Could you please recommend some garden plants that are moth friendly? I’d love to encourage more of them to visit the garden, they’re such magical little things. Mary F, Co CarlowWhile there’s an abundance of information readily available to gardeners on creating a butterfly-friendly garden, that’s not the case when it comes to moths. Presumably this boils down to the simple reason of them being less visible and less colourful, but it’s a shame. As you say, they bring their own special magic while they’re also often more efficient as pollinators than bees. But while Ireland is home to more than 1,500 species of moth, many are under threat as a result of a complex combination of factors including habitat loss, changes in land use, pollution, climate change, and the use of herbicides and insecticides.To encourage them in your garden, create the kinds of sheltered, flower-rich habitats that they and their larvae need. Hedges, ideally using a mix of native species such as hawthorn, blackthorn, the guelder rose (Viburnum opulus) and hazel are a great start. So are native trees such as birch, willow, alder and rowan. Leaving pockets of wild grasses and native “weeds” such as yarrow, dandelion, clover, selfheal, bedstraw, groundsel, trefoil, scabious, ivy and knapweed will also help a lot.As for cultivated garden flowering plants, make sure to include plenty with nectar-rich blooms. Examples include borage, field poppy, achillea, sedum, malva, evening primrose, night-scented stock, origanum, wallflower, honeysuckle, perennial geranium, sweet rocket and sweet william.It’s also worth noting that despite the common belief that moths are nocturnal, there are many that take to the wing by day. It’s just that their discreet colourings and markings typically provide valuable camouflage. Examples of day-flying moths in Ireland include the handsome Cinnabar moth whose larvae feed on ragwort; the narrow-bordered bee hawk-moth, whose larvae feed on scabious; and the six-spot burnet moth whose larvae feed on bird’s foot trefoil.To find out more about moths and the ways in which you can make your garden more moth-friendly, visit mothsireland.com; butterflyconservation.ie; and biodiversityireland.ie