09/03/2026
Food for thought! (At least for the birds)
The coneflower that finished blooming in August is still working. The dried seed head standing in your garden right now is a feeder — goldfinches cling to it all winter and pick seeds one at a time.
Black-eyed Susans do the same thing. So do asters and goldenrod. The stems you're about to cut down are holding food above the snow line for sparrows and juncos that have no other source in January.
🌿 The spent look is the point. A garden that looks "finished" in October is one that's still feeding birds in February.
She'll look messy through winter. She'll look like a feeder to everything that stayed
