Loofah Plant Great For Pollinating Insects

This Loofah plant is really loved by the pollinating insects.  It attracts all kinds of Bees, Butterflies, Ants, and Wasps (not too many of these fortunately).

The Ants that are attracted to this plant are not Fire Ants, and don’t appear to be very aggressive.  I need to investigate what type of Ants these are.  They are not a nuisance at all.

We also see some Wasps around these plants.  Not the big red Paper Wasps, which I know will attack Butterfly Caterpillars, I think some of these are Mud Daubers.

The type of Bees that are attracted to this plant (that we have seen) include the Bumblebee, Carpenter Bee and Mason Bee.  I realize that there are some risks associated with the Carpenter Bee and housing, but we’ve never had a problem with them.

Carpenter Bee On Loofah Flower

I didn’t expect many Butterflies to be attracted to this plant, but there are some Skippers that like this plant.  If the size of the proboscis is a requirement, that may be why the Skippers like this plant.  Look at the size of the proboscis on this Skipper.  It’s huge!  It might be hard to see based on the size of your monitor, but that proboscis

Skipper With Long Tongue On Loofah Flower

I tried to really do a close cropping of the picture so you can see just how long the proboscis compared to the entire body of the Skipper.

Closeup of Skipper Proboscis

I’ll finish up this post by saying I’m beginning to really like this plant.  Sure there’s the Loofah aspect, but this plant is also is just a naturally attractive plant.  Nice big leaves, that provide some shade, wonderfully pretty pollinating flowers, and a nice selection of pollinating insects that would help any garden.