Stonehouse Gardening Club - The moth with no mouth - with Sue Smith and Sue Dodd

LOOK on a lime tree in May and June and you might see a blue horned green caterpillar feeding.

But as the adult Lime Hawkmoth this creature has no mouth and doesn’t feed.

Despite this, it can live up to five weeks.

These were some of the fascinating facts provided by the local moth and butterfly speakers, Sue Smith and Sue Dodd at the June meeting of Stonehouse Gardening Club.

Focussing on encouraging these magical creatures to your garden, they spoke of the attractions of valerian, herbs, verbena bonariensis, lavender, Michaelmas daisies, scabious, French marigolds and single rather than double flowered plants.

Gloucestershire has 43 out of the UK’s 58 species, but they always need more sheltered sunny spots and flowers throughout the season.

Preferring a wild flower area plus the all-important pond, the Sues explained some of the plant associations we can encourage; obviously, the holly blues like holly but also ivy; the orange tip likes honesty; the small tortoiseshell and red admiral love rudbekia and rotting fruit; assorted brown butterflies love grasses; commas prefer sedums; the gatekeeper loves marjoram and the marbled white likes scabious.

This talk was a wander through a stunning minute world.

All are welcome to the next session of the Gardening Club, which will be to a different wonderland: The Road to Samarkand on Wednesday, July 5, will be an illustrated talk by Nicholas Clark, at 7.30pm in the Stonehouse Community Centre.