Let them stand

In the last few years, I’ve been transitioning away from doing a fall clean-up in the garden. I used to think it was important to cut perennial stalks to the ground when they died and turned brown.

Flowers gone to seed used to get chopped down

     The idea was that this would prevent insects from overwintering. Now I want insects to overwinter, both beneficial insects and some of the leaf eaters that feed them. Pollinators such as queen bumblebees need dead plants to hide under during winter. Persisting fruits and seeds provide food for birds.

Winter forage for birds

     A side benefit of this approach, I’m finding, is that the seed heads left standing can be pretty. With the leaves down, the fine details of these holdouts become more noticeable. Some plants, such as clematis, are known for their beautiful seed heads, but as I look more closely, I notice that many winter survivors have beautiful architecture.

 

Clematis after flowering

There are several shrubs whose red fruits persist through the winter, offering welcome bright spot in the drab brown and gray landscape. I like to snap close-up photos at this time of year. Here are some winter sights I’ve enjoyed.

Spiraea

Clethra

Winterberry

Pine cones

     I'm holding out for spring too. I hope to be back up to speed in a couple of weeks.

Dead but still needed

“No kidding! Tell me something I don’t already know.” That was my reaction back in the 1980s when I read a prominent garden writer’s pronouncement, “Dead trees are not an enhancement to the landscape.” Flash forward to the 21st century. Whatever your aesthetic preference, for a sustainable garden, the expert and I were both dead wrong.

Downed logs do add to the sustainable landscape

    I’m thinking about dead wood because recent high winds brought down sizable branches from a white pine in our yard. 

Branch torn from the white pine by wind gusts

Fortunately they made it to the ground without crushing anything below. My initial thought was that I’d have to cut them up as yard waste later this winter when pruning season starts. Then I realized they’ll be more useful staying on the ground here in the garden.

    Dead trees were long thought of as unattractive and messy. Managers of parks and public gardens cleared them away to keep the landscape looking neat. I learned that the tide turned on this issue in 1986 with publication of an influential scientific study showing the many ways dead trees serve the ecosystem. In fact, it turns out that dead trees may provide more food for insects, birds, and mammals than live trees do.

Modern forestry lets dead trees lie

    Snags, or standing dead trees, and downed logs provide food and shelter for insects, which in turn feed birds and small animals, especially in winter. They also provide good spots for nests and dens. 

Some people make live trees into snags to offer birds housing and insects for food

As they decompose, they feed fungi that enrich soil and feed plants. Fungal hyphae transmit water and nutrients to roots.

    This is a great time of year to notice beautiful lichens in the woods. 

Lichens can grow on both live and dead trees

Back in your school days, you probably heard lichens cited as the classic example of symbiosis. They’re a partnership of mosses and fungi that are often seen on downed logs. Mosses share the sugars they make through photosynthesis; fungi contribute water and minerals they gather from the soil. Lichens don’t infect live trees, though.

    After consideration, I revised my plan for the downed pine branches. Instead of sending them out as yard waste, I’ll relocate them to inconspicuous areas of the yard where they can rot quietly and provide food and habitat.

I'll hope to see lots of growth on the dead pine branches

For those who would like more scientific information about neonicotinoid insecticides, I found an excellent report compiled by the Xerces Society. Here’s a link.

Friends, this post is abbreviated because I broke my wrist, and I’m having trouble typing. I may not be able to post next week. I hope to be back to you as soon as possible.

Buyer bee-ware

It’s seed ordering time again. I’m receiving fat catalogs every week bursting with alluring color photos of flowers and vegetables to grow from seed. Last year I wrote about trying to adapt my seed and plant purchases to avoid neonicotinoids, bee-killing pesticides ubiquitous in the nursery trade. What’s the point of a pollinator garden that kills pollinators?

When you plant for pollinators, you don't want toxic flowers

    To refresh your memory, in 2013, Friends of the Earth (FOE) conducted a landmark study, publicized in their report Gardeners Beware. Sampling plants from garden centers and big box stores across the country, they found widespread presence of neonicotinoids (called neonics for short) in the plants offered to consumers. 

    FOE’s Bee Action campaign continues. With other environmental organizations as allies, they’ve succeeded in mobilizing consumers to oppose use of these pesticides. 

Shoppers prefer their flowers without insecticides

There’s good information regarding neonics on the Friends of the Earth website, including a handout on how to recognize and avoid the neonics sold in the US: acetamiprid, clothianidin, dinotefuran, imidacloprid, and thiamethoxam. 

     You can watch for these names and avoid pesticide sprays that contain them, such as Ortho Flower, Fruit and Vegetable Insecticide and Bayer Advanced Complete Insect Killer. I’ve never been desperate enough to resort to these broad-spectrum insecticides in my garden, but I understand how gardeners can panic and reach for a spray bottle.

Before spraying chewed leaves, give beneficial insects time to solve the problem by eating leaf-eaters

    Neonics are systemic insecticides that insects take in when they eat or touch treated plant tissues, as when bees collect pollen from flowers of treated plants. 

Neonic-treated pollen can poison bees

They may die immediately, become disoriented, or pass on the poison to others in the hive. Once treated, plant tissues continue to hold the toxins almost indefinitely. 

    Neonics are widely used to maximize yield and keep plant foliage looking clean and unchewed as plants pass from growers to distributors to garden centers. We don’t have to spray neonics ourselves to poison pollinators in our yards; our plant purchases will be toxic to insects unless we purposely avoid neonic-treated plants.

Garden center seedlings may be contaminated with neonics

    The Friends of the Earth campaign has convinced some major retailers to stop using neonics or label treated plants: here’s a link to their list. BJ’s Wholesale Club promised that their plants would be neonic-free or labeled by the end of 2017. Home Depot committed to completing its neonic phase-out by 2018. Lowe’s pledged to work on it. True Value says their plants will be neonic-free by spring 2018.

    Unfortunately Massachusetts is not a leader in this effort. National campaigns like FOE’s have more leverage with big nationally visible chains than with local businesses, apparently. I’ve had luck shopping at Allandale Farm in Chestnut Hill, which doesn’t use conventional pesticides and commits to sustainable practices. 

    As I plan my seed purchases for 2018, I’ll let you know where I find organic seeds and pesticide-free seeds. 

They don't make seed catalogs like they used to

I believe this is a temporary problem; eventually the nursery business will bow to consumer pressure and provide us with reliably neonic-free seeds and plants. Will they convert to pollinator-friendly methods? That depends on whether we keep up the pressure.

At the Climate March, April 2017

Let it snow

As we huddled inside during last week’s single-digit temperatures, I found one silver lining. The snow that fell in December was still on the ground, insulating my trees and shrubs from the worst of the cold winds. Thursday’s snow storm added more protection. Snow is good news for gardens when the weather is at its coldest.

Snow shields the garden from cold damage

    I’m particularly grateful for the blanket of snow this year, because during the summer and fall I went on a planting binge. In April I planted a replacement American persimmon (Diospyros virginiana). In June there was a blue juniper (Juniperus squamata), a yellow-flowering shrub rose (Rose ‘Kolorscape Lemon’), and a fragrant sumac (Rhus aromatica ‘Gro-Low’) for a new bed. 

Blue juniper settling in

Around the same time, I planted a spicebush (Lindera benzoin), an elderberry (Sambucus canadensis) and an eastern sweetshrub (Calycanthus floridus), native shrubs to fill in the spaces opened up when I cut down hemlocks. For the same spots, at a sale I scooped up a mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia), a dwarf Alberta spruce (Picea glauca ‘Conica’), two inkberries (Ilex glabra), and an eastern white cedar (Thuja occidentalis) with the promising brand name ‘North Pole.’ 

Preparing 'North Pole' for winter with some extra watering

    In early October, I added a semi-dwarf Asian pear (Pyrus pyrifolia) and two honeyberries (Lonicera caerulea). By December, these new trees and shrubs were just recovering from transplant shock and, I hope, sending out some new roots. This winter poses the first severe test of their resilience.

This bare stick could grow into a 15-foot Asian pear, if it survives the winter

    Readers may recall that I planted my first persimmon in April 2016 before that summer’s severe drought. It didn’t survive. That makes me extra conscious that newly planted trees are vulnerable. Will this band of newcomers make it through to spring? With more than a foot of snow on the ground, their chances are better.

Second try at an American persimmon

    Temperate zone plants such as my new choices go dormant during the winter. Lengthening nights start the process in autumn, and falling temperatures trigger further readiness. Nutrients are stored in roots, leaves drop, and tissues revise their contents, replacing water with sugars and other chemicals that act as antifreeze so that ice won’t burst cell walls. 

     By this time of year, trees and shrubs have completed the processes that create endo-dormancy, a state of reduced metabolism that allows them to stay alive and save their resources for spring. When they reach a required chilling duration, they’re ready to switch to eco-dormancy. In this state of readiness, they’re able to respond to environmental conditions by opening buds and sending out leaves and flowers.

    During both of these stages, snow acts like a down jacket, its air spaces holding warmth in the ground. Under the snow, roots respire and even grow a little.

    Conifers and broadleaf evergreens like my new mountain laurel have a stern challenge in winter, because their foliage continues to lose water to drying winds.

Leaves held through the winter are vulnerable to cold winds

That’s why you’ll often see brown leaves on rhododendron branches in spring. Snow cover helps protect evergreens from desiccation. Snow may be a nuisance on paved surfaces, but in the garden, it’s a blessing.

Flowers open in April thanks to January snow