Spring Butterfly Garden Cleanup

but early May often brings freezes and snow. Experts never agree, so you or your HOA will decide the tolerance for “messy.” There is no one correct answer but the short answer is NEVER cleanup. Your garden is not dirty. For tolerant gardeners who have only a few trees, the garden should not require your cleanup in fall or spring. Another view: start cleaning when the daytime temperatures are in the mid to upper 50s for seven sequential days. However, many butterflies and native bees do not emerge until mid-May, so if you can wait until after May 15, then you avoid the risk of disturbing the late emerging pollinators. No matter when, be gentle. Retire that leaf blower and avoid the aggressive removal of any debris.

Gardening with Mother Nature

Caveat: if you have a lawn, you had to perform that necessary cleanup last fall. But unless you have huge-leaved trees like Sycamores, Mother Nature performs most of the cleanup herself. You don’t need to rake or collect and drag debris to a compost pile, then drag it back the next year. Leave the debris for Mother Nature to compost in place!

The weight of rain and snow collapses stems. Leave fallen twigs and small branches as mulch, although you may need to further break them up. Bigger branches should go onto your woodpile. Butterflies would never use a butterfly house, but a woodpile is a year-round butterfly haven.

Mulch should be 3” deep in your beds. If necessary, apply new mulch on top of fallen leaves and old mulch. During the year, chop and throw all pruning and deadheading under the plants. By next fall, that thick mulch will have almost disappeared because microbes eat it and your plants feast on their poop. When you remove dead leaves and other debris, you are removing nutrients from the system. In the natural world, we see that plants are self-mulching and selffertilizing. Allow Mother Nature to be your garden’s best employee.

Tidy-up, Not Clean-up

Some butterflies and other pollinators do not emerge until midMay. YIKES! I can’t wait that long to assert my aesthetic. Fortunately, many naturalists suggest that some careful early spring tidying can be accomplished without harm, such as the ongoing task of transferring fallen leaves from paths and lawns into the beds. Excess leaves over perennial crowns can be brushed aside or hand-crumpled to reduce volume. In March you should cut down your ornamental grasses and shred them to be used as mulch. You may also cut stems, leaving an 8” stub. Tie these stems in bundles and prop or tie vertically to ensure that native bees can survive and emerge at their proper time. Let weeds and stems stand until you can’t stand it!

Summary

What works for you? Never?

Seven days in the 50s? Mid-May? In the meantime, how do you control your spring fever? You can see the bones of your garden so use your energy to create or renew hardscaping. Newly emerging weeds are always fair game in my garden. Maybe make host plant signs? And plan your celebration for when spring is finally here!

Confusion About Milkweed

Question: I saw information earlier this year that milkweed was banned from many local cities. Why would a host plant for the monarch be prohibited?

Answer: This is a very complex question to answer in a few words. Here is my condensed take. Many of these rules were written long ago and mostly forgotten until a situation arises. In my opinion, the use of the plant was the problem. I use the phrase; there is a difference between “no” maintenance and “know” maintenance.

The milkweed at issue is common milkweed, Asclepias syriaca. Tall, rangy, and spread rapidly by rhizomes while it forms colonies. Left uncontrolled, with “no” maintenance, it can take over an area, become unsightly, a weed, and will violate ordinances. If properly managed, “know” maintenance suckers can be controlled, and the plant can be kept as a clump and will look more like a maintained perennial plant.

Whether a garden is full of native or non-native plants, maintenance is required to keep the garden “orderly.” A garden, even a prairie, needs tender loving care. This, I believe, created the issue. By the way, I have common milkweed in my garden, but it is kept to a clump and not in the front yard.

Native Lawn Possibility

Question: I want to decrease the inputs into my lawn and keep hearing about native lawns. How do I go about switching to a native lawn?

Answer: Let’s take a step back. A lawn is a ground cover. The purpose of the ground cover is many. The principal value is preventing soil erosion while providing a place to play. The best lawn ground cover is one that provides these benefits. We have tall fescue, bluegrass, or Zoysia to provide this function. None are native.

Finding a low-growing native to