Moth flowers

Moth flowers

This week has been so grey and humid in Halifax, but there is lots of activity in my neighbourhood. On a walk down by the river, I could hear the dripping of water from saturated leaves, and the steady munching, as though someone were eating a cob of corn. But no, it was one of our castorian neighbours. Sitting on a submerged rock with young spruce saplings at hand, sat the hungry beaver.

Most notable too were the Evening-primroses along the trail. These night-scented flowers open wide in low light levels. Like Flowering Tobacco (Nicotiana sp.), Soapwort (Saponaria sp.) , Honeysuckles (Lonicera spp.) and Valerian (Valeriana spp.) they attract moth pollinators with their strong sweet scent and ample nectar.

If attracting pollinators is one of your gardening or landscaping goals, seeding some of these well-established introductions in your garden is an easy activity. Most of the newer varieties are treated or produce less scent and nectar. A cautionary note about Valerian, it spreads quickly and may become invasive. Keep it controlled  and limit it to single plants.

These are but a few, but moth flowers tend to be heavily scented, light in colour and with ample rewards accessible in a tubular corolla.

Sure enough on this same walk just before dusk, a busy hovering hawk moth visited the large patch of Oenothera biennis near my home.

Oenothera biennis, photo by Martin Thomas

Valeriana officinalis, photo by Martin Thomas

Saponaria officinalis, photo by Martin Thomas