A thread about birds and bees and flowers: Over the past couple of years we've dug up part of our lawn and replaced it with a strip of wildflower meadow. Here it is in midsummer. The black-eyed Susans and Joe Pye weed are popular with bees other native pollinators.

After the first frost the colors start to fade. We just leave to stalks standing and don't dead-head the flowers. Every so often we'll see goldfinches or other migrating birds perch on the stalks and nibble on the seed heads.

By December the meadow is just dry stalks that rustle in the wind. To some people it might look like untended weeds.

And then came the snow. We've gotten over two feet in the past week. All you can see of our "meadow" is a few scraggly stalks poking out of the snow.

But then, look who's here! As soon as the snow stopped, a pair of hardy little song sparrows began pecking away at the dry seed heads. What looks like a dead flower to us is a cornucopia of nutrition for them.

For birds that winter over, every day is a battle to store up enough fat to survive the night ahead. With snow covering most plants, our scraggly little meadow becomes a lifesaver for them. They come back every day and spend hours pecking away at the tiny seeds.

And with two feet of snow on the ground, they don't even have to fly up and perch. They can just stroll up to a seed head and start nibbling.

So, next spring, before you fire up the lawnmower, consider replacing part of your lawn with native wildflowers. Every little thing makes a difference.