Why leave dried stalks in your garden? Here's why...

Here are three mosaic darners resting in the sun on a dried fennel stalk in our garden.

I took this photo yesterday, and am very excited about it, because these dragonflies normally aren't still for very long. They tend to fly in very large circles and swoops around the garden. I patiently wait for them to land somewhere, but when I figure out exactly where they are, and try to quietly get close enough to shoot the photo, they fly away.

Yesterday I noticed just one mosaic darner flying around.

It was impossible to take a photo of it, because it just seemed very camera shy.

Then it finally landed and stayed on the dried fennel stalk.

I got the photo, and walked away.

Here it is.

When my partner came outdoors to see what I was doing, I told him about the dragonfly.

I walked back to see if the darner was still on the stalk.

Lo and behold, there were three of them (top photo)! I was truly amazed because I had never seen more than one dragonfly of any kind at rest.

Eventually one of the darners flew away, and then there were two.

Yes, there are a lot of undesirable "weeds" I'm planning to remove, including more of the fennel.

However, the fennel stalks and other plant stalks, and leaf matter will remain until some time in June, so that the insects and birds find good habitat when they emerge from their winter sleep.

The garden remains unmanicured, but not overgrown.