Eugene Parnell
Along with #leavetheleaves, another way you can help wildlife in your garden is not to cut everything down right away. Standing dead vegetation provides overwintering habitat for pollinators and other insects (some even nest in the hollow plant stems) and foraging opportunities for birds. Here I'm channeling my inner Piet Oudolf a bit but I always leave these plants standing in my garden--they will look great with a dusting of snow. #gardening #autumn #WildLife #birds #pollinators
Dec 2 at 10:48pmWeb
Show threadLionelBDec 2

@eugeneparnell

Goldfinches descend on my Perovskia as late as April, so I leave it until the new growth is already well on the way.

Show threadNelsonDec 2

@eugeneparnell My one beef with leaving wind-carried seedpods up, like goldenrod, asters, or white snakeroot, is it's impossible to walk through my garden without getting covered in seeds right now.

Presumably this will be solved by the wind carrying the seeds away eventually, or if I find the time to save the seeds, but until then garden maintenance is a challenge. I don't want to just ignore the seeds, because then they'll be stuck to my clothes and get vacuumed up or laundered in my house.

Show threadMaggie MaybeDec 3
@eugeneparnell YES!! The climate was so weird in New Hampshire this year some of my flowers started blooming again after I normally would have trimmed them back. If I had trimmed them when I normally would the pollinators wouldn’t have been able to continue feeding.
Show threadGeorge 🍦🚲 🥾 ✌️🌎 🌌Dec 3
@eugeneparnell Standing dead vegetation also helps prevent root rot as there's no open stalk into which water easily penetrates.
Show threadPollinatorsDec 3
@eugeneparnell Yes. It’s rewarding to observe nesting in the dry stems of native plants. We do some pruning to harvest seeds and collect hollow straws. Insects often use the cut ends remaining at the plant. We observe a hole after the insects have hollowed out a cavity for egg laying. Also a plug of nesting material when they are done if we are observant. #nativeplants, #pollinators, #minnesota.
Show threadCarolyn JewelDec 3
@eugeneparnell I left the Evening Primrose and have been rewarded by the sight of many goldfinches and other small birds clinging to the stalks and eating seeds. And, several of the plants are putting out new growth.
Show threadEugene ParnellDec 3
@cjewel Ha I was going to leave mine too but the stalk fell over on its own already and someone stepped on it. Oh well, next year.
Show threadCavyherdDec 6

@eugeneparnell

Which makes for an unhappy dilemma between standing wildlife habitat versus wildfire mitigation, which my region has to negotiate on the regular.

Not too long ago, we lost <1K homes, because a wildfire just blasted down a creekbed, which residents had been advised to leave unmowed for wildlife support. 😩

Show threadEugene ParnellDec 7
@cavyherd it's definitely an issue in wildfire-prone areas. There's a whole different set of calculations that come into play. I've attended a few training seminars on fire mitigation strategies for landscape design. There's ways to accommodate wildlife and mitigate fire risk but there's a lot to consider and some serious trade offs that need to happen. For the curious, your county or state Master Gardener program (in the USA) will probably have more information. Sorry that happened to you all.
Show threadCavyherdDec 7

@eugeneparnell

Yeah, definitely one for the Lessons Learned file.

An additonal layer is that we are also prone to high winds. I mean, like realy f'n high winds. (Think the LA Santa Anna wildfires.) I learned the term "ember storm." Which I would have happily gone my whole life not knowing.