The Year-round Wildlife Garden
Wildlife Benefits from Your Garden All Year
Often, we think about the benefits we see when summer blooms are vibrant and the garden is a-buzz with bees, birds and other critters. But it all begins in spring when it's time to clean last year's vegetation to allow the new growth of perennials to emerge. While sunny beds may be slow to get started, native plants in shade and woodland gardens are show stoppers and attractive to early emerging insects. It is an exciting time of year!
The Long Spring Turns to Summer
Our gardens change dramatically from May to August. In May, the garden is bright green as plants emerge and trees leaf out. Blooming plants are mostly seen in woodland portions of the garden. This changes as weather warms and days get longer. Eventually, we have a profusion of color and we see more pollinators, which include many flying insects along with butterflies. We are at the peak of insect use in August and September.
Autumn Marks Change
Fall is an exciting time of year as some plant species that have been growing all summer just begin to bloom now (think goldenrods and asters). Other plants start senescing and provide seeds and fruit that are important for southbound migrating and overwintering birds and other wildlife.
The Winter Garden Sleeps But it is Alive
One key feature of the wildlife garden is that we do NOT cut back vegetation in late fall. Rather, it is important to keep plants and leaves in place as cover for birds, wildlife, and insects that overwinter. Providing water in winter is as important as it is in summer. Electric heaters are needed to keep water areas open.
