It took a long time for me to appreciate the plants in my yard when they are NOT blooming and looking their freshest. Like most people, I’d remove the fading perennials to keep the yard looking “tidy”. After all, the splendor of a purple coneflower is when it is in bloom, right?
Well, I don’t agree with that anymore. A few years ago I forgot to cut everything back for the winter. What happened? I saw birds sitting atop these same coneflowers eating the seeds. Granted our winters here in Oregon aren’t as cold as many other places, but there probably isn’t nearly as much food available to wildlife as there is in the spring and summer. Leaving these flower tops in the yard brought winter wildlife to my yard.
The plant shown above is a lupine, which I just planted last year. I’m not sure what creatures might eat these seeds, but I’ll leave them out just in case.
I do eat some of the blueberries that grow in the yard, but I also leave quite a few to share with animals. There is plenty to go around.
Food for animals isn’t the only reason to leave faded plants. It also helps with seed dispersal. The plant above is in the onion family and when the stalks eventually fall over, the top ball falls off and rolls around on the ground. The wind moves it more.
What happens as it rolls around? These black seeds fall out all over the yard. Again, I’m not sure if animals eat the seeds, but lots of pollinators and spiders live in these flower clusters during the summer. More plants means more wildlife habitat.
So leaving the plants around provides food and seed dispersal. Anything else? This pile of faded camas leaves doesn’t seem to be offering much…
…until you take it away. Underneath the pile was this hole in the ground which is the entrance to something’s home. Faded plants provide wildlife protection and habitat. In addition to burrow entrances, some insects over winter underneath debris or leaf litter. Removing it will also remove next year’s insects.
And, of course, let’s not forget the spiders that spin their webs between the fading vegetation.
Are you a believer yet? I hope so. Once I realized how important faded plants are to wildlife in the winter, and once I got used to seeing the plants in the yard in the “offseason”, I began to appreciate how they looked too. Now I get 4 seasons of interest! I just had to allow myself to find the yard to be beautiful during all of its stages. Join me!
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