It’s dark later in the morning and earlier in the afternoon. Fall flowers are starting to fade while late season pollinators load up on the remaining food they provide. I have not seen a hummingbird in about a week and the winds now blow more northerly than not. Fall is in the air but not everyone is leaving. Native species that overwinter here are getting ready to weather the winter ahead. How you treat your yard in the next several weeks will impact how well important insects and birds do next spring and summer.
Read why it’s important to leave the leaves. The short version is many beneficial insects rely on the leaf litter and dead plant stems in your gardens. Wintering birds eat the seeds in those dead flowerheads and use the stalks for nest building material the following spring. Everyone benefits if you just resist the suburban practice of neatening up your yard and just leave it all in place. Dead stalks and leaf covered ground, despite years of indoctrination by the lawn care industry, are not ugly, especially if you can take the time to see the life supported by keeping the natural landscape in place.
Your reward? Time saved not cleaning up the fall yard (don’t waste it on the Patriots—not worth it this time around), a life-filled yard in the winter, and more birds, bees and pollinators who made it through the winter with your help who will visit your yard in the spring and summer. Everyone wins.
