Insects prepare winter homes

[Catherine]

I learned something today. The galls that we see on various plants are a winter hibernation spot for an insect larva. The insect lays an egg on the leaf and the larva burrows in and the leaf forms a hard growth over it. The plant continues to grow and is unharmed. The insect has a save place to stay during the winter months.

https://www.barrietoday.com/local-news/i...es-1679241

How nature ever evolved a system like this is amazing. The insects and the plants work together. Insects pollinate plants and plants provide winter shelter for insects. It is not necessarily the same insects, but the whole system balances. Everything has a part to play in keeping the cycle going. Now I am going to be out there trying to spot the insect wintering spots.

[Tobi]

Yes it is amazing.
I remember my mother telling me about this when I was a child, and she showed me inside an Oak gall where there was a little grub. She probably shouldn't have done that, and just left it alone, but I never forgot it. I see many of them about.
Of course now, I don't open them up.

[Catherine]

It is amazing. Life is happening all around us and unless we know to look for it we don't see it.
I do leave my garden alone in the fall and let the dead leaves and plants stay in place. The snow will cover them and they will be fine like that. The insects wintering on the plants will be fine as well.

Your mother wouldn't have thought about what she was doing with the grub. We are careful now to let things live.
Your mother knew the natural world and could show things to you. That would have been special.

I am looking for signs of insects in my garden. I know I have lots of adults living on my plants right now. I wonder how early they lay their eggs.