I have a patch of Four O'clocks which are often visited after dark by hawk
moths. My cats love to catch them and release them in the house and then
run around watching as they bump against the ceiling. sarcasm Isn't it
wonderful discovering new wildlife when you have cats?

But the moth population seems devastated some years. One year I only saw
one, and this year have seen none. There was a recent message that
encouraged people to leave zebra-striped caterpillars on parsley because
they became butterflies, so I looked on Google to find what hawk moths eat
so that I could encourage their population. I found this link:
http://inside.binghamton.edu/May-Jun...sresearch.html

shock Hawk moths are hornworms! They eat the family of plants which
includes the potato, tomato, petunia, tobacco, and eggplant.

But the good news is that they prefer nightshade if they can find it.
Should we grow poisonous nightshade to protect tomatoes? And tomatoes like
to self-pollinate, but should we be concerned about cross pollination if we
save seed?