Want to Attract Bats to Your Yard? Add These 6 Plants for a Magical Moonlight Garden
You'll have far fewer mosquitoes come summer if you start planting for bats now...
I'm a born multitasker, so the idea of a garden that quietly works for me after dark? Especially one that cuts down pests naturally while looking beautiful by moonlight? It sounds like a dream come true – but bats are the way to make it a reality.
Oh yes, bats might just be the wildlife heroes you’re missing – and not just because they're important pollinators. In fact, a single bat can eat hundreds of night-flying insects in an evening, including mosquitoes and moths, making them one of nature’s most effective (and under-appreciated) forms of pest control.
So, how best to attract bats to your yard? Much like fireflies, the key is to get planting strategically. Let's talk...
How to Attract Bats to Your Garden
The key to attracting bats to your garden isn’t feeding them directly, but feeding what they eat. Night-flying insects are drawn to (surprise!) night blooming flowers, particularly pale or white varieties that glow in low light and release fragrance after dusk.
Think of it as a moon garden... or, y'know, a late-night bat buffet.
6 Plants that Bats Love
Now, it goes without saying that native plants are especially important here, because they’ve evolved alongside local insects, and are thus far better at supporting the food web bats rely on. Put simply: native plants attract native insects, and native insects attract bats.
Depending on your USDA Planting Zone, then, we recommend planting up the following...
A native perennial suited to many parts of the US, whorled milkweed supports a wide range of insects and blooms through summer. Its subtle, pale flowers are particularly attractive to night-active pollinators, helping to stock the bat buffet long after dusk.
This low-growing ground cover produces masses of white flowers that reflect moonlight beautifully. Blooming in spring, it attracts early-season insects and works well along paths, borders or at the base of larger shrubs.
This showy shrub pulls double duty, offering evening insect appeal alongside serious garden drama. Its large flower heads start creamy white before blushing pink, glowing in low light and supporting insects through summer into fall in zones 3-8.
With its enormous dinner-plate blooms, this plant is hard to miss, even after sunset. Opening through the evening in midsummer, it attracts moths and other nocturnal insects while creating a striking focal point in warmer gardens with sunny spots.
A native shrub that thrives in damp areas, buttonbush is a magnet for pollinators. Its spherical white blooms open in early summer and attract a wide range of insects, making it especially valuable for bat-friendly planting schemes.
Flowering in spring, this compact perennial offers early nectar for insects emerging after winter. Its crisp white blooms brighten borders and rock gardens while quietly supporting the food chain bats depend on later in the season.
Trees also play a crucial role in attracting bats to a garden, as they offer shelter and roosting spots (oak trees in particular support an extraordinary diversity of insect life, which makes them a powerhouse addition to any bat-friendly yard.)
Beyond planting, a few small changes can make a big difference. Providing a shallow water source gives bats somewhere to drink on the wing, while bat boxes (even as one as dramatic as this wooden castle design from Amazon) offer safe roosting options, especially for solitary tree bats.
Avoiding pesticides, too, is essential, as chemicals reduce insect populations and can harm bats directly. And forget about the Bat Signal; turning off unnecessary outdoor lights is actually the best way to keep your garden aligned with bats’ natural rhythms.
Bats are the Best Guests
If you start planting for bats, your efforts won't go unrewarded. In fact, your winged pals will work hard to help keep night-flying insects in check, often reducing mosquitoes naturally.
And those magical moonlit plants? Well, they'll make sure your your yard takes on a softer, more ethereal quality once the sun goes down. For me, it's that combination of beauty and balance that makes this such a must-try.
Think about it: a few thoughtful plant choices, less chemical intervention, and a willingness to let nature do its thing? It's the best 1, 2, 3 approach that turns an ordinary backyard into a thriving nighttime habitat. And if it happens to look lovely by moonlight too?
Well, that feels like a win for everyone. Bats incluced.
