The Butterfly Garden in Winter
Looks can be deceiving ... The Watsessing Park pollinator garden is actually full of life during the winter as plants and insects prepare for spring, and winter birds find cold-weather food.
Don’t let the brown stalks and fallen leaves fool you. The plants in our garden are sleeping but very much alive. During the winter, these perennial plants, which come back year after year to provide food and habitat for pollinating insects, are spreading their root systems underground and preparing to send new shoots to greet the sun when warmer weather returns in the spring.
The fallen leaves act as a blanket for all that underground activity, protecting roots from the worst of winter’s cold. Plus, the undersides of the leaves provide a warm winter home for the next generation of fireflies, butterflies and other important insect species which will emerge as adults in the spring. That’s why we “leave the leaves.”
We also leave seed heads of the past season’s plants since leftover seeds provide food for birds throughout the winter (goldfinches love coneflower seeds!) and plants with hollow stems serve as wintertime homes for several types of bees and other important insects. Finally, when spring does return, migrating birds such as Baltimore orioles use silk from last year’s milkweed stalks to build their nests and raise a new generation in “the circle of life.”
You can help these beneficial birds and insects in your home garden as well by planting native perennials that come back year after year, and in the fall, leaving the leaves and “dead” stalks to help welcome new generations of plants and pollinators in the spring.