WE ALL LOVE OUR BUTTERFLIES, BEES, AND OTHER BENEFICIAL INSECTS
Most gardeners understand our role in improving our environment for all our native pollinators. We have seen an enormous surge in sales of our native plants and doubled the size of the area we designate for native plants. This trend of planting native plants warms my heart. Now that it is November, most of us have done our work planting native plants. But we are heading into the colder winter months, and these native pollinators need our help and support in another way.
Have you considered what we can do to help these good guys survive the winter? If we want to see them in our gardens and landscapes next spring, we need to provide shelter for nesting and overwintering. Bottom line: It isn’t enough to just plant a diversity of native plants. We need to provide a habitat to support these insects and pollinators.
WHERE DO POLLINATORS GO IN THE WINTER?
Many native perennial plants such as coneflowers, black-eyed Susans, Joe-Pye weed, and others provide a place for pollinators to overwinter. Leave these plants as they are for the winter. These leaves and stems provide nesting to our native pollinators. Many native pollinators will find a home under leaves, rocks, and logs or dig underground. Some insect pollinators make their homes or lay eggs in the stems of the plants. Some of them hibernate over the winter in the stems. Think outside the box. See the beauty of these plants this winter and what they provide for us when it comes to home for our pollinators.
LEAVES
Leaves are falling now. PLEASE, don’t bag leaves. I understand you don’t want falling leaves on your lawn. But there are alternatives to bagging leaves. One is to rake them into the landscaping beds. Many of our native pollinators use leaves for winter protection of eggs. Overwintering bees will use leaf litter for winter protection. By leaving a shallow layer of leaves in garden beds, you will provide winter cover for beetles, bees, and others.
Most bees and other pollinators create small nests beneath the soil, within dead plant stems, or in cavities in wood or rock. Other beneficial insects, such as butterflies, moths, lady beetles, etc., seek shelter in places that offer protection from cold winter weather, such as leaf litter and brush piles.
DELAY SPRING CLEANING
Wait as long as possible in the spring to clean out dead stalks and leaves from the beds, as this material may contain overwintering insects. So, I advise waiting until it is time to start mowing before starting spring cleaning.