Above photo: When Toronto-based nature photographer Ann Brokelman noticed city workers removing dead sunflowers, she asked them to leave them so that chickadees and goldfinch could continue to eat them. 2 Essential Fall Gardening Tips:
WHY? It’s not good for your garden and it puts beneficial pollinators --birds, butterflies, moths and bees, etc. -- at risk of extinction. Seedheads provide food for resident and migratory birds during the fall and winter.
Plant stems, leaf piles, twigs and logs provide winter homes of beneficial insects. "According to the conservation scientists at The Xerces Society "when we treat leaves like trash – we’re tossing out the beautiful moths and butterflies that we’ll surely miss and work so very hard to attract."
![]() More advice from the Habitat Network: Many butterfly species burrow into:
Other butterflies, such as the swallowtail and sulphur butterflies will remain in their chrysalis’ over the winter suspended under a dried leaf or tucked away on the ground. When you leave your gardens messy, including ignoring the dried leaves on plants, you help to encourage a rich population of native butterflies and moths in the following spring and summer." Beyond Your Garden: Further Action Steps
Manicured gardening chores:
are alive with energy that supports the ecosystems we humans depend on to survive. Resources:
|
Deb ToorNature Explorer & Story Spinner Archives
July 2020
Environment, Nature, Earth Day, Children's Books, Nature Activities, Environmental Literacy, Educational Resources,
|