Conservation Tips: Fall Gardening for Wildlife

by Amber Ellis, JRA's Watershed Restoration Associate/Volunteer Coordinator

Here’s a tip that will actually save you time and energy! While you are out in your garden this fall cleaning up, don’t cut everything back or rake every leaf up! By being a little less tidy, you can do your part in providing valuable habitat for our critters in the James River watershed.

Many perennials and ornamental grasses provide homes and food for wildlife throughout the winter. For example, birds love the seedheads on Black-Eyed Susans (Rudbeckia), so leave some of them uncut and you just might see a Goldfinch come to feed on the seeds. Then in late winter/early spring trim them back to allow for new growth to come up. You may find that your garden takes on a special beauty during the winter, now that there is some structure left behind.

Before you pull out the blower and the rake, find some areas that you wouldn’t mind having some leaves on the ground. By leaving layers of leaves in your flower beds, they will provide your plants with nutrients and will protect their roots from the cold winter. You can then cover them up in the spring with mulch. Many critters call leaf litter their home like salamanders, frogs, various eggs of butterflies and other insects.

For more information:
http://www.beautifulwildlifegarden.com/autumn-cleanup-wildlife-garden.html
http://www.northcoastgardening.com/2010/11/fall-leaf-raking/
http://nativeplantwildlifegarden.com/untidy-wildlife-gardens/
http://nativeplantwildlifegarden.com/step-away-from-that-leaf-blower/
http://www.ecosystemgardening.com/life-in-the-leaf-litter-dont-throw-a-good-thing-away.html