As the growing season winds down many gardeners begin the task of cleaning up their gardens or putting their garden to bed.
In the vegetable garden, removing disease and insect infested materials is important to reduce chances of next year's garden being affected again. Other plants are removed to make way for cover crops, winter greens and early spring gardens.
In the perennial garden or mixed shrub borders, we tend to remove old flower stems and perennial stalks simply to make the garden look more tidy.
Did you know that hollow stems of flowering perennials critically important to native bees that use these stems for nesting and overwintering and caterpillars use fallen leaves for protection from cold weather and predators?
Click on the links below to learn more and see how you can adjust your fall garden clean up routine to support insects and pollinators.
Garden Cleanup for Pollinators: Trim Perennial Stems in Their First Winter - NC State
