By Francesca Kelly for Go Green Highland Park

After an abundant and verdant season for gardeners in our area, many of us are eager to do “clean-up” before the winter.
Be careful, though; when it comes to preparing gardens for the winter, less is more — because much more is happening in our fall and winter gardens than we think. Just as our brains are still active when we sleep, processing and organizing “files” in preparation for the next day, so are our gardens quietly active during autumn and winter.
Under mulched leaves, beneficial fungi and bacteria are replenishing the soil and creating an ecological balance of nutrients. Insects and worms are hiding, and they not only aerate the soil, but provide food for rodents and birds, who in turn provide food for owls and other raptors.
Above ground, plants that are allowed to go to seed are offering nourishment for songbirds while sowing new growth for spring and summer.
This fall, let Mother Nature, not your landscaping company, be your guide. Better yet, let’s hear some guidance from our very own gardening experts, volunteers from Habitat Highland Park, Karen Lustig and Christopher Wren.
“Putting your garden to bed also means putting all the insects that overwinter locally to bed as well,” explains Chris Wren. “Unlike the migratory Monarch butterflies, many other butterflies and moths overwinter as chrysalises in leaf litter.” He urges gardeners to “leave as many of your beds undisturbed as possible” to avoid damage to those tender chrysalises. He adds that it’s fine to gently rake additional leaves onto the bed. Karen Lustig suggests saving the leaves after they’ve been through the lawnmower, using them as mulch for sensitive plants such as hydrangeas.

What about dead flowers? “If cutting down perennials, try to leave 8-24-inch stalks for bees to overwinter,” advises Lustig. That policy, called “chop and drop” by the University of Illinois Extension program, Lake County Master Gardeners, provides more food for wildlife. In fact, Wren doesn’t dead-head at all. “Leave wildflower stems and seed heads intact over the winter,” he says. “Many birds and other wildlife will feed on the seeds, and native bees will make their home in the hollow or pithy plant stems.” Lustig adds, “Stop deadheading your roses so they are ‘signaled’ that winter is coming — but don’t mulch/cover them until a hard freeze (or even two!).” She adds that rose hips are an excellent source of nourishment for birds and mammals. And she recommends installing a heated water bath for winter bird populations as well.

Both Lustig and Wren are members of the Habitat Highland Park Steering Committee. Habitat Highland Park is a grassroots initiative dedicated to obtaining National Wildlife Federation (NWF) recognition and certification of Highland Park as a Community Wildlife Habitat. It is a joint project of Go Green Highland Park and the League of Women Voters of Highland Park-Highwood. You are invited to help Habitat meet its goal to provide safe and healthy habitats for insects, pollinators, butterflies, and birds in a collective effort to strengthen local biodiversity at all levels and reverse the alarming decline in pollinators in the U.S. Please visit Habitat HP’s page so you can register your home and help Highland Park earn points:

Find all of Francesca’s HPN articles here.