The November/December issue of The American Gardener: The Magazine of the American Horticultural Society arrived the other day. As I was browsing through it last night I was surprised, but thrilled, to see Ellen Sousa, who lives in Central Massachusetts, quoted in Kris Wetherbee’s article Garden Cleanup Reconsidered. Ellen’s own landscape is not only a Certified Wildlife Habitat, it is a Monarch Waystation so it was no surprise to hear her say, “instead of doing the traditional fall scalping of perennial beds, we leave tall plants such as coneflowers, agastache, asters and ornamental grasses standing right through the winter. Their seeds feed overwintering birds such as juncos, chickadees, and song sparows when snow has buried most other natural food sources.”
Happily for me I discovered Ellen, garden coach, teacher, and writer when I first began blogging. I recommend the New England Natural Habitat Gardening blog to everyone, and now I am looking forward to her book The New England Natural Habitat Garden which will be out next year. Not so very far away.
Ellen also writes for the group blog, Beautiful Wildlife Garden, with some of my other favorite bloggers, Gail Eichelberger, Barbara Pintozzi and Helen Yoest, all of whom I got to meet in Buffalo this summer! Hooray for the Garden Bloggers Meet-up.
This is one of the advantages of being lazy, too. Ignore a chore and be rewarded with birds all winter. Thanks for the blog recommendations. I’m going to check them out.
Mary – You will have met some of those bloggers in Buffalo, too.
I was glad to see you highlight Ellen Sousa’s writing in this post. I met her when she visited my garden this past September to take some photos for her upcoming book, and she was a delight. Blogging does bring us wonderful connections!
Laurrie – Ellen is a good writer and so knowledgeable. Making great friends is an unexpected benefit of blogging.
Good for Ellen! I too leave lots of plants growing for birds and other wildlife . . . such as butterfly chrysalises. I just saw a chickadee delighting in goldenrod seeds earlier this morning. I do have to have my fields cut, to keep sumac and bitter sweet at bay. In truth I would not have wild flowers otherwise. I know I must be killing many magical creatures. I hope my large wild gardens make up for it a bit. Yes, meeting great people through blogging is a wonderful bonus. I am so glad to have met you Pat.
Carol – I’m so glad to have met you and visited in those amazing gardens of yours. They are so hospitable to wildlife.
Pat, you can tell I haven’t visited in a while b/c I only just read this..thanks for the shoutout and I too am SO happy to have connected with inspiring and creative local gardeners through the blogosphere…
Oh, and thanks for the the pic of Northern Sea Oats…what kind of soil do you have them growing in? I grew them from seed last year but haven’t chosen their final planting location yet…they are a little tall and floppy in my friend’s garden which has irrigation…have always admired those interesting oatseed heads…