24 January 2026 Winter Interest
With a big snowstorm on the way, it’s actually a great time to check out your native garden! Am I crazy? Perhaps. What could we possibly be doing in the garden in a snowstorm? We’re looking for winter interest! A NEORSD site after a snowstorm. I am a big fan of resisting fall cleanup and cutback for all kinds of reasons. Wildlife need tall grasses and flower stems for habitat. Insects overwinter in leaves and stems left intact. Not only that, those stems you didn’t cut back make geometric patterns in the snow. The seed heads if spent flowers attract birds, whose colors contrast perfectly against the white. Red Winterberries Ilex verticillata call your attention through the snow. The shrubs and trees altogether look like calendar photos…and ohmygoodness if the sun pops out, the sparkles of snow on an evergreen branch blow me away! The Golden Alexander (Zizia aurea) shows off a cool starburst pattern , A Hawthorn tree’s berries are easy for wildlife to see in the snow. (Crata...
