Anyone in close sympathy with flower and tree and shrub and has a general acquaintance with Nature’s moods could tell the time of year without any reference to a calendar”
Let nature be your guide.
Where do you find good gardening models, resources, and information on how to care for a garden over time? Old-time gardeners relied on the bloom sequence of common and native plants growing in their local regions to let them know it was safe to sow seeds and set plants in the garden.
What is Phenology?
Phenology is the study of natural life cycle and seasonal events in the plant and animal world. These are influenced by the local environment, especially weather, temperature, seasonal change, and climate. Examples include the first dates of budding and blooming flowers, insects hatching, bird migration, and fall color. The word phenology comes from the Greek phaino meaning “to show, to bring to light or make appear.”
Phenology dates back thousands of years.
One of the oldest branches of environmental science, references and observations associated with phenological events date back thousands of years. Historical records and journals of past seasonal events are useful for predicting future events. By tracking changes in the cycles and timing of seasonal events, scientists can better understand climate change and its effects on the natural processes of ecosystems.
Environmentalist Aldo Leopold kept records of native plants and wildlife on his Wisconsin farm in the 1930s, and his daughter Nina Leopold Bradley continued to perform daily observations at the same location until her death in 2011. Scientists are now studying those records for trends in climate change.
Phenology offers many benefits to gardeners
Gardening by the calendar can sometimes be misleading, especially when deciding when to plant. Each gardening region has its own native species and seasonal timetable.
Flowers vary in their bloom times depending on their location. For example, Joe pye weed might bloom in August in one area and September in another. But these plants will generally bloom at about the same time in any given locality from year to year.
In addition, biological events are not the same from one microclimate to another. They are influenced by local temperature, precipitation, day length, and proximity to buildings and other structures.
If you keep a garden journal for seed lists, plant names, and locations, include your observations of the pheno– phases and microclimates unique to your garden and landscape.
Be sure to note:
- First and last frost dates
- Bird arrival dates
- Leaf out dates
- Insect emergence
- Blooming dates of native and non-native species, including trees, shrubs, flowers, herbs, weeds, and ornamentals. Early spring, mid-late spring, early summer, mid-summer, late summer, and fall
- High and low temperatures and precipitation
- Moon phases, summer and winter solstice, and equinox dates
Diversity in the Garden
Biodiversity is at the foundation of human society because we survive on the range of products and services it provides. Biodiversity is also essential for providing an adaptive capability in a continually changing world. Diversity among and within plant species is linked to the productivity and stability of ecosystems.
Regenerative gardening focuses on biodiversity and networking with nature’s cycles to create a balanced habitat of interdependent plants and animals, from the fauna, fungi, and bacteria in the soil, to the insects and animals we interact with daily.
Author and naturalist Katherine Schlosser says, “It is within our power to make some changes and save time and money by creating sustainable gardens. Re-thinking how we landscape and becoming “Ecoscapers” is one of the best things we can do for the environment. Mother Nature encourages and values community spirit and depends on local expertise.”
Phenology is valuable for scheduling seasonal tasks in your garden and working harmoniously with the natural environment.
It is a helpful tool for:
- Successful intergraded pest management of insect pests & diseases
- Designing flower beds for sequential bloom
- Planning for harvest season
- Planning gardens for beneficial insects
- Predicting when to plant the best plants for bees and other pollinators
- Preparing for allergy and mosquito season
Phenology is Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK)
Native Americans were experts at reading their regional landscapes. Their knowledge of “nature’s calendar” helped ensure their survival and kept them in harmony with the natural world. For Native Americans, phenology was a well-honed tool and plain common sense. Life revolved around seasonal cycles as they moved from one food source to another, continually modifying their behavior in response to the life cycles of local plants and animals.
They kept track of the seasons by assigning descriptive names to each recurring full moon, alluding to notable phenological events during that month.
When oak leaves were the size of a mouse’s ear it was time to plant corn.
The emerging earthworm in March signaled the earth was beginning to thaw, and the time to tap maple trees was not far off.
When the wild rose (Rosa spp.) blooms in June, it is time to collect cedar roots and basket grass.
Native American integrated with their landscapes.
Native American tribes were materially and spiritually integrated with their landscapes. They believe every tree has a spirit; every rock, every river, every star that glistens, and every wind that breathes has spirit and purpose.
Robin Wall Kimmerer notes, “TEK has a value not only for the wealth of biological information it contains but for the cultural framework of respect, reciprocity, and responsibility in which it is embedded.”
The following Mesquakie Legend (Fox), collected by William Jones in the late nineteenth century, beautifully illustrates a TEK lesson in abiotic pollination (wind and water).
Early in the spring, the trees begin to woo. By and by, the wind comes along and helps them meet. Then we see the trees bend their heads toward each other until they almost touch, and presently they hold their heads up straight again. Often the whole forest is making love. It is then we hear from a distance the trees murmuring in low voices ….. In the fall, we see the nuts and fruits in the trees, and then we know which trees were the happiest in their lovemaking. For those that bear fruit are those that married, and the nuts and fruits are the children born to them.
Phenology is Folklore, Oral and Natural History
Plant proverbs, gardening maxims rooted in common sense, or practical experience conveying general truths or moral lessons have been passed along for centuries everywhere on Earth.
- He that goes barefoot must not plant thorns.
- The pine wishes herself a shrub when the ax is at her root.
- Willows are weak, but they bind other wood.
- Red sky at night sailors delight! Red sky in morning, sailors take warning!
- If the oak is out before the ash, twill be a summer of wet and splash; but if the ash is out before the oak, twill be a summer of fire and smoke.
Insects as weather prophets
Insects, spiders, and other crawling or flying creatures are vital to healthy gardens. They perform important jobs pollinating, recycling nutrients, and eating pests.
Additionally, according to an article published in the New York Times in the 1900s, “It is from the habits and instincts of animals properly observed that we can learn more weather wisdom of the scientific sort than from almost any other source, and of all animals, insects are among the most interesting to study in this connection.”
Spiders:
- These creators cannot spin properly in high wind.
- Before a gale, they may be observed strengthening their webs.
- The shape of the web is also a valuable weather indication. When the frame lines are short and stout, the insects’ instinct tells it that wind and rain are coming; while long and slender frame lines are a very reliable sign of calm and fine weather.
Wasps and hornets:
- Wasps and hornets have the weather instinct over a still longer range.
- The banks of streams are the favorite nesting places for these insects. If the nests, in any season, are generally placed high up on the bank, it is taken as a sign of a wet season. The position of the nests is taken to avoid floods.
- When nests are near the water level, they forecast a dry, warm season.
Bees:
- There is a saying that “a bee is never caught in a shower”
- When rain is impending, bees do not go far afield but ply their labor in the immediate neighborhood of their hives. This well-authenticated fact is set forth in the rhyme, which tells us that: When bees to distant wing flight, days are warm, and skies are bright, but when their flight ends near their home, stormy weather will surely come.
Cicada larva:
- One of the most curious beliefs about an insect as a weather prophet is concerned with the larva of the cicada, commonly known as a frog or cuckoo spit. A white froth envelopes the insect.
- If it lies in the froth with its head upward, the summer will be dry; if downward, it will be wet.
How do we make phenological observations?
Phenology provides a positive “hands-on “approach to natural history, place-based learning, and garden making. Regardless of age or educational background, anyone can observe and enjoy recurring natural cyclical events unfolding daily around their backyards and local communities.
Nature and outdoor lovers track migrating populations of birds, butterflies, and the sequence of blooming wildflowers from early spring through late fall. Scientists never cease to experience wonder and amazement at the insights phenology generates, and children naturally grasp phenology’s core concepts.
Tracking Phenology in your garden
Tracking phenophases, the visible stages in a plant’s or animal’s life cycle, provides gardeners with signals or cues for making good gardening decisions.
Observable life cycle events or PHENOPHASES in your garden
- Plant peas when the daffodils or the spring peepers sing
- When the flowers of the bleeding heart or Juneberry trees bloom, it’s safe to plant pansies, carrots, and fennel
- Crabgrass, a creepy pest in the garden, germinates when the soil temperature stabilizes at 55 degrees and coincides with the bloom cycle of forsythia and the perfect time to apply fertilizer to your garden.
- When you see milkweed pods and plumes of goldenrod, it’s time to finish harvesting and dry herbs for the season.
Studying phenology
Above and beyond the garden, phenological studies can be pursued in formal and non-formal educational settings. Students, garden clubs, 4-H members, families, and individuals can observe and record regional data concerning specific seasonal events and then contribute valuable information to one of numerous online Citizen Science Projects collecting phenological data. Citizen science is scientific research conducted, in whole or in part, by amateur or non-professional scientists, also known as crowd science, volunteer monitoring, or networked science.
The USA National Phenology Network was established in 2004 to bring together government agencies, non-profit groups, educators, and students of all ages to monitor and record the impacts of climate change on plants and animals in the United States.
To learn more about phenology and contribute the information collected and recorded from your local garden to educate others, please check out the following sites.
After all, “More grows in a garden than a gardener sows.”
Written By: Susan M Betz
Author: Neighboring with Nature: Native Herbs for Purpose & Pleasure & Herbal Houseplants
“This post is provided as an educational/inspirational service of the National Garden Bureau and our members. Please credit and link to National Garden Bureau and author member when using all or parts of this article.”