![\"_MG_0123sRGB\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/realgardensgrownatives.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/MG_0123sRGB.jpg?resize=640%2C960&ssl=1\")
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Bedtime for bugs<\/strong> A fox sparrow finds dinner under leafy cover.<\/p><\/div>\n If we zoom in a bit, we might see small organisms, such as syrphid fly<\/a> larvae depending on plant debris for a sort of blanket to help them through the cold, wet winter. As things warm up in springtime, some kinds of syrphid fly larvae will consume enormous quantities of aphids and leafhoppers that can harm our edible plants. Adult syrphid files<\/a> (also called \u201chover flies\u201d or “flower flies”) are important pollinators: Spring through late summer I see quite a variety of them in my garden, probably because I prescribe a healthy dose of fallen leaves on the ground in autumn. But thick layers of wood chips, bark, and other heavy materials can make it difficult \u2014 if not impossible \u2014 for ground-nesting bees to emerge in springtime. Seventy percent of native bees nest in the ground and heavy mulches can bury them alive. And tilling the soil in areas with ground-nesting insects is another practice to be seriously avoided; tilling also destroys soil microbes.<\/p>\n A leafy layer also encourages other pollinators to make it through the winter. For example, as pollination season shuts down and bumble bee workers (females) and males perish, newly crowned bumble bee queens (technically “gyne,” an impregnated queen who has not yet founded a nest but will establish a whole new generation of bumble bees next year) live on. Queens find refuge by digging a shallow tunnel in loose soil \u2014 known as a hibernaculum <\/em>\u2014 that’s often tucked under leaf litter. And, many species of lepidoptera (butterflies<\/a> and moths) overwinter under fallen leaves as eggs, larvae, pupae, or adults. If we disturb their slumber by blowing or raking them away, they and the ecosystem will suffer. Essentially, the simply need to leave them and their habitat alone if we want them to grace our gardens and wilder spaces next year.<\/p>\n Western tiger swallowtail pupa, clinging to wood, waits out the winter and spring.<\/p><\/div>\n Don’t cut back Erigeron speciosus (showy fleabane) seed head. When viewed closely, seed heads can be fascinating in their complexity.<\/p><\/div>\n Moreover, although they may look dead, the seed heads of PNW native perennials such as fleabane, fescue, goatsbeard, and lupine provide food for seed-eating birds, while their stems or stalks\u2014pithy or hollow\u2014provide shelter and\/or cavity nests for beneficial insects like the wild bees that nest in small tunnels. If you must cut them back to the plants’ bases, do it as late as possible<\/em> in springtime and, instead of throwing them away, place the cut stems in an out of the way place so that anyone using them to get through the winter won’t be discarded and so that they may be used by the current year’s cavity nesters.<\/p>\n And, aesthetically speaking, allowing fading plants to stand during winter provides structure and form. On cold, frosty mornings they can be magically transformed into silvery jewels.<\/p>\n Protect and nourish the soil Even when we\u2019re being careful, though, it\u2019s easy to cause disturbance. Many autumns ago, as I moved a small amount of leaf litter to another area, I inadvertently uncovered an overwintering queen bumble bee. I felt terrible as I watched her stumble around, obviously weak and awoken from a sound sleep. Luckily it was a warm, dry day and eventually she flew off into the sunshine. But clearly the awakening had been a rude one, because a short while later she returned and burrowed into some loose soil covered by leaves, just a few feet from where she had been. After she was safely underground, I gingerly placed a couple of particularly interesting rocks several inches from her tunnel\u2019s entrance, as well as some oak leaves on top of the soil to remind myself of where she slept.<\/p>\n Moral of the story: The more we clean up and work towards a neat and tidy garden, the worse off birds, bugs, and countless other life forms will be. If you tend to be a neatnik (like I am), try to catch yourself every time you start moving into manicure-mode and getting overly tidy\u2014especially in the wilder parts of the yard where wildlife may visit or set up house. It just doesn’t make sense to risk losing them for the sake of neatness or to maintain a certain ‘look.’ If you have piles of leaves that have been raked off hardscape or lawn, here are additional ways to use them in your garden<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\nThe last of the warm, dry fall days are upon us<\/strong> and it seems like a great time to be puttering around the garden. But this time of year is actually not<\/em> a good time to be “cleaning up”\u2014 that is, removing fallen leaves and woody debris from bare soil, pruning standing plants, applying heavy mulch, and making your yard look somewhat like a victim of a gardening magazine makeover. Leaves and other plant material that fall to earth are part of nature’s systems that nurture and shelter wildlife, enrich and protect the soil, and offer many other benefits<\/a>. Healthy soil has an uncanny ability to not only keep plants thriving, but also store carbon.<\/a><\/p>\n
\nLeaving fallen leaves on soil is one of the best (and easiest!) things you can do to support wild ones such as birds, amphibians, and small mammals in your garden, as well as myriad invertebrates, including bees, butterflies, spiders, beetles, and worms. Leaves and other plant matter are meant to fall to the soil, to provide food for unfathomable numbers of microbes as well as the macroscopic consumers and recyclers that feed on decaying plant matter. Further up the food chain, many creatures \u2014 ground-feeding birds, for example \u2014 rely on nature\u2019s soil cover to provide for those they need to eat, which they find under leaves<\/a> and downed wood<\/a> (fallen twigs and branches, etc.).<\/p>\n![\"Fox](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/realgardensgrownatives.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Fox-sparrow.jpg?resize=450%2C341&ssl=1\")
![\"Pupa](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/realgardensgrownatives.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Pupa-WTSwallowtail.jpg?resize=450%2C269&ssl=1\")
\n<\/strong>Fall pruning isn’t a good idea because it may stimulate a plant to put on new growth, which could be damaged by the lower winter temperatures soon to come. Another important reason not to prune in autumn is that branches and bark \u2014 particularly of native plant species \u2014 may support butterfly and moth<\/a> pupae, (aka chrysalis). Swallowtail butterfly pupae pass the winter attached by thin threads to woody material \u2014 disguised as dried up leaves or old bits of wood to fool predators \u2014 until the warmer temperatures of spring stimulate their metamorphosis into adults. While some non-native fruit trees do need winter pruning and it\u2019s beneficial to remove diseased and dying annual vegetable garden plants to prevent the spread of disease to next year\u2019s kitchen garden, in all other parts of the yard, if you must prune woody plants, approach it the following spring, being sure not to disturb any nesting birds.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/realgardensgrownatives.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Erigeron-speciosus-sRGB.jpg?resize=400%2C561&ssl=1\")
\n<\/strong>Down at soil level, besides providing a haven for overwintering organisms, fallen leaves and woody debris protect the soil, which can degrade and erode fairly quickly from excessive rain, sunlight, and wind. In nature, soil is protected and mimicking the way it does that will help your soil stay healthy. And over many years, leaves decompose into layers of organic matter that feed plants naturally and gently, improve the condition of soil, and store carbon with the help of mycorrhizal fungi. The other day I relocated a plant to a spot in my front yard that’s been collectively accumulating a couple dozen inches of leaves over the past 15 years. To my delight I found the result of their decomposition: A couple of inches of soft, dark, rich organic matter that wasn’t there a decade ago. <\/span><\/p>\n