Leave the Leaves for the birds, butterflies, and fireflies!
Birds forage through leaf litter to find winter sources of food.
Oh yes…leaf litter! I rake mine into the flower beds and just mow the ones I miss into the grass. Some people think it looks messy, but I love the fireflies and toads that emerge from them, and the robins are so cute when they sift through looking for food. -Franklin Park Neighbor
Every year, those yellow leaf collection signs pop up and we rush to rake our leaves to the curb! We look forward to the County’s collection of the massive piles now lining the streets of Franklin Park and Forest. But, there is a movement afoot to LEAVE the LEAVES! This just might change the way we think about fallen autumn leaves and the time-worn tradition of raking our yards clean of every, last leaf. (See: Make Firefly Magic)
This biomass from our cherished deciduous trees is celebrated for greenery in the spring and summer and brilliance in autumn. After a showy display of color, however, this biomass becomes ‘leaf litter’ scattered about our lawns and landscapes.
Huge curbside leaf piles are a stormwater nightmare, as well as a traffic hazard.
Massive leaf piles at curbside are a common fall sight in many neighborhoods. But fallen leaves harbor a diversity of value for nature’s chain of life, from microbes to invertebrates, birds, and other animals. Sadly, this biodiversity is lost when we blow our leaves to the curb.
In Fairfax County, these leaf piles will be converted to mulch for next year’s gardens, which is good — but we lose the opportunity to ensure a healthy ecosystem locally. Organizations such as the National Wildlife Federation, Xerxes Society, USDA, and the Virginia Department of Forestry all want us to LEAVE the LEAVES, and consider creating a leaf garden around a tree or in a small area of our yards.
This is a no-brainer that helps birds and wildlife survive winter months. Leaving the leaves raises the population of beneficial insects such as fireflies, butterflies, and other invertebrates. Autumn leaves are important in nature’s lifecycle, where there is no waste.
While we may not readily see the benefits leaf layers freely supply, these leaves:
Provide homes for birds, turtles, frogs, butterflies, fireflies, and other invertebrates and pollinators
Increase the population of insects that serve as critical food for wildlife over the winter months
Regulate soil temperature and moisture and replenish needed nutrients leading to healthier garden soil and less fertilizer, and
Act as a mulch to inhibit the growth of weeds.
Recent Danish research found that a light layer of leaves completely decomposes by spring.
While deep leaf litter (greater than 8”) can smother the lawn, a light leaf layer will decompose by spring, without harming the grass. Or, the leaves can be blown under a tree or into a garden bed. A small leaf garden can be created out of lawn for the purpose of overwintering leaves. And leaves can be composted onsite for use as mulch next year. As one Franklin Park neighbor commented on the benefits:
I leave the leaves on my side yard instead of raking and mulching every spring and fall. This works so much better for suppressing weeds than mulch alone. We get lots of fireflies in our yard, and it has saved me time and money. What’s not to like?!
We can learn to recognize and cherish the value of leaf litter to the local ecosystem.
Just a small area devoted to Leaving the Leaves will help wildlife. The decrease in invertebrate population has been blamed for the decline of songbirds and Leaving the Leaves is one simple, small, and easy way to give back!
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