Only in North America, lives a humble beauty. The Luna Moth is quietly going about its life cycle every summer, first emerging as a voracious caterpillar. It turns out that the Luna caterpillars truly love our paper birch trees here in the south, along with walnut and hickory, and will eat the leaves until they are ready to start the big transformation.
After hatching from the cocoon, the Luna Moth is born without a mouth or even digestive system. Their assignment is to find another moth to pair with and then mate. They have just 3 weeks as a moth before their life energy runs out. It is a tale of living to the fullest while we have the chance, and that the time we have on Earth is very rare and precious.
To see a Luna Moth in the wild is equally as rare and one of the things that can be done to help their population is spray less pesticide in the yard, as well as leave some non pruned and curated spaces for nesting insects to thrive. As always plant trees when you can, and pass along the unusual life story of our stunning green beauties!