When I was new to gardening I learned that fall is the time to put the garden to bed for the winter. This meant that all yard debris should be removed from the garden, leaving the garden bare for the winter and ready for a fresh start come spring. Gardens were supposed to have leaves removed, dead stalks cut to the ground, grasses nicely trimmed, and dead wood removed. However, none of that is good for a habitat garden. Leaving a garden bare through winter is unhealthy for the plants, soil, and the wildlife that use the garden. Also, it is boring to look at in a season when we desperately need something beautiful out our windows. That was the old way of gardening, it is time for a new definition of putting the garden to bed for the winter. Our gardens should be a bed, a place of refuge, warmth, and safety through the cold months of winter. Wildlife needs safe places for hibernation, and to overwinter young to begin the spring generations. Garden soil needs a fluffy blanket of leaves to protect the life that will burst out come spring. Dead branches in trees provide a winter nest for hibernating mammals as well as chambers filled with the eggs of bees and many other beneficial insects. Dead leaves on trees hold chrysalises of moths and butterflies as well as hibernating bats. As the leaves fall they bring their sleeping beauties to the ground where they keep warm in the leaf litter. Plant stems will also provide overwintering chambers for bees, beetles, and wasps. Rotting logs, in addition to hosting many insects, will also hold salamanders and frogs. Clumps of shrubs and grasses protect birds, small mammals, butterflies, and many other creatures trying to find a place out of the wind. Beneath the layer of leaves burrows have been dug into the soil by mammals, bees, and ants. Wildlife that is not equipped to dig its own borrow will find an abandoned borrow to spend the winter in. Step lightly in the garden in winter to avoid crushing the hibernating life below. Not everyone sleeps away the entire season so the winter garden should also provide food and water. Leaving seed heads on flower stalks provides food for birds. Birds will also find food by eating over wintering bugs. Hosting a plentiful supply of insects will mean that there is plenty for the birds over winter as well as spring chick rearing, and still enough insects to pollinate the garden next year. Fruits that hang on through the winter nourish birds, wildlife, and insects. Late fall and early spring blooming flowers provide nectar on warm days when bees wake up as the ground warms. To provide water keep birdbaths filled regularly. Birds still like to bath in the winter and will flock to any source of unfrozen water. Leaf litter and last years plant roots protect soil from frost, dry winter winds, and erosion from snow melt and spring rains. Plant stalks and rotting logs slow cold winds near the soil surface, collect snow drifts, and radiate heat. Decomposing plant matter enriches the soil. Helpful decomposers like beetles and fungi transform last years debris into fresh soil, even adding their own bodies to the decomposition eventually. Perennial plants are constantly growing new roots and loosing old ones. Decaying roots provide tunnels of organic matter deep into the ground creating pathways for decomposers into deeper layers of soil. Today we understand how important our gardens can be to providing habitat for wildlife. Old methods of garden practices did not know about these connections and started in a time period when insect and bird populations were still robust. Now we have documented how wildlife populations are collapsing but home gardens can make a difference if they are managed with habitat in mind. We understand our responsibility and just need to create new habits to protect birds and insects. So this fall we can all put our gardens to bed with promoting habitat as the priority.

How do we tell which part is the seed? When collecting seeds from a new species it is a good idea to look at the parts of the seed head under a magnification. The seed will have a look of plumpness. Some of the seeds may look flattened or desiccated and these will probably not germinate. Healthy seed will often be the heaviest part of the flower head. If the flower is broken up and gently separated by stirring or blowing on it, the seeds will gather in the closest pile. Compass plant and others in the Silphium genus are composite flowers. The seeds are found along the edge of the flower disk near the base of the petals. Seeds will become plumper and darker as they mature and will not mature fully if they are plucked too early. Finches and other seed eaters work their bills around the edge of the flower head to pluck the seeds out. Watching birds probe flower heads for seeds can give us an idea of where the seeds are and if they are ripe. Seeds can be separated from the chaff by breaking the seed head up and sifting out the larger seeds or picking the seeds directly off the flower head. Some parts of flower heads, especially fleshy berries, contain germination inhibitors and should be completely separated from the seed for best germination. Using a kitchen colander to rub berries under a stream of water will wash away the pulp leaving just the skin and seed to be separated. Berries should be processed and planted immediately. In nature the fruit is eaten when ripe, digested, and then deposited in a nice fertile package of poop on the ground. Mimic natural processes as much as possible but perhaps fall short of sifting through animal scat to pick out the seeds. However, racoon poop is an excellent place to find ready to plant pawpaw seeds. Blue lobelia, cardinal flower, and seedbox have seed that looks like dust. As the seed capsule tips in the wind or is brushed by an animal, the seeds spill out on the ground. These species grow in wet areas where the seed will be washed down hill to start new populations. These plants are often found in drifts that show where the water flows. In a garden the plants seem to be constantly moving downhill, so the gardener must scatter seeds uphill from the population to keep the plants from running away. I check if these seeds are ripe by gently tipping the seed head over in my palm to seed if any dust falls out. When the seeds are ready to be disbursed, I cut off the flowering stems to collect these seeds. While cutting, be very careful to keep them still and upright, then tip them upside down into a bucket. I let the plant stalks dry for a few days in the bucket, giving them a gentle shake every once and a while. A collection of dust will form in the bottom of the bucket; that is the seeds. Spiderwort is a surprise for the novice seed collector as the seeds explode off the plant when they are ready. To collect spiderwort seeds, gather the flower heads after they finish blooming and just as they start to have explosions. Lay your plant stalks out on a tarp on the floor with a screen or cardboard lid over the top. As the plants dry you will hear the seeds popping off the cover. When the seeds all seem to have popped, remove the flower stalks and sweep up the seeds on the tarp. For many species it is more bother than it is worth to separate the seed from the chaff. Flower heads can be broken up and the whole mess can be sprinkled in the new bed or stratified. This lazy method makes it harder to know how many seeds you actually have but for the home gardener that may not matter. Often when I’m collecting seeds I save the easiest to separate seeds for trading with friends or germinating indoors, the seeds that didn’t easily fall off and the rest of the chaff are all thrown into a flower bed where I hope they will establish.

St louis has a unique program that helps homeowners pay for the costs of adding native landscapes and other rainscaping features to their yard. Project clear grant money can pay for native plants, mulch, and rainbarrels, as well as hiring a professional to do the work. Rainscaping consists of several gardening techniques including raingardens, swales, lawn alternatives, woodland restoration, invasive plant removal, native plant gardens, and vegetative buffers along creeks. https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/sustainability/sustainability/sustainable-living/at-home/rainscaping-guide When applying for a grant I suggest getting your application in about 6 months in advance of when you plan to plant. After submitting your proposal, it takes a couple months to hear back if your project is approved. This will still allow some time for ordering plants and preparing the planting area. Order plants as soon as possible to make sure you get the best selection. This grant is a reimbursement program so the homeowner will need to pay all costs upfront and then is reimbursed when the project is complete. Take photos of your project before and after and during all stages in between. Also, keep all of your receipts! Project clear is designed to ease the amount of stormwater runoff entering city creeks and causing flooding of buildings and street. Absorbing rainwater where it falls also prevents pollution from being washed into our creeks and rivers by filtering water through the soil. Holding more rainwater in your garden soil means healthier plants and less need for watering. Project clear benefits gardeners, keeps the city from flooding, prevents pollution, and is better for biodiversity. https://msdprojectclear.org/what-we-do/rainscaping/small-grants/

I love to sit on my screen porch and watch the rain flow down from the gutters and fill up the rain barrels. We have a 300 gallon system and it fills quickly with a good rain. When the rain barrels overflow, the water goes into a rain garden. This rain garden is about a foot deep in the middle and 5 feet around. Soil from digging the rain garden was piled on the down hill side to form a dam and reinforced with a few big rocks. This area is planted with soft rush (Juncus effusus), queen of the prairie (Filipendula rubra) , hibiscus (Hibiscus spp.), and copper iris (Iris fulva). As the rain continues falling the rain garden fills up and overflows into a swale, which is a small foot wide ditch that directs the water flow to meander through the garden without washing out the paths. The winding swale keeps the water heading down hill while slowing it down and allowing it to absorb into the soil. The swale is invisible from above as the garden on both sides covers the gap. The swale ends at the lowest part of the yard. In this area I have planted species that can tolerate temporary flooding. In the wettest part stands a red buckeye (Aesculus pavia) surrounded by seed box (Ludwigia alternifolia), blue eyed grass (Sisyrinchium spp.), and grey headed coneflower (Ratibida pinnata). Slightly higher up slope aromatic aster (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium) , purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea), and blue stem goldenrod (Solidago caesia) grow. The amount of stormwater flowing through my yard used to cause erosion and muddy spots in my lawn but now the water is encouraged to soak naturally into the soil. The deep roots of native plants help to move water into the lower layers of soil while the fibrous roots hold soil together to protect from erosion. Using native plants to control stormwater keeps creeks, basements, and driveways from flooding as well as providing natural water to the garden and the plants and wildlife that depend on it. To find out more about adding rainscaping features to your landscape I recommend this website. https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/sustainability/sustainability/sustainable-living/at-home/rainscaping-guide.aspx

It is high time that we put native plants in front yards and public spaces so that they can be seen. Native gardens are beautiful and full of life, and we should share them with our community. Front yard gardens can become a gathering spot for neighbors where people stop to talk about plants or bees. My garden often causes people to stop and ask questions about what I’m doing. It is a chance to connect with my neighbors and spread my love of gardening. I have told so many people to feel free to walk around any time that it is not unusual to look out my window in the morning to find someone having coffee next to my little pond. When I started gardening it was difficult to find examples of native plant gardens. There was also a lack of information about using natives in a landscape or sources for the plants I wanted. Now it is much easier to see native plants in gardens, and many more resources are available. Gardening with native plants is the new cool thing. Those of us with a little experience with native plants have an opportunity to share our knowledge and love with our community. Neighbors are more likely to plant native plants in their yard if they see that someone else is doing it. It is hard to be the first one doing something new. However, growing the second or third native garden in the neighborhood is much easier. When native gardens are established by groups of neighbors, they become more accepted by the neighborhood and are also more beneficial for the wildlife. We can each let our garden become the model of what a modern ideal landscape should look like. We should be proud of our native landscapes. Native landscaping is a challenging pursuit that requires commitment. Usually, I find working on my garden peaceful but some days I need to remind myself of why I keep doing it. I’m not only gardening for myself but also because I believe there is a benefit to the insects, birds, plants, soil, ground water, and whole ecosystem. This is one small thing I can do to protect this piece of earth. If I can influence others to do the same, my efforts will be even more effective.

“HOMEGROWN NATIONAL PARK™ IS A GRASSROOTS CALL-TO-ACTION TO REGENERATE BIODIVERSITY AND ECOSYSTEM FUNCTION by PLANTING NATIVE PLANTS AND CREATING NEW ECOLOGICAL NETWORKS.” National parks are places where space is set aside for nature. Since we have run out of extra space on earth, we need to find new ways of making space for nature. There are about 40 million acers of lawn that are privately owned. These vast expanses of monoculture do not support wildlife or human health. Lawn is prime target for converting into space for nature. The goal of Homegrown National Park is to convert 20 million acres of lawn to native plantings in the U.S. This represents approximately half of the green lawns of privately-owned properties. Large amounts of land can be transformed into productive ecosystems if each landowner does their small part. If each homeowner would convert half or more of their yard to native plants, this goal could be met. Small pockets of native gardens scattered across a neighborhood would collectively create enough habitat to support species that need lots of space. Chains of neighborhood gardens would create corridors that allow wildlife to migrate to disperse to new habitat or find mates. A diverse selection of habitat gardens will provide all the pieces of required habitat for a species. An owl, for example, would benefit from homegrown national park. Owls need very large hunting grounds. The habitats owls hunt in need to support a heathy population of small rodents. Rodents need protective shrubs, seedy plants, water, and a space where they feel safe. The owls also need nearby habitats where other owls live so that they can find mates. Owls need habitat with several dead trees where they can rest, store food, and raise young. All this diversity of habitat and space to roam can be provided by a collection of personal native plant gardens spread throughout a neighborhood. Most of us do not have enough land to support even a single butterfly throughout its entire life cycle. However, we desperately want these creatures in our gardens. We want to protect diversity and we also want to enjoy it. Our gardens can do more than act as an island of beauty when we kill the lawn and connect our gardens with our neighbors to form a homegrown national park. Join the movement at https://homegrownnationalpark.org/

We need more ways to get kids out in nature. We can start close to home in our own yards by creating a garden for children. As a child, I grew up with a large garden to play in and I want to give that same experience to other children. Providing a space for children to play also has the benefit of keeping them occupied so the adults have time to garden. In my experience, children want a space to use their imagination, find some privacy, enjoy opportunities for discovery, and encounter a little danger. As a child, I had several favorite elements to the garden starting with the climbing tree. There was something magical about being up in the arms of my climbing tree. The perspective from above, the sway of the branches in the wind, and the intimacy with the insects all were part of the experience. King of the hill/stump/rock is always a popular game to play with friends. The play area always became well trampled, but we were outside having a good time. Eventually we all got tired of being king and come back down to earth to examine the smaller creatures at the base of our play area. There was no water in my garden beyond the birdbath, but I loved it when we were at the park and there was a stream to play in. A stream on a hot day is a wonder and can turn crabby kids cheerful again. The stream is also where I learned early lessons in hydrology by building dams and canals. Another activity to do at the stream is building rock piles. Sometimes our piles would just be built for size, but they were also many times built for beauty. Using natural objects to make art helps children to see the beauty in nature. Children and adults alike love a garden swing. We have an especially tall one hanging from a silver maple in the back garden that is used frequently. I like to sit on the swing during long phone conversations with my mom. Swings attract children with a magnetic pull. When friends come to visit and aren’t sure where their children went, usually they are at the swing. A play fort can be a structural element in a garden when attractively built. As a kid I was allowed to build my own tree fort which was not very attractive but hidden from sight behind the garage. I have seen many gardens with beautiful plat fort incorporated. A fort could be a platform in a tree like mine was, or take the shape of a hobbit hill or a cute little cottage. Small garden buildings are a focal point that draws the eye, and the children. A child’s garden should have a place for a tent. Sleeping outside is an excellent way to become more intimate with your garden. A hammock is also a good place to sleep in your garden or just rest. There needs to be options to rest in the garden to just enjoy it. A place of discovery is the rotting log. Allowing a log to naturally decay will attract all sorts of insects and other critters. Children enjoy poking around the log to discover new creepy-crawlies. Another crawly you may attract is snakes. Snakes, crickets, worms, and salamanders can often be found under a board left out in the garden. Teaching kids to respect snakes at a young age will help them become good stewards later in life. Adding a garden gnome village or other make-believe world to the garden gives children a place to exercise their imagination. When I was a kid, we had a restaurant where we served mud pies, my cousin had a battleground for his army men, and my friend had a village of acorn people. The garden has a wealth of material to be used in such a make-believe world, with all its leaves, flowers, sticks, and rocks. Worlds may exist just for an afternoon of play or develop over months or years. Gardening with children requires some flexibility and tolerance of damage. Include the child in planning and planting the garden to give them ownership. It is wonderful to watch something you planted grow and develop. The child and the garden will grow up together.

I think I am addicted to being out in nature. Sometimes when I’m out hiking in a natural area, I feel almost drunk with joy. It is like my brain just fills with bubbles. I feel true love for the world around me, and myself. Part of the joy is from the smell. It is the smell of the earth, all the decaying leaves and logs, the smells of coming rain or spring, and the smell of trees, especially pine, that makes me feel all wobbly inside. I’m guilty of pressing my nose up against a tree trunk just to get a good deep sniff. Research has shown that plants release compounds into the air that can affect our brains. Microbes in the earth also release scents as byproducts of organic compounds as they break down. When I give myself time to stop worrying about my normal human troubles, I am always amazed by just how beautiful everything around me is. Tor example, there are so many colors in a turkey tail mushroom it is hard to imagine why a fungus would go to such lengths to build so many rings of pigment. At a valley overlook I notice the changing sweeps of tree leaf color and texture depending on elevation and aspect. Down in the valley the surprising white skeletons of sycamore mark the path of the river off into the distance. Brushing against my hands are the perfectly aligned seed capsules of gammagrass. Such perfect alignment may simply be efficiency to the plant, but it is very pleasing to me. Part of the joy I derive is from walking. There is a meditation practice called walking meditation which best describes how my mind reacts to walking in a natural setting. My mind is at peace while my body is busy moving forward. I feel free to just experience joy, awe, and wonder at the beauty around me. “In beauty, I walk, With beauty before me, I walk, With beauty behind me, I walk, With beauty above me, I walk, With beauty all around me, I walk, With beauty within me, I walk, It is finished in beauty.” Excerpt from Yeibechai, Night Chant of the Navajos.

· Dandelion, Taraxacum officinale · Purslane, Portulaca oleracea · Lamb's quarters, Chenopodium album · Chickweed, Stellaria media · Plantain, Plantago spp. · Purple deadnettle, Lamium purpureum · Henbit, Lamium amplexicaule · Mint, Mentha spp. My daughter and I were talking about the grocery store shortages, and she commented that she wished she could be a rabbit and just eat the grass. Well, we can all be rabbits with the bounty of edible greens in our spring gardens. Looking around my garden I found several edible weeds including henbit, dead nettle, onion grass, violets, and dandelions. In my herb garden I found parsley, garlic chives, kale, and mint. For some fun color I included the edible flowers of dandelion, violet, and red bud. With all the nutrients from these hardy spring greens I should be able to avoid a trip to the grocery store for another day. There is value to the weedy lawn. Many lawn weeds bloom in early spring and delaying the first mowing can allow early spring pollinators to take advantage. The buffet can also be enjoyed by humans, so I suggest tasting a few of your weeds to decide which ones you like. Encourage those species to keep growing and establish in unused areas. Note, however, that eating weeds is not recommended if there is a chance that chemicals have been applied to the area during regular lawn maintenance or to kill weeds. Additionally, whenever adding new foods to your diet, start small and check with your doctor. Although these plants are not native many of them have been naturalizing in the area since they arrived with early European settlers. I don’t recommend purposefully planting them in your yard, just wait for them to arrive. Where there is garden space for edibles to be planted give first dibs to native edible plants. The first weed I was fed as a child was dandelion, when my teacher made us dandelion pancakes with fresh maple syrup. Yum! I like to pick the yellow fluff out of the center of the flower and remove the bitter outer green part. In a salad, a few yellow dandelion petals look great. They are also used as a garnish and can be baked into dishes like pancakes. Dandelion leaves are a healthy green, but look for fresh new leaves because older ones can be very bitter. Eat your greens fresh in salad, steamed, or sautéed. Weeds can be an overlooked source of fresh nutritious greens. Check your garden for weeds next time you want a snack.

There is a mourning dove living outside my front door. She has built something resembling a nest on the shelf where I store some old pots. As I come and go, she is always sitting there staring me down. I don’t know if she keeps an eye on me out of distrust, or maybe she disdains that I could be so busy to need to open this door yet another time. The nesting spot must be adequate because she comes back year after year to claim my porch as her own. After an eternity of waiting, a baby dove hatches, followed soon by a sibling. The pair grows bigger quickly and soon crowds the nest. Their poop messes up my shelf, and they adopt their mother’s habit of staring. One day the nest is empty, and I go on a hunt to find the little family. They have moved to the rail of my back porch where the birdbath is. The mother dove still does not trust me even after all our close proximity, though the kids know no better and are content to be observed. The family continues to show up in other places throughout the garden, wandering out from under a shrub while I weed, watching me from the roof when I park my car, or visiting the bird feeder. My garden seems to be ideal mourning dove habitat. The new pair of porch babies each year is just part of a growing exponential population. My little plum tree can hide at least 30 doves that all burst forth as I pass underneath to take out the compost. I enjoy the noise their wings make as they fly off and the cooing from the treetops that is sometimes mistaken for the hoot of an owl.

The fresh snow tells the tale of what has been going on in my yard before dawn. Three racoons have come from the neighbor’s garage, walked diagonally across mine, and headed off towards another neighbor’s vegetable garden. A cat has come by to check on my front door, the bird feeder, my back door, and a warm sunny bench. Two opossums headed in opposite directions while meandering through. Small tracks, too many to count, show signs of birds busily hopping everywhere. However, the central area of interest in the yard that all paths connect to is the pond. Our little pond runs all winter with an electric heater to keep it from freezing solid. Every critter in the area knows our pond will have water and they stop by regularly to get a drink. Woodchucks, racoons, squirrels, owls, hawks, mice, skunks, turtles, frogs, opossum, and stray pets all stop in at our pond. Wildlife needs access to water. Backyard ponds, bubblers, fountains, creeks, and bird baths are essential when providing habitat. Keep a reliable water source available year-round through the heat advisories of summer and freezing days of winter. Water features need to be kept clean when used heavily to prevent the spread of disease. The wild things of the neighborhood will come to depend on your garden as a clean place to bathe and get a fresh drink. When planning garden layout place a water source for wildlife in a place that is easy to see from the house. This will help to remind you to keep it maintained but is also a good vantage point to watch all the action. A water feature provides every gardener with a source of endless entertainment and provides wildlife with the water they need to survive.

How to deal with weed ordinance violations and how to prepare to never get one: Most communities have rules about how a yard should be maintained. These rules are our protection when the neighbor decides to park cars in the yard or allows the lawn to become a monoculture of thistles. But sometimes they can also be used against a native garden when neighbors don’t understand what we are doing. My local weed ordinance has this sweeping statement: “Grass, weeds and all other noxious vegetation which have attained a height of eight (8) inches or more … is hereby declared to be a public nuisance.” Many native plants are weeds in someone’s eyes and any plant can become a weed if it is growing in the wrong place. So, the key is to make sure that the plants in the garden are not seen as weeds. This sounds deceivingly simple. Dealing with a weed ordinance citation starts with preparation early on. The benefit of being well prepared is that you can garden with confidence and hopefully never have to deal with this unfortunate bureaucracy. Start with education: educate the community and yourself about native landscaping. Set appropriate expectations, like any garden, that there will not be 100% flowers all the time. Be a good neighbor and respect your neighbor’s property the way that you want them to respect your garden. How to avoid getting a citation: · Become familiar with any regulations impacting the garden. · Invite any neighbors to tour the garden. · Drop off native landscaping information with all neighbors. · Have yard signs displayed at the street. · Know every plant in your garden by name. · Keep receipts of all native plant purchases. · Keep brush and compost piles out of sight of any neighbors. · Keep the plants from crossing onto others property. · Don’t block the street, sidewalk, power lines, or lines of sight. · Have a tall privacy fence. If the weed ordinance notice arrives: If the weed ordinance violation letter still arrives in the mail one day, don’t panic. Contact the weed police and find out exactly what feature in the landscape is a problem. Invite the inspector to the garden to discuss the problem. If you manage to get an inspector in your yard this is an excellent opportunity to educate, have lots of pamphlets ready to send back to the office. Brush up your file on your garden with a complete plant list and receipts and get it to the inspector. Usually, a little education will cause the violation to be dropped. If the cause of the violation can be easily remedied such as removing a brush pile or trimming plants back from the sidewalk, dealing with the issue is a quick way to restore neighborhood peace. One nice thing about native plants is that herbaceous plants can all be trimmed back to six inches without much ill effect to their long-term health. When necessary, it is advisable to trim all plants except trees and shrubs down to the required height. It will be unsightly and may affect blooming but will satisfy the weed ordinance requirements before the deadline. Do not let the deadline arrive, as the municipality may come in and mow the whole landscape. This can damage woody plants, cause ruts, and may even introduce weed seeds. Fighting a weed ordinance violation in court is sometimes necessary to protect a garden and to change public policy to protect all native plant gardens. The Wild Ones organization offers personal advice to any landowner up against a weed ordinance. Banding together public support of native gardens by connecting with neighbors and local organizations helps to keep gardens safe from poorly applied regulations. Hopefully soon these worries will be a thing of the past.