Nesting birds love pulling fibers from milkweed stems!
by urbantravelsPHL
Nesting birds love pulling fibers from milkweed stems!
by urbantravelsPHL
1 Comment
Another reason to leave stems standing as long as you can stand it!
Or at least keep them around after you cut them (or they fall down on their own) – bundle and stack them somewhere on your premises.
Lots of other dead stems standing around in this planting bed, but the sparrows are very selective in going after milkweed stems for their fibers. Apparently wild-fiber enthusiasts can and do gather milkweed stems and process them for their fibers, the way you can with flax and nettles. Too much work for me! I’d rather watch the birds do the job.