Creating a Moon Garden for Bats: Native Plants that Support Nocturnal Wildlife
When we think about wildlife-friendly gardens, we often focus on the creatures we see during the day, such as bees, birds, and butterflies. But as the sun sets, another vital group of animals becomes active: bats! If you’re planting native plants to support daytime pollinators and wildlife, you're also contributing to the habitat needs of their nighttime counterparts.
Bats are some of the most remarkable animals on the planet. They’re our only flying mammals, with over 1,300 species found worldwide. In Ohio, we’re lucky to have 13 bat species, all of which are insectivorous, meaning they only eat insects. This helps keep insect populations in check, including those that feed on agricultural crops, such as moths, and the ones that bother us humans: mosquitoes! Among the most frequently spotted in Ohio are the little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus) and the big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus). These bats are voracious insect eaters; a single bat can consume its body weight in insects each night.
In honor of Bat Month, let’s talk about one creative and beautiful way you can support bats in your own backyard: by planting a moon garden.
What is a Moon Garden?
A moon garden is a space filled with plants that reflect moonlight with their pale petals or silvery foliage, creating a beautiful and serene garden at dusk and dawn. Moon gardens can feature plants that bloom at night or have strong fragrances that attract nocturnal pollinators, such as moths and other insects. These insects, in turn, are food for bats.
You can use native plants to create a stunning moon garden that supports local wildlife.
When gardening for any form of wildlife, from bats to bees to butterflies, it’s essential not to use pesticides.
Growing flowers to attract butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds is a common gardening and landscaping goal. Growing plants to have their leaves eaten by insects is less common and can take some time to get used to. As gardeners, we invest a lot of time and care in growing our plants, and traditionally, we protect them from insects, which we refer to as pests. We may spray our plants with insecticides to prevent damage from insects.
Gardening for wildlife turns this idea on its head. We choose plants, called host plants, to be eaten by insects, and we don’t use insecticides. We want holey leaves on our plants. It’s a sign that insects are using your plants for food.
If we plant many native plants in diverse groupings, the insect damage usually isn’t very noticeable. If a host plant is being completely devoured, that’s a sign to plant more of that species. The fuller your garden beds are with plants, the less noticeable insect damage will be on any one individual plant.
For more tips on gardening for wildlife, see our blog post, Native Gardening Maintenance—Tips + Tricks.
Native Plants for a Moon Garden
These are Midwest native plants you could include in a moon garden. They’re divided into eight categories:
White Flowering Plants
Night Blooming Plants
Structural Plants
Silvery Foliage Plants
Low-Growing Groundcovers
Grasses and Sedges
Shrubs
Trees
White Flowering Plants
These blooms stand out under moonlight, creating a glowing effect in the garden.
Common Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
Canada Anemone (Anemone canadensis)
Tall Thimbleweed (Anemone virginiana)
Whorled Milkweed (Asclepias verticillata)
White Woodland Aster (Aster divaricatus)
White False Indigo (Baptisia alba)
Hairy Wood Mint (Blephilia hirsuta)
False Aster (Boltonia asteroides)
Eastern Shooting Star (Dodecatheon meadia)
Bonesets (Eupatorium species)
Pale Spiked Lobelia (Lobelia spicata)
Prairie Goldenrod (Oligoneuron album)
Foxglove Penstemon (Penstemon digitalis)
Mountain Mints (Pycnanthemum species)
Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis)
Heath Aster (Symphyotrichum ericoides)
Panicled Aster (Symphyotrichum lanceolatum)
White Goldenrod (Solidago bicolor)
Great White Trillium (Trillium grandiflorum)
Night Blooming Flowering Plants
These flowers attract nocturnal pollinators, such as moths, making the garden active after dark.
Common Evening Primrose (Oenothera biennis)
Foam Flower (Tiarella cordifolia)
Adam’s Needle (Yucca filamentosa)
Structural Plants
These plants serve as focal points, adding unique architectural elements to your Moon Garden. Their striking forms create visual interest, even when not in bloom.
Black Cohosh (Actaea racemosa)
Goat’s Beard (Aruncus dioicus)
Rattlesnake Master (Eryngium yuccifolium)
Wild Quinine (Parthenium integrifolium)
Culver’s Root (Veronicastrum virginicum)
Silvery Foliage Plants
These leaves are often soft, hairy, or fuzzy, reflecting light and giving them a light green, white, or silvery appearance.
Pearly Everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea)
White Sagebrush (Artemisia ludoviciana)
Virginia Waterleaf (Hydrophyllum virginianum)
Spotted Bee Balm (Monarda punctata)
Sweet Everlasting (Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium)
Clustered Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum muticum)
Low-Growing Groundcovers
These plants act as green mulch, filling gaps between taller plants to reduce weeding and retain soil moisture. They also provide additional habitat for insects and other wildlife.
Pussytoes (Antennaria species)
Ivory Sedge (Carex eburnea)
James' Sedge (Carex jamesii)
Pennsylvania Sedge (Carex pensylvanica)
Robin’s Plantain (Erigeron pulchellus)
Woodland Stonecrop (Sedum ternatum)
Cream Violet (Viola striata)
Grasses and Sedges
Often underutilized in garden design, grasses and sedges are essential for both aesthetic and ecological purposes. They serve as host plants for many insects while providing structural support for taller flowers. Their soft, flowing forms also create a neutral backdrop, allowing vibrant flower drifts to stand out.
Side Oats Grama (Bouteloua curtipendula)
Silvery Sedge (Carex argyrantha)
Cherokee Sedge (Carex cherokeensis)
Plantain Sedge (Carex plantaginea)
River Oats (Chasmanthium latifolium)
Tufted Hairgrass (Deschampsia cespitosa)
Prairie Dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis)
Shrubs
Like structural plants, shrubs and trees add height and architectural interest to a garden. Many also provide food for wildlife and contribute white or silvery tones, enhancing the glowing effect of a moon garden.
New Jersey Tea (Ceanothus americanus)
Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis)
Bayberry (Myrica pensylvanica)
Snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus)
Trees
Trees can add height to a garden bed and serve as a focal point, enhancing the overall aesthetic.
River Birch (Betula nigra)
Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida)
American Snowbell (Styrax americanus)
Viburnums (Viburnum species)
Why Create a Moon Garden?
By planting a moon garden, you’re not only enhancing the nighttime beauty of your yard, but you’re also supporting a wide array of nocturnal wildlife. Moths and other night-flying insects will be attracted to the plants in your garden, which become food for bats and other animals.
Since insectivorous bats rely on nocturnal insects as their food source, your moon garden can become a crucial part of their nighttime ecosystem. And let’s face it, there’s something magical about sitting in a quiet garden, watching bats swoop overhead while the moonlight dances off pale blooms and silvered leaves.
If you’re looking for more information on how to make your garden bat-friendly, check out these great video resources, or contact a Deeply Rooted Landscapes consultant to help you design a moon garden of your own.
