Daily gardening tip · Northern hemisphere · Monday 28 September 2026 · early autumn
Leave Seed Heads for Garden Birds
As autumn begins, local birds rely on mature garden plants to find the high-energy seeds they need to survive the colder months.
5 minuteseasywildlife
Identify spent sunflower and echinacea plants in your garden beds.
Resist the urge to cut down these faded, brown flower heads during your autumn clean-up.
Leave the stalks standing upright in the soil so birds can easily perch on them.
Watch the plants over the coming weeks to observe local birds feeding on the seeds.
Why it works
Sunflower and echinacea seed heads are packed with nutritious oils and proteins. Leaving them intact provides a natural feeding station for birds, helping them build vital fat reserves for winter while saving you the effort of immediate pruning.
An evergreen shrub native to the Caribbean. It produces dense, flat-topped clusters (corymbs) of white to pale blue flowers and has aromatic, textured foliage.
Abandoned farm field turns into a thriving orchid meadow without planted seeds
Researchers followed an unused farm field in England for over eleven years to see how it recovered naturally. They found that plant species doubled and thousands of rare orchids grew without humans sowing seed mixes. The study shows that giving land time to heal on its own can be a simple way to restore wildflower meadows.
American physician and botanist Alvan Wentworth Chapman was born on September 28, 1809. He wrote the first comprehensive field guide to wild plants and trees growing across the southeastern United States. His work helped scientists identify and document hundreds of native plant species.
