Autumn Chores

AUTUMN CHORES

The autumnal equinox also signals the time for us to begin preparing our yards for the coming winter. Many beneficial insects, including pollinators, predators, and others, survive the winter by sheltering in leaf litter, hollow plant stems, and other garden debris. Rather than migrating, these species enter a state of dormancy or diapause and hide in protected lawns or microclimates. This year let’s try to keep as many leaves and twigs in our yards as we can. Mulching the leaves cuts them up. Removing them buries them in the local landfill.

Fireflies

The firefly larvae overwinter by burrowing into moist soil, under tree bark, or within leaf litter and rotting logs to protect themselves from the cold.

Butterflies and Moths

Many butterflies overwinter wrapped in leaves either as chrysalides or as caterpillars.

Tiger swallowtails, for example, overwinter. Their chrysalides look like dried leaves and are typically attached to a tree or the stem of a plant in the garden.

A few insect species, like the mourning cloak butterfly, overwinter as adults, seeking refuge in protected spaces such as inside or under logs and tree bark.

Luna and cecropia moths form a cocoon wrapped in leaves on the ground and hibernate in the leaf litter attached to the branches of trees and shrubs or crevices in logs or under loose bark. Other moths lay their eggs in rough tree bark and on the undersides of branches to protect them.

Leave the Leaves of the Violets

Beautiful fritillary butterflies use violets as their larval host plant. They do not survive the winter as adults, but rather as dormant, tiny caterpillars or larvae. These caterpillars spend the cold months insulated within leaf litter, soil, and dried vegetation near their host plants.

If that isn’t enough heavy ecosystem lifting for such a little flower, violet seeds form lipid rich appendages called eliaosomes that attract ants. The ants carry the seeds to their nests to eat the eliaosomes, then discard the seeds in their nutrient-rich waste piles where the seeds germinate. Even though these plants are beneficial to a healthy ecosystem, some people consider these important flowers as weeds because they grow competitively, even in a turf lawn. Ants survive the winter by going into diapause in their sheltered nests.

Bees

Then there are the bumblebees and the solitary native bees, such as mason bees and leafcutter bees. Mated queen bumblebees burrow into the earth for hibernation and welcome a thick layer of leaf litter for extra protection. Solitary bees may overwinter as larvae or pupae inside hollow stems, dry leaves, underground burrows, and rotting logs.

Other Insects

Besides fireflies, butterflies, moths, ants, and bees, there are many other insects that overwinter in the fallen leaves and in and on twigs and stems. As the lawn and garden debris breaks down over the course of the winter season, they also provide much needed nourishment for the soil. If allowing the leaves and twigs to remain where they fall is just not acceptable, try dumping the leaves around nearby trees to provide a mulch cover for their thirsty roots. You’ll be amazed at how good this will make you feel, knowing you’ve helped maintain the home of an overwintering insect or simply nourishing the soil.

When the weather starts to cool and the leaves begin to fall, we’re presented with a valuable wildlife and gardening resource. Leave the Leaves

The Home page image for this blog post shows the red leaves of the red twig dogwood, also known as red osier dogwood (Cornus sericea ), in the background – and the burgundy leaves of the gray dogwood (Cornus racemosa) in the foreground. The green leaves in the background are non-native Norway maple (Acer platanoides).