15 Nov Maintaining Our Gardens to Maximize Their Value as Habitat
You may have noticed I have been so busy in GardenSong this year I have hardly had time to post anything. We had a WONDERFUL SUMMER; GardenSong grew like a TROPICAL JUNGLE this year with the EARLY HEAT and lots of RAIN, growing more LUSH FLOWERS, supporting and nourishing MORE BUTTERFLIES and BEES than ever before! We now have 66 species of Butterflies positively identified and most of them have photos. That is a really BIG ACCOMPLISHMENT since when I first moved here 6 years ago I saw maybe 1-2 Butterflies fly by in the bare yard. It had me worried.
This year we had 1000s of BUTTERFLIES fluttering about and BEES, from large black BUMBLE BEES to the tiniest BEE FLIES. They began showing up in early SPRING until NOW. With the COLD NIGHTS beginning, there are still a handful of LATECOMERS; a GULF or a VARIEGATED FRITILLARY newly birthed, a few CABBAGE WHITES, a few SKIPPERS, we even saw a PAINTED LADY are few days ago.
This is a COMMON CHECKERED SKIPPER on one of the last few Gaillardia (Blanket FLOWER). We had more MONARCHs visit us this year than I have ever seen at once. I have seen 1, lucky to see 2, of them fly through each year since we began cultivating GardenSong as a POLLINATOR HABITAT. We have been cultivating our MILKWEEDS in our 2 acre POLLINATOR HABITAT and had a wonderful batch of MONARCH CATERPILLARS early in the year. This year we had one day with 4 MONARCHS visiting at the same time! They were nectaring on my Zinnias surrounding the GEOMETRY GARDEN. They stayed for hours and I was able to take LOTS of GREAT PHOTOS. Here is one in my gorgeous PEACHY PINK MUMS in the HAPPY MORNING SUN GARDEN.
Isn’t she GORGEOUS mixed in with RED SALVIA and a tiny DAISY-LIKE WILDFLOWER? I haven’t been able to identify this WILDFLOWER yet. They grew so wildly abundant this year and supported myriads of the tiniest BEES.I am hoping to share more of them over the WINTER months if we ever slow down. Time seems to have gone into super duper hyper-drive fast forward. This has been a most wonderful and busiest year ever!
With the season CHANGES, lots of LEAVES FALL and lots of PLANTS die or go dormant. My son, Pete, moved in with us last month and we have been working for Randy at Laulima with LOTS of cleaning FLOWER BEDS, TRIMMING PLANTS, and RAKING LEAVES. MASSIVE PILES of LEAVES!
I have put the word out that I want LEAVES and so far 60+ bags have found their way to GardenSong. I will use every bag and more for MULCHING and ENRICHING GARDENS and FLOWER BEDS and for COMPOST layering. I had 75 bags last year and still didn’t have enough… Randy shared some of his best energied LEAVES, some MAPLE LEAVES from a TREE that lives by the POND so he calls it his WATER MAPLE and some Golden GINKO LEAVES.
This GINKO TREE is my FRIEND and I love that TREE. I will have to share more about the LAULIMA GINKO in another story. You can see PETER busy raking leaves in the background. We raked a lot of LEAVES that day! I love the shape of the GINKO LEAF. I even throw some into my morning GREEN DRINK.
We have also been learning how to prune. I get pretty nervous about cutting back TREES or BUSHES. Our friend, RANDY, says they grow back so much fuller and FLOWER better if they are pruned vigorously at the right time.
There are so many choices to make with Winter coming for each TREE, BUSH and PLANT. Do we cut it back, pull it out or leave it standing and why? My perspective on GARDENING has totally changed in the few years we have officially committed to being FRIENDLY HABITAT for POLLINATORS and WILDLIFE. Pete and I have been clearing lots of the dried FLOWERS here at GardenSong. Here he is helping me clear the Giant Cosmos Forest that grew so abundantly in the LOVIN’ MOTHER GARDEN. Yet, I still am learning what to clear and what to remove.
“Fall is well underway and many of us are focused on getting our gardens and landscapes ready for their winter rest. Here is some guidance as to which plants need to be cut back in fall or winter and which should be left standing until spring.”
“As I have said many times, with the effects of climate change already impacting our lives, we no longer have the luxury of gardening just for beauty. We must also plant and care for our landscapes to benefit the creatures that share our environment by providing habitat with our plant choices and maintenance methods. Here are some tips that will help to make your garden and landscape more “habitat friendly.”
I found this article very helpful in answering some of my questions. Read More at High Country Gardens:
