What is this #insect & how does it help #gardens? #pollinator

If you are a gardener, then you will come into contact with all kinds of creatures! Some of them are friendly creatures, and some are scary creatures. This happens to be a pretty and interesting creature that we found near our back patio. Last year, we saw him on our screen door. This year, he is larger and on the ground. If you know what this is, please tell us! We believe it is a moth, but we are not sure. So, we are asking our itsgardeningtime followers to let us know!

We did some research and discovered that this pretty creature is an Actias Luna, or a Luna Moth! To learn “7 Things You Don’t Know About Moths, But Should,” click here. What an interesting diversion from our usual gardening videos. We have learned that Luna Moths are attracted to white flowers since they can see them at night, and we do have white flowers in our garden. For instance, our Japanese Wildflowers bloom at night!

The Luna Moth may also be attracted to our White Hyacinth, which bloom in early Spring!

Additional research revealed that Luna Moths lay their eggs on the Yucca plant, and the Luna Moth also pollinates the Yucca plant. We just happen to have 2 Yucca plants in our garden! Who ever thought we would be so excited to learn this interesting tidbit about our ecosystem!

We always noticed the Luna Moth every Spring, but we never knew why the moth visited our garden. We are happy we learned the connection between the Luna Moth and our Yucca Plant! To learn more about the Luna Moth, and to see more pretty pics, click here. Adrian Higgins, found an artist who lives in the Blue Ridge mountains, and she paints moths! For details click here.

Our Yucca plant also provides natural habitat for rabbits, and predictably, snakes. Whenever you have rabbits in your garden, snakes are not far behind. We believe the rabbits hide under the Yucca plant because the sharp-edged leaves provide protection from predators, such as the Red Fox we see every now and then.

#yucca #yuccas #white #teardrop #flowers #flower ##bloom in late #spring #springtime #springflowers #springishere #gardeninglifestyle #gardeninglife #gardening101 #gardeningtips #gardeningisfun #garden #gardening #gardener #gardeninglife #gardeningisfun #gardeninglove #gardeningisgoodforthesoul

A photo posted by itsgardeningtime (@itsgardeningtime) on Jun 15, 2016 at 4:30pm PDT

To summarize, our yucca plants serves 4 purposes in our garden and landscape:

1. Beautiful white teardrop flowers high up on a 3 foot stalk every Spring

• Natural habitat for small mammals, such as rabbits

• Host plant for the pretty and large Luna moth

• A no-maintenance perennial that provides pretty blooms every Spring

If you are looking for an interesting and functional perennial, check your local Home Depot, Lowe’s, online Burpee Gardening or eBay for their selection of yucca plants! To learn how to plant, fertilize and prune your way to a gorgeous garden, subscribe to our YouTube channel!