Soft Landings: help Wildlife Weather Winter

If you've planted a native tree but are still mowing beneath it, you’re missing one of the most important pieces of the habitat puzzle.

Many of our butterflies and showy moths spend their caterpillar stage feeding in trees like oaks, maples, and wild plums. When they're ready to pupate, they drop to the ground and rely on leaf litter and native plants below for shelter and cover as they transform and overwinter.

That's why nature builds in layers. A canopy of trees, understory shrubs, and a diverse ground layer all work together to create habitat. This type of planting is referred to as a soft landing, a term coined by Heather Holm. More info from Heather here: https://www.pollinatorsnativeplants.com/softlandings.html

Here at the nursery, we used a simple wattle fence to establish a soft landing beneath a mature silver maple, right inside the caterpillar drop zone (AKA dripline). What was once compacted, mowed ground is now a thriving layered planting full of life.

Soft landings also provide habitat for toads, salamanders, overwintering pollinators, ladybugs, ground beetles, fireflies, and ground-feeding birds. Together, these layers create a miniature ecosystem beneath the tree.

Bonus: as the plants mature, their roots improve soil structure, increase water infiltration, reduce compaction, and benefit both the tree above and the wildlife below.

Check out part 2 and 3 of this series, where we'll explore how to create soft landings beneath newly planted trees and mature canopy trees.