Keep the leaves, keep the seeds

This fall, let’s help our insect neighbors by doing less yard work. We need bugs: they pollinate our food, feed wildlife, and are just plain cool. It’s easy to provide for them.  
Leave the leaves. Let them pile up, rake or vacuum, but avoid shredding. Leaves camouflage cocoons and chrysalises. They form a warm blanket for bees, worms, beetles, and more.
Rethink mulch. Use leaves instead. They’re free and—unlike wood chips and fabrics—their loose layers help bumblebees find winter burrows. In spring leaves allow soil access for ground nesting bees. Bees also accept a thin pebble mulch.
Skip dead-heading and keep plant stalks. Seeds provide bird food and stalks make winter sites for some butterflies. Come spring, trim stems to different lengths to create homes for native bees and other insects—no need for a bee block. Plus, seed heads add shapes to our bleak winter landscape.
Ambitious gardeners, consider plantings that bloom late. Add native plants. Native plants feed native insects, with leaves and blooms specialized for local pollinators.
Fifty-two caterpillar species eat goldenrod leaves, and 206 eat chokecherries. Sunflower blooms feed 22 specialist bees, asters 16, black-eyed Susans 17. Non-natives feed only a few, if that. For more info, Google keystone plants for Northwestern Forested Mountains.
As the valley grows with subdivisions and stores, creatures are losing food and shelter. Keep the leaves. Keep the seeds. Celebrate natural beauty and more free time. 

Marti Brandt, Whitefish