We found this little Mouse-Eared bat sleeping outside a garage in Seattle, a few summers ago.

Recently, a client requested a bat-friendly garden. We’ve designed kid-friendly, dog-friendly, bee-friendly (and un-friendly for bee-allergic), and certainly bird & butterfly-friendly. Bat-friendly was a new one!

Bats are helpful predators, eating insects we don’t want in our gardens. They eat mosquitos and other pests, including scorpions and roaches. They are also effective pollinators.

Adding bat boxes, a water source, keeping big healthy trees and shrubs for perching all encourage bat visitors. Plants that bloom and/or release fragrance at night are enticing, as are plants with pale blooms and broad open flowers. Brugmansia (Angel Trumpet) is topping my plant list, followed by California Evening Primrose. I’ve seen one in my garden, visiting my large Solandra maxima (Cup of Gold Vine) flower

Also avoid pesticides and herbicides, of course.

Sources/Resources:

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/mar/08/gardening-save-bats

https://www.kcet.org/redefine/heres-to-the-bats-of-california

https://www.scpr.org/news/2014/07/21/45467/getting-to-know-the-secret-world-of-la-s-bats/

https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/gardening/a20706363/how-to-attract-bats/