By Don Urquhart, Times Chronicle
South Okanagan residents looking to create pollinator gardens now have some handy tips to begin working on this fall, thanks to a recent webinar hosted by the David Suzuki Foundation.
The webinar promoted ways to enable gardens to foster ecosystem species year-round. Of particular concern for many are the wildlife and insects that contribute to a healthy ecosystem, but can be hindered by man-made alterations to the local flora.
Presenter Dorte Windmuller, from Toronto, discussed in the early going the misconceptions surrounding what work to do on your garden before the winter season, with some popular yard work actually coming at a natural detriment.
“All our efforts are in vain if we just create habitats in the growing season, but don’t keep (a) habitat throughout the winter,” Windmuller said.
“Most insects and wildlife don’t migrate, so they need a safe (hibernating) spot and food to survive our winters.”
The overall goal, Windmuller stated, is to be as welcoming to all sorts of nature as possible.
“We want to feed insects, birds, and all wildlife,” she said, “and plant native (to the given area) plants.”
Bees and butterflies are two kinds of insects that provide great benefit to an ecosystem, but have seen population declines over the years. The webinar provided several tips and solutions to make a garden or yard more conducive to year-round development of both wildlife, including birds, and insects such as bees and butterflies.
The first tip of note is not to cut off the dried stems from garden flora. Many birds that don’t migrate, with Windmuller citing finches as an example, and they consume dried stems and seedheads as early as July, with sage and sunflower plants noted as favourites. These wilted plants provide an alternative food source to insects and store-bought bird seed in the winter, and require less human work.
“I will know that seeds from native plants are nutritionally balanced, pesticide-free, and adequate (feed),” Windmuller said, “and I don’t have to clean a bird feeder.”
When talking about what to do with seedheads in Spring, after birds switch to eating earth insects, Windmuller suggests leaving what are known as “stem-stubbles”. By lopping off the seedless tops to these plants, an opening is left in which bees, in particular, can use as an insulated habitat. It is estimated that 30 per cent of wild bees use this method of survival, alternatively known as cavity-nesting.
“The eight hundred different species of native bees in Canada have extremely diverse lifestyles, and reproduce from early spring to late summer,” Windmuller explains. “That means stems will be occupied with developing bees, at any time of the year.”
The decomposing chopped stem heads will also benefit soil as the garden regrows, Windmuller says.
“Minimizing what goes in and out of a garden is an excellent permaculture principle, because it reduces our carbon footprint by minimizing our inputs and outputs.”
Another fall-specific step that helps out the butterfly population, in addition to birds and ground-nesting bees, is to not bag up leaves for yard waste collection.
“The leaf layer is the butterfly’s nursery,” is how Windmuller summarized it.
Nearly 94 per cent of all moths and butterflies, she explained, spend a stage of their life in the leaf layer, with some butterfly chrysalises perfectly mimicking a leafy appearance. Thus, collecting leaves and disposing of them in waste disrupts a butterfly’s development cycle, becoming detrimental to their survival.
Leaf layers also provide cover for both queen bees, who cannot dig into soil, and caterpillars, she notes. Especially as the season changes to winter, leaves left behind provide shelter for a caterpillar to be able to develop into a butterfly come the Spring season.
Likewise, one last step given was to provide “soft landing” spaces in yards for caterpillars and butterflies, where fallen leaves can be placed.
A trimmed lawn ends up providing a firmer, less burrowable soil for caterpillars, whereas a space with leaves and slightly-taller grass becomes a perfect habitat for caterpillars and butterflies. It, too, contributes to healthier soil come springtime, Windmuller points out.
To properly manage fallen leaves, Windmuller suggests that, if leaving them in place isn’t the best move, shifting them to the flower bed is a solid alternative route to take.
“There will have been some decomposition of the leaves by Spring, depending on the tree species,” she explains. “Usually, a three-inch layer is a good amount to keep on your garden beds.”
More ideas on how to benefit bird, butterfly, and bee populations are offered by the David Suzuki Foundation’s community project, called Cliffcrest Butterflyway. They can be found online at cliffcrestbutterflyway.com.
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