grace our days with a rare and evanescent beauty. And yet, for all their amusing fluttering and richness of color, they have unfortunately met with much the same treatment as many of the other beneficial organisms in our environment. Their habitat has declined significantly due to the persistent impact of overdevelopment and urban sprawl. Moreover, their very existence is continually threatened by chemical-intensive efforts to eliminate agricultural, lawn, and garden pests.

Some years back, Ron Boender, manager of Butterfly World in Florida, commented that "butterflies are the most sensitive barometer of the entire environment." Their presence around our homes and gardens indicates a vital, healthy ecosystem; their absence, a serious decline in that system's overall health. Another colleague, Frank Elia at the Cecil B. Day Butterfly Center at Callaway Gardens in Georgia, remarked on the irony that while perennial beds and borders are gaining in popularity nationwide -- and would make for fantastic butterfly gardens -- that possibility is frequently ruled out due to the general and rampant use of pesticides in those garden beds.

Why develop a butterfly garden? Beyond the beauty and life that these near-magical creatures bring to our gardens and homes, a butterfly garden provides a biological ark: a unique habitat which aids in the preservation of these often endangered insects. And the butterfly garden becomes a unique habitat for gardeners as well, teaching all of us to live without pesticides, to accept some losses to hungry caterpillars, and to fit in with a natural, evolving system.

Planning and Planting Your Garden

It is important to remember that anyone, anywhere can become a butterfly gardener. The size of your garden is not important -- some gardeners even use window boxes -- and you needn't tear up an established garden -- many successful butterfly gardeners began by incorporating favorite nectar and food sources into existing beds. However, there are a number of important details to consider before beginning.

Location, Location, Location

Ideally, your butterfly garden should be in a sunny area with at least five to six hours full sun. Both the insects and their favorite plants are sun lovers. Also, to help butterflies fly through the garden, land, and take-off, it is recommended that the area be somewhat sheltered from the wind by a wall, hedge, or trees.


Moisture

Although they can "drink" from moist, wet soils, butterflies cannot obtain moisture from open water. Mud puddles or damp sand should be placed in the garden. Try digging a small pit or trench, lining it with plastic, and then filling it with wet sand.

Sunning Areas

Butterflies need areas to perch and spread their wings, allowing sunlight to warm them and raise their body temperature. Chilled butterflies are sluggish and otherwise inactive. Sunning areas can be created by placing flat rocks throughout your garden, keeping old fenceposts clear, or clearing an area of vegetation with wood chips or other mulch.

Selecting Plants for the Garden

Butterflies are very specific in their plant interests. Some plants are favored for depositing eggs -- these then become the "host" plants or food sources for developing larvae or caterpillars. Other plants are prized for their nectar. Sometimes these plants play both roles, though generally host plants only appeal to female butterflies. Also, some butterflies will frequent a wide variety of nectar-rich flowers and host plants, while others will patronize only one single species. The following plant list highlights those genera and species with the widest possible appeal.

When selecting plants for your butterfly garden consider the following: (1) Which butterflies are already in your area? Which would you like to attract? What are their favorite host and nectar plants? Any decent butterfly reference book can help you to identify butterflies and suitable plants. (2) The plant's adaptability to your climate. Most full service garden centers can help you make selections from the following list. (3) General growth habit and appearance. Will the plants you select fit into your current planting design? You may already have many of the plants you need on hand. Some rearranging and interplanting could quickly help you establish a wonderful butterfly oasis with little additional cost and labor. Also, remember to include several varieties of both host and nectar plants in your garden to attract the greatest number and variety of butterflies. Host plants attract female butterflies, provide egg-laying sites, provide food for larvae, and ensure a continued butterfly population in your area.

Nectar-producing plants attract both males and females and provide food for them. When selecting nectar sources, pay special attention to large, single, and upright blooms; they provide better "landing pads" and facilitate nectar extraction. Also, plan for a diversity of colors since butterflies are especially attracted to bright, vibrant colors and striking contrast: bold and brash is often the recipe for success. Lastly, establish year-round color with succession plantings to provide bloom throughout the year: it is both an advantage for yourself as a viewer -- and as a lure for a wider range of butterflies, which have distinct life spans and peak periods of activity.

Dietary Supplements

Many experienced butterfly gardeners increase "visitation" through supplemental feeding sources. These include manures and rotting fruit, which attract a wide variety of butterfly, as well as "home-brews," which are normally low, flat dishes filled with sugar-water, or sugar-enriched beer or wine. Perhaps you can include butterflies in your taste-testing of microbrewery beers!

Pest Control

Most pesticides are harmful either to adult butterflies, caterpillars, eggs, or pupae. Use manual control of pests in conjunction with biological controls and some insecticidal soaps. Remember, too, that healthy soils produce healthy plants: the healthier your plant, the less likely it will encounter stress, disease, and pests.

Plants for Attracting Butterflies

The following lists commonly available plants by their botanical name with common name in parentheses. Please note that many species (indicated by spp.) within a given genus are excellent nectar or food sources. and some plants cited serve as both food plants and nectar sources. Plants followed by the symbol *** attract the largest number of butterflies.

Copyright 2009, Joseph M. Keyser

Host Plants:

Alcea spp. (Hollyhock)
Anethum graveolens (Dill)***
Antirrhinum spp. (Snapdragon)
Arabis spp. (Rock Cress)***
Asclepias spp. (Milkweed)***
Barbarea spp. (Winter Cress)***
Cassia spp. (Senna)
Celtis spp. (Hackberry)
Daucus carota (Queen-Anne's-Lace)***
Foeniculum vulgare (Fennel)***
Humulus spp. (Hops)
Lathyrus odoratus (Sweet pea)
Lindera benzoin (Spicebush)
Liriodendron tulipifera (Tulip Poplar)
Lupinus spp. (Lupine)
Malus spp. (Apple)
Passiflora spp. (Passionflower)***
Petroselinum crispum (Parsley)
Phaseolus spp. (Bean)
Prunus spp. (Cherry/Plum)***
Ruta graveolens (Rue)***
Salix spp. (Willow)***
Urtica spp. (Nettle)***
Vicia spp. (Vetch)***
Viola spp. (Violet)

Nectar Sources:

Achillea millefolium (Common Yarrow)
Alcea spp. (Hollyhock)***
Allium spp.
Anaphalis spp. (Everlasting)
Apocynum spp. (Dogbane)***
Artemisia spp. (Wormwood)***
Asclepias spp. (Milkweed)***
Aster spp. ***
Barbarea spp. (Winter Cress)***
Buddleia spp. (Butterfly bush)***
Chrysanthemum spp. ***
Cirsium spp. (Thistle)***
Cleome spp. (Spider plant)
Coreopsis spp. (Tickseed)***
Cosmos spp. ***
Delphinium elatum
Dianthus barbatus (Sweet William)
Echinacea spp. (Purple Coneflower)***
Eupatorium spp.
Fragaria virginiana (Virginia Strawberry)
Heliotropium spp. (Heliotrope)***
Hemerocallis spp. (Daylily)
Iberis sempervirens (Edging Candytuft)
Ipomoea spp. (Morning-glory)
Lantana spp. (Shrub Verbena)***
Lavandula angustifolia (English Lavender)
Ligustrum spp. (Privet)***
Lonicera spp. (Honeysuckle)***
Lunaria annua (Money Plant)
Mentha spp. (Mint)
Myosotis scorpioides (Forget-me-not)
Nicotiana alata (Flowering Tobacco)
Phlox spp.
Primula vulgaris (English Primrose)
Rhododendron spp. ***
Rosmarinus officinalis (Rosemary)
Rubus spp. (Bramble fruits)
Rudbeckia hirta (Black-eyed Susan)
Ruellia spp.
Salvia spp. (Sage)***
Sedum spp.
Solidago spp. (Goldenrod)***
Tagetes spp. (Marigold)***
Taraxacum spp. (Dandelion)***
Thymus spp. (Thyme)
Trifolium pratense (Red Clover)***
Tropaeolum majus (Garden Nasturtium)
Viola spp. (Violet)
Zinnia spp. ***

Helpful References:

• Schneck, Marcus. Butterflies. Emmaus, Pa.: Rodale Press, 1990.
• Butterfly Gardening - Creating Summer Magic in Your Garden, Xerces Society with Smithsonian Inst., 1990.
• Tekulsky, Mathew. The Butterfly Garden. Boston: Harvard Common Press, 1985.
• Sedenko, Jerry. The Butterfly Garden. New York: Villard Books, 1991.
  

Luring Bats Into Your Garden

It is easy to encourage the creation of gardens which attract butterflies, hummingbirds, or songbirds. But bats? Rather than appreciate these fascinating night fliers, most people tend to react with a loathing inspired by superstition and misunderstanding. However, inviting bats into your yard and garden is one of the easiest and safest methods for eliminating thousands of pesky insects a night, including the much dreaded mosquito.

In fact, bats are the primary predator of night-flying insects across the globe. There are approximately 1,000 species of bat worldwide, which make up almost one-quarter of all mammal species on Earth, with 10 species found in my old stomping grounds of Maryland alone. The most common bat in the Mid-Atlantic area is the little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus), followed closely by the big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus).

For the most part, our local little brown bat is known to consume hundreds of insects an hour, up to one-third its body-weight every half-hour, from swarms of mosquitoes to gnats, gypsy moths, and a host of beetles. Visitors to marshes and wetlands just after dusk are often greeted by the aerial antics of numerous bats swooping low over the water to gulp down thousands of mosquitos and midges.

Regrettably, rather than recognize these peaceful creatures as partners to residents and farmers in maintaining troublesome insect populations, people continue to perpetuate absurd myths about bats becoming entangled in women’s hair, carrying rabies, and biting children with vampiric zeal. In actuality, bats are among the most gentle mammals on earth. They are not rodents or related to mice at all. And while all mammals can “get” rabies, bats have a much lower incidence rate than raccoons or skunks, and one statistic indicates that there have only been ten confirmed cases of humans contracting rabies from bats in 30 years. Lastly, bats are not blind at all. All bats can see, although they rely on echolocation and smell, more than sight, to identify and capture prey.

Developing a bat garden is actually quite easy, certainly easier than buying a batmobile or fighting criminal masterminds. The goal is to landscape with plants which attract night-time pollinators -- nice juicy bat-treats like many of the moth species -- which will in turn tempt bats to visit and hang out in your yard, perhaps ultimately taking up residence in the area.

Most of the plants needed are commonly found at garden centers and are as much a delight for the human senses as for the fluttering moths. Herb gardens alone attract many nighttime pollinators. Why not put in a small kitchen herb garden using both common and garlic chives, marjoram, oregano, lemon balm, borage (which also attracts swarms of beneficial bees during the day), sage, and some of the fragrant mints, from English pennyroyal to apple and chocolate mint, among others?

Elsewhere in your garden you should consider a number of plants similarly renowned for their evening scent. Welcome your bat comrades while you sweetly perfume the warm summer evening around your home. Desirable choices include jasmine, gardenia, and the outlandish night-blooming cereus, all of which are best grown in containers and taken indoors in winter. In addition, consider standard garden fare such as evening primrose, nicotiana, sweet rocket, night-scented or evening stock, bouncing bet, cream-colored petunias, Franciscan nightshade, dame’s rocket, gas plant, soapwort, and night-blooming gladiolus.

One of the most exquisite and versatile selections, which combines fragrance with large, showy blooms, is moonflower (Ipomoea alba). Related to morning glories and sweet potato vine, moonflower is a fast-growing vine which can reach up to 20 feet, with large six-inch wide blooms which open at night. Moonflower can be trained to a trellis, or simply allowed to sprawl over a rock wall or pile of stones.

Most of the species cited above offer bright white or cream-colored blooms which can readily brighten your garden beds at night, and even add a sensuous, romantic air when visited under moonlight. Of course, you can also plant flowers in a range of colors which will add sparkle to your daytime garden, while still attracting nighttime pollinators. Among the most favored are salvias, phlox, bachelor’s buttons, four o’clocks, silene, and heliotrope.

Beyond simply attracting moths and other flying insects to get a hungry bat’s attention, you can provide some additional habitat elements, and potentially, even a roosting site that will guarantee bat loyalty for years to come.

Building a bat cave might be out of the question, but what about a bat pool? If you have thought about a small pond or water feature for your garden, this might be just the impetus you need. The bat pool can be anything from a plastic tub or whiskey barrel buried in the ground, to an actual pond liner or old bathtub. Make sure that you line the perimeter of the “pool” with flat stones which will allow bat visitors to make their way to the edge of the water and drink. Be sure to either aerate the pond or basin, or at least add a few fish to eliminate potential mosquito larvae.

You might also wish to help create a roost for bats. For example, solitary bats might be interested in nesting in a rock retaining wall constructed with large 10-12 inch wide stones, which include a number of good-sized nooks. Smaller spaces in the wall can be filled with a bit of soil and planted with thyme or other creeping groundcovers.

For the most part, bats tend to live in hollow trees, caves, abandoned buildings, behind loose boards or shingles, and, though not a preferred address, in accessible attics. The attic or belfry option is generally not encouraged.

On the other hand, there are a number of bat houses sold through garden centers, catalogs, and nature-related gift shops. Unfortunately, it is generally believed that most of these bat houses, however well-intentioned, will go untenanted indefinitely. Some naturalists have suggested placing bat guano under a new box to provide, perhaps, a lived-in look, and thereby attract new lodgers. That might be asking a lot of the average gardener.

The best bet might simply be to allow bats to find their own roosts, while ensuring that they will stay in your area by providing some habitat features and a welcome meal ticket. You will find, in time, a special sense of wonder as you watch visiting bats cavort through the night sky overhead, usually starting at or just before nine o’clock, and in between sightings, you can drink in the rich scent and subtle beauty of your new evening garden.

For more information on bats and bat conservation, visit or contact Bat Conservation International, P.O. Box 16203, Austin, TX 78716; www.batcon.org.

Copyright 2009, Joseph M. Keyser