One of hardest things for me as a homeowner was learning to leave the leaf litter in my yard. I don't mean in the front yard, at least mostly not in the front yard, but in the back where the woods occupy half of my 1/3 of an acre lot. After all, leaf litter signals that owner is lazy and doesn't take care of their yard, right? But the more I learned about what life leaf litter brings to the ecosystem I realized that all those fallen leaves really signal a thriving natural community.
The transition from buying plants that were 'pretty' to buying plants that were aesthetically pleasing but also supported wildlife was a pretty quick change. It's taken a while but I've eliminated most plants that are introduced Eurasian species and offer little, if anything, to nature. I now primarily add native plants to my yard. They are beautiful and who can resist turning the leaves over to see who lives there? Not my 4 year old. He checks every plant to see what 'friends' he can find. It took me 40 years to get there, he was doing it at 2.
What took longer was to stop using wood mulch. Natives can be beautiful in a formal garden setting, but I still thought I needed to mulch. I knew not to use cypress mulch because of the great loss of cypress groves due to the demand for this mulch. But I still thought some mulch was needed. I'm over that now.
However, the last remaining pillar of what I thought I needed to do in my yard was to clean up the leaf litter. Then I had the epiphany- I needed to look at all aspects of my yard the same way I looked at the plants- evaluate what I do by what impact it will have on nature. Within reason, if it's good for nature I try to accommodate it. (Don't worry, I still get rid of poison ivy for obvious reasons despite its exceptional wildlife benefits.) At that point, I could no longer deprive my yard of its leaf litter.
It started with the Five-lined skinks that Dylan and I love so much. We look forward to their return every spring and miss them when they stop coming out in the fall. The female lays her eggs midsummer in leaf litter or loose soil, created by the great decomposition process of forest debris. We especially like the young ones because of their neon blue tail. Five-lined skinks are listed as threatened in Connecticut, a species of conservation concern in Vermont, Minnesota and New York and has been extirpated from Massachusetts. Visit my yard any warm, sunny day between March and October and you can find them basking in the sun down by the garage, up by the front door and several places in between.
Many singular bees also nest below the leaf litter. They will also overwinter below thick layers of debris. Native bees are important for pollinating woodland plants. Recent literature also highlights their role in pollinating crops and other important plants. I always think I have succeeded when I see bees buzzing around on my plants.
One critter I hope to soon attract to my yard with a new pond going in soon is tree frogs! We use to have so many in the neighborhood they would hang out in my mailbox. The mail lady would leave me notes asking me not to put frogs in my mailbox. Then one year I didn't have any more. I was perplexed at what happened to them. A short while later I realized the new neighbors took out the small pond in the backyard next door. It was localized extinction for the tree frogs. Grey tree frogs overwinter under leaf litter and if I have any hope of enticing a population back to the neighborhood, they will need leaf litter. By the way, if you live north or east of me and have wood frogs in your area, they also overwinter in leaf litter.
One thing I was surprised to learn is most people don't see lightening bugs anymore. I still have them in fair numbers but so many other people have said they haven't seen them since their childhood. What' s the reason we are losing lightening bugs? There are really 3 reasons for their dramatic decline. First is our love of chemicals. Obviously fertilizers, pesticides and other toxic chemicals we put on our yards are not good for insects.
Second comes light pollution. During mating season, which runs from May to August, the male will fly around flashing their lights. The female will be down on the ground or on a plant waiting for a male to come by with the right flashing pattern. When he does, she responds by giving a glow back to him. If there is too much light between him and a dark sky, she may not be able to see him. Likewise, if the ground is lit up like a ball stadium, he will not be able to see her signal back.
Third, it's the leaf litter. The worms that emerge from the eggs she lays after a successful mating are called glow worms. They love damp leaf litter. If you don't have some areas that support this habitat, you won't have glow worms and hence, you won't have lightening bugs.
There are many other fabulous species that live in leaf litter- among them are snails, slugs, spiders, beetles and millipedes. Did you know millipedes can live for up to 10 years! That's quite a feat for so many feet! Mourning Cloak and Question mark butterflies overwinter as adults in leaf litter. Clearwing sphinx moths and to some extent luna moths over winter in cocoons in leaf litter.
All this brings me to my favorite species that depends on leaf litter- birds. Because of the rich, diverse community leaf litter supports many species of birds prefer foraging in leaf litter over the tree canopy. The Wood Thrush, Brown Thrasher, Ovenbirds are some that depend on leaf litter. One of the first signs a Brown Thrasher has come to my yard is from a fury of leaves popping up from the ground.
Knowing all this, it was much easier to leave the leaves where they fell. I would rather spend an afternoon watching the Eastern Towhee picking through my leaves than raking up butterflies and 10 year old millipedes to take to the leaf and brush drop off area to meet their demise. So if you come to my yard in the spring, after most people have tidied up their lawns, expect to see lots of fallen leaves.... and birds, spiders, lightening bugs, millipedes, skinks and maybe sometime in the near future-grey tree frogs!!
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