ChangeHampton’s Leonard Green writes…
“Many of us are already pouring over catalogs and getting in our on-line orders. Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, it’s a good time to think about working with nature, with the native ecologies that sustain a biodiverse community. The last thing we want to do is invite pollinators to our beautiful pollinator gardens and then, unwittingly, kill them.”
RESISTING! Resist the urge to “clean up” too soon. That compulsion can be lethal. Countless insects, including pollinators, rely upon stems, spent flower heads, fallen leaves and garden debris for food and shelter. Their life-cycle stages require this garden debris that we want to sweep away. Your yard is habitat, not a livingroom! Wait well into spring, preferably into May, or after at least ten days of warm weather (over 50 degrees) if you must “clean up.”
The Xerxes Society reminds us that the beautiful luna moth overwinters as a cocoon in fall leaves.
Nature recycles. We should too. Leave that leaf litter, the dead biomass, as long as possible. Use it to mulch your garden instead of buying mulches of questionable origin. Once insects have emerged you can run a mower over them and shred them into pieces that compost more easily. Rake them into your flower beds or under your oak trees where they act as soft landings for caterpillars who use your trees for their early development stages; let them fertilize your lawns or place them in composting bins for natural fertilizer. That’s what nature does with them.
Leaves are part of a nutrient cycle. When we disrupt it we suffer a cascading set of bad consequences.
See ChangeHampton’s Newsletter, about Loving Leaves; and how to compost in our What You Can Do Right Now #8
Don’t buy pollinator death traps. Plants treated with systemic pesticides, like neonicotonoids, or neonics (see our Newsletter dated Feb.1/2022) are death traps for pollinators. If they eat any part of these plants, they are done for. Unfortunately, too many commercial plant sources sell pesticide treated seedlings and plants. If your plant provider can’t guarantee that their plants are pesticide free, then find a reputable source who can.
“Buy native plants, particularly at native plant nurseries and local garden centers that buy their plants from reliable sources. Ask about the pesticide issue. They may or may not know. Responsible nursery owners will be looking to source plants grown without pesticides.” says Alicia Whitaker, advisory board to ChangeHampton and past president of Horticultural Alliance of the Hamptons.
If we want to be responsible environment stewards, if we want beautiful gardens that are more than ornaments, gardens that are enmeshed in the natural rhythms of our world, then we need to care and pay attention to how nature works. We should work with it, not against it.
