🍂 This fall, protect plants and wildlife by leaving leaves and saving stems in your garden. Fallen leaves act as nature’s free mulch, enriching soil and providing essential winter shelter for butterflies, moths, beetles, bats, and bees. Many pollinators spend the cold months tucked into leaves or hollow stems, waiting for spring.
📆 Instead of cutting everything back now, wait until late winter or early spring to trim stems to about 8–24 inches tall. This provides nesting spots for native bees while allowing birds to feed on seeds from the flower heads. When temperatures warm in spring, you can then cut the stems back to the ground.
🐝 Bumble bee queens also hibernate under leaves or brush, so leave a few small, undisturbed piles in your garden. With just a few simple changes to your fall and winter cleanup, you can support pollinators and help your garden thrive naturally—because a little mess makes a big difference!
