What Happens in the Garden in the Winter?
After the color and activity of the fall garden, the winter garden can appear somewhat drab and lifeless. Touches of green like the tough little Inkberry (Ilex glabra) bushes add a bit of color, but the majority of the plants have slowed down their metabolism, spending this time building a stronger root system in preparation for the spring.
Many of the fall pollinators, however, are still here. We just can’t see them! Note that our gardeners have carefully left leaf mulch and plant stems in place in the garden. Leaves and other organic matter protect plant roots through the winter months and then decompose to enhance the soil. Aggressive fall cleanup can be detrimental for many pollinators who will over winter in our gardens if we supply the right habitat. Pollinators like carpenter and mason bees, cavity nesting wasps, and stem-boring moths lay eggs in the hollow stems of some plants. Our garden’s Anise Hyssop (Agastache), Joe Pye Milkweed, (Eupatorium) and Bee Balm (Monarda) have sturdy stems that might be in use right now!
Monarda
There are 4,000 native bee species in the United States and many of them over winter in mulch, ground covers, and beneath rocks in addition to hollow stems. Mason bees (Osmia lignaria) are opportunistic. They may lay their eggs in crevices secured with mud or in hollow stems.
Leaf mulch, in particular, is important to many other helpful insects also. Aphid-eating ladybugs (Chauliognathus pensylvanicus) (lay their eggs on the underside of leaves and stay dormant under rocks or in tree holes.
It is exciting to explore what is happening in the Intergenerational Garden as we wait for the first signs of spring!
Many butterflies and native bees winter-over as larva in mulch or by burrowing into the ground. Bumble bees, and Mining bees, for example, dig burrows in the ground, so some open patches without ground cover are essential for them, also for sweat bees, and others who use burrows.
Butterflies and moths that do not migrate such as the Morning Cloak or the Eastern Comma may over winter (surprisingly) as adults, others as eggs or larva in plant debris like leaf mulch.
The beautiful Swallowtail butterfly (Papilio polyxenes) survives the winter months as a chrysalis on a twig.
Besides bees, butterflies, and moths, wasps can be effective pollinators. Sometimes they inadvertently transfer pollen as they visit plants looking for insect prey, but some varieties such as the Pollen wasp are true pollinators. They lay eggs in trees or under rocks, so our garden may have some of them also. Pollen wasps (Masarinae) look a lot like yellow jackets, and this pattern can fool predators into staying away. Lucky Pollen wasp!
We don’t often think of beetles as pollinators, but some like the Goldenrod Soldier beetle (Chauliogna pensylvanicus) aid pollination in a number of ways. As larvae, they eat grasshopper eggs, and soft-bodied insects so the garden as a whole benefits. As adults they distribute pollen while continuing to prey on small insects, caterpillars, insect eggs, and aphids. Adult females lay their eggs in organic litter or topsoil. Look carefully at the Goldenrod in the summer – they are very common.
That dull, lifeless garden is brimming with life!
Check back with this website through the coming months as we visit the garden, identifying blooming plants, noting their medicinal uses, indigenous peoples’ utilization of them, and suitability for home gardens.