Extension Master GardenerSM Volunteers of Buncombe County

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Pollinator-Friendly Gardening Year-round

Are the vibrant flowering plants that were attracting butterflies, bees, other insects, and birds to your garden looking a bit faded? You may itch to start cleaning out dead, drying vegetation to prepare for winter. Stop! Many critters will benefit from these plant remains, especially the birds—and many birds and other pollinators are in our gardens year-round.

Pollinator garden in bloom (August)_Sara Asher Morris_CC BY-NC 2.0_Flickr
Pollinator garden in bloom

Pollinators’ wide world
You’ve likely heard of the need for plants that attract and feed honey bees and Monarch butterflies. Bee decline threatens the insect pollination of critical food crops. Monarch butterflies and their migration patterns are an awesome and beautiful natural event. Loss of habitats and overly aggressive use of insecticides and herbicides are culprits in honey bees and Monarch butterflies’ misfortunes. But there are thousands of other bee and butterfly species— not to mention other insects and birds—that depend on pollen plants for their existence.

What to include in your garden?
Planting Monarch- or honey bee-friendly annuals and perennials that bloom mostly in the summer may not be enough to assist other important pollen-needing critters. Bees of all kinds love the flowers (pollen) of many other beautiful landscape plants. And birds flourish where insects are abundant. Consider a year-round approach to pollinator-attracting garden plantings!

Fall
As summer annuals and perennials fade, autumn-flowerers begin to show off. Cardinal flowers (Lobelia cardinalis) and goldenrods (Solidago spp.) are just starting to display their colors. Asters and sunflowers (many species of both) are among many other fall-blooming plants to consider adding to your garden.

Fall is also a good time to plan for pollen plants year-round. Considering adding trees to your landscape, both large and small, that will provide food sources as the garden emerges next spring. Fall and winter planting of trees will get a start on a long-term food source for insects and, subsequently, birds. In Western North Carolina, we are surrounded by beautiful deciduous hardwood forests. Birds are particularly dependent on the insect populations that make their homes in trees. In his book, Bringing Nature Home (Portland, OR: Timber Press, 2014) researcher Douglas Tallamy estimates that as many as 400 different insects live off oak trees—creating a feast for birds. Maples, oaks, and yellow poplars are among the first producers of pollen in early spring. Smaller understory shrubs and trees— holly, redbud, serviceberry, dogwood and sourwood—follow soon, blooming in April and May. The pollen these trees produce attracts emerging insects. Overwintering and migrating birds eat many of these insects. 

Weather alert! If heat continues and rainfall tapers off (as it usually does in the fall months), be sure to water to extend the blooming season and keep your new plantings thriving.

Winter
Although your garden may seem to have come to a standstill, your plantings are increasing root mass all winter. Although most insects are dormant, birds are busy consuming seed from trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants. Meanwhile, Monarchs are vacationing in Mexico!

Spring
Everything is awakening. In addition to the early blooming trees and the beautiful flowering understory trees, make sure your landscape includes spring ephemerals. Some you can purchase at nurseries include bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis), trilliums (Trillium spp.), and wild ginger (Asarum canadense). Also, as your lawn comes to life, recognize that treating for weeds and insects can damage pollinator insects’ habitat and health.

Summer
The summer season gives the best show. Milkweeds provide nectar for many butterfly species and larval food for the Monarchs. Bees, butterflies, and other insects cover bee balm (Monarda spp.) flowers. Many ornamental annuals and perennials are good nectar and pollen sources, as well.

Pollinator-friendly plants
A few trees, shrubs, and plants to consider for your landscape:

Spring Summer Fall
Serviceberry Sweet Pepperbush Stoke’s Aster
Flowering Dogwood Buttonbush Sunflower
Redbud Summer Phlox Rose Mallow
Carolina Silverbell Black-eyed Susan Wild Bergamot
Highbush Blueberry Sourwood Cardinal Flower
American Holly Purple Coneflower Swamp Milkweed
Winterberry Bee Balm Goldenrod

So, in every season gardeners who work to increase and protect the plants that support insects are pollinating insects’ and birds’ best friends! 

Note: Master GardenerSM volunteers of Buncombe County encourage you to visit “The Learning Garden” at the Cooperative Extension office, 49 Mt. Carmel Road, Asheville, where you will see examples of year-round pollinator-attracting gardens. 

Article written by James C. Wade, Extension Master GardenerSM Volunteer. 

More information
Managing Backyards and Other Urban Habitats for Birds
North Carolina Cooperative Extension, North Carolina State University

Butterflies in Your Backyard
North Carolina Cooperative Extension, North Carolina State University

Pollinator Plants: Mid-Atlantic Region
The Xerces Society

Pollinator Plants: Southeast Region
The Xerces Society

The Garden Detective: What Are Those Webs in My Trees?

Fall webworms began infesting local trees and shrubs in mid-summer! They create their unsightly webs at the branch ends of hundreds of different woody plant species, including sourwoods, birches, cherries, crabapples, hickories, and walnuts. If you saw web-building pests this past spring, they were likely the Eastern tent caterpillar.

Webworm Web_Tim Lenz_CC BY 2.0_Flickr
Fall webworm web in tree

What are fall webworms?
Fall webworms really aren’t worms at all, but the caterpillar stage of a white moth, Hyphantria cunea Drury. What you see is the larval stage of this pest consuming leaves inside the protection of an unsightly tent-like web. The damage they inflict may occasionally defoliate a tree but rarely kills it because the damage occurs shortly before normal leaf-drop. A relatively benign native of North America, these fall webworms are invasive pests throughout Europe and Asia.

Fall webworm lifecycle
The caterpillars currently feeding on your trees hatched from eggs laid by adult fall webworm moths. The small moth is fluffy white, sometimes with black spots, about 1½-inches long. After hatching, caterpillars feed for 4 to 6 weeks, creating a tent-like web as they eat tree leaves. They emerge from the web only when they are ready to pupate, seeking shelter in tree bark or other crevices on or in the ground. There they spin cocoons in which they spend the winter. Next spring, adult moths will emerge from these cocoons and mate—then the females will lay eggs, beginning the cycle all over again! Many of the webs you see now are empty because the caterpillars have already moved on to shelter for the winter.

What to do?
The webworms will devour the leaves within the web, but not the branches, so it is fine to do nothing! Birds, predator insects, and parasitoids help by eating moth eggs and attacking the developing larvae. The webs will deteriorate over the winter and the tree will refoliate in the spring.

If you prefer, when you first see the webs, prune away the branch tips holding them and destroy any active caterpillars, or pull the webs down with a stick—burning webs is not recommended! If you are concerned about the health of a young tree with a heavy infestation of fall webworms, contact the local Extension office for an approved insecticide recommendation for webs containing active caterpillars. Chemical control is most effective when the webs and larvae are still small.

What if I see webs in the spring?
Eastern tent caterpillars build the webs located in tree-branch crotches—rather than branch tips—in the spring. Found throughout the Eastern United States, they mostly affect apple, cherry, and crabapple trees, although they can attack other woody plants. Like fall webworms, tent caterpillars are the larval stage of a moth (Malacosoma americanum) and spin a web for protection.

Tent caterpillar life cycle
Unlike webworms, Eastern tent caterpillars overwinter as egg masses on trees. As the larvae hatch, they form tents in branch crotches. They leave their nests during the day to feed and return at night. They pupate in cocoons on trees or other nearby structures. The reddish-brown moths that hatch out in early to mid-summer have two white stripes on their wings. After the moths mate, females’ egg-laying begins a new cycle.

Eastern tent caterpillar control
While the tents are unsightly, tent caterpillars seldom permanently damage trees, unless the new leaves are stripped year after year, or if a young tree is completely defoliated. Typically, trees refoliate within weeks of this spring damage. If you spot the egg masses, prune and destroy them. You can remove the nests with a stick and crush any live caterpillars—this is best done in the evening when the larvae return to the nest. As with webworms, controls work best when you first spot those tents! 

Article written by Barbara Hayes, Extension Master GardenerSM Volunteer.

More information
See a photo of an Eastern ten caterpillar egg mass.
Tent Caterpillars
by Joe Collins, University of Kentucky College of Agriculture

Goldenrod in the Garden: Dispelling the Allergy Myth

If late summer and autumn allergies—known as “hay fever”—affect you, you are not alone! Millions of Americans suffer from seasonal runny nose and itchy, watery eyes. Much of this allergic reaction is blamed on goldenrod and ragweed, when, in fact, only ragweed spreads irritating pollen—goldenrod does not! Goldenrods (Solidago spp.) and ragweed (Ambrosia spp.) mature in late summer; but the showier goldenrod is insect-pollinated, not wind-pollinated and that’s what makes the difference.

Goldenrod meadow_by BLeonard_BCEMGV
Fall meadow dressed in goldenrod

Ragweeds are the villains!
Ragweeds are annual native weeds found in cultivated areas, as well as along roadsides and meadows in heavy soils. In early spring, common ragweed’s (A. artemisiifolia) first leaves are opposite but become more deeply dissected and arranged alternately as the plant matures. It can grow to 4 feet tall. It produces only inconspicuous flowers of nondescript color, but in early autumn, breezes distribute clouds of allergy-causing pollen as we seek to enjoy the late summer and early autumn. If you learn to recognize its leaves, it is easy pull any time before it flowers, and mowing will keep it under control—you will be shearing off any flower stalks before they bloom. Note that we also have giant ragweed (A. trifida) in our area that also produces irritating pollen. It is much taller—up to 16 feet!—and has opposite leaves with 3 to 5 large lobes and flowers much like common ragweed.

Welcome goldenrod to your garden!
Goldenrod is a native herbaceous perennial in the aster or Asteraceae family that presents dazzling displays of brilliant yellow flowers in open meadows and roadsides. These bright yellow flowers hold sticky pollen that attract bees, butterflies, and other insects until early frost. As the floral display matures, birds flock onto upright stems to enjoy the seeds.

Although sometimes viewed as weeds, these wildflowers represent a very diverse collection of many species:

  • They range in size from little more than 12 inches to 6 feet tall.
  • Some spread aggressively, while others form well-behaved clumps.
  • In addition to soft plumes, goldenrods’ yellow flowers can be spiky or even zig-zagged!
  • There are species adapted to many habitats, from salt marshes, to swamps, prairies and woodlands.
Goldenrod (Solidago)_Leonora (Ellie) Enking_CC BY-SA 2.0_Flickr
Goldenrod in the garden

Those found in our mountains are a welcome addition to perennial gardens, combining well with Echinacea, ironweeds (Vernonia spp.), Joe Pye weeds (Eutrochium spp.), Rudbeckias, taller sedums, and ornamental grasses to add vivid color to the late summer garden. They are also lovely additions to floral arrangements. Some local natives include:

  • Early goldenrod (Solidago juncea) starts blooming in July and is drought-tolerant.
  • Sweet goldenrod (Solidago odora) has anise-scented shiny leaves, reaches only about 2 to 3 feet tall and has a well-behaved clumping habit.
  • Common goldenrod (Solidago altissima altissima also known as Solidago canadensis var. scabra) is a tall (up to 6 feet) plant that spreads aggressively by underground rhizomes, which can be an advantage in controlling erosion, even on steep slopes.

Goldenrods are subject to very few diseases, and although you may see some galls, spider mites and lace bugs, deer typically ignore them.

So, as September arrives, bringing the first falling leaves, hints of coolness in the air, and breezes carrying pollen, don’t be concerned about goldenrod. It’s a harmless beauty!

What to do about allergies?
Donna Teasley, Extension Agent, recommends ways allergy sufferers can keep symptoms to a minimum:

  • Avoid hanging laundry to dry outside.
  • Hire someone to mow the lawn during late summer.
  • Keep bedroom windows closed at night.
  • Keep car windows rolled up while driving.
  • Stay indoors on windy days and at peak pollen hours—early morning and late afternoon.

While these suggestions can certainly help allergy sufferers cope, one final thing we can do to lift our spirits as we gaze outdoors or ride along is to take time to enjoy the goldenrods!

Article written by Mary Alice Ramsey, Extension Master GardenerSM Volunteer.

More information
Read about different types of goldenrod, from the wildflower to cultivars for the garden.
NC State Extension publications

Common Ragweed
by Charles Peacock, Professor and Extension Turfgrass Specialist
NC State Extension

Giant Ragweed
by Dr. John Hilty, Illinois Wildflowers

Allergy Sufferers Alert
by Donna Teasley, Extension Agent, Burke County, NC
NC Cooperative Extension

Contact Us

Buncombe County Extension Office
49 Mount Carmel Road
Asheville, NC 28806
Helpline 828-255-5522

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