As I write this, we’ve been having wonderful fall weather. The nights have cooled. The days are getting shorter. We’ve had our first hard freeze. Hopefully you’ve had your sprinkler systems blown out, and you’ve brought in your summer season garden hoses.
Autumn is my favorite season (here in the USA everyone calls it “Fall”). I love how the air changes, leaves turn, and my thoughts turn to hot chocolate, soups and stews. This year was my first year where we didn’t have to schedule a sprinkler system blow out, because we no longer have a lawn. I’d converted my front yard into a pollinator garden. See my previous post about that.
Here’s what my garden looks like now. Everything is slowing down and getting ready for the winter.
Leaves have started to fall. Blooms are spent. But some plants like the asters and goldenrods are still blooming, providing food for pollinators.
I hear the sounds of leaf blowers as my neighbors are busy tidying things up.
Tip: resist the urge to clean up too much.
I’ll be honest. I’m a Messie. It’s not that I don’t want to be neat, I do. I’m surrounded by people who are neat. Their lawns are trimmed without a single blade out of place. They seem to have the power to make the natural world obey, and stand in perfectly straight lines. Not like my garden- all higgledy-piggledy, squiff and skewed. (And don’t get me started on the state of my housework.)
I was delighted to learn that if we want to encourage pollinators in our gardens, that we shouldn’t clean up too much. That’s because pollinators need winter habitat.
SHH… Bees Sleeping.
Did you know that brush piles provide shelter for beneficial insects and wildlife? Leaf litter provides overwintering habitat for native bees and wildlife. Don’t cut pack those plants, because standing stems provide hollow stems for solitary bee larvae.
I was so happy to learn that a messy garden is actually a healthy garden.
For more information check out this Resource Central Webinar about Pollinator Garden Fall and Winter Care.
And don’t forget the birds. Winter visitors such as Juncos come down from higher elevations to feed in my yard. I always like to have fresh water available. Who is visiting your yard?
