Spring Clean-up.

This is the time of year, people begin to worry about when to clean up the landscape, meaning when to remove the leaves and cut back last year’s stems. Maybe ask yourself “who is this landscape for, and why do the leaves need to be removed/cleaned up?”.

A common notion is that the landscape is an extension of our home and as such needs to be “living room” clean. God forbid, anyone consider us slovenly, lazy or even un-American. I disagree with this whole notion. A living room is a human space (dogs and cats, even parrots, are included here) whereas the landscape or garden is a space within wild nature shared by humanity and its wild brethren.

The photo is of a garden bed full of leaves, old seedheads and stems. Under the layer of leaves and past growth, new growth will emerge as we fully enter spring. As I walked out to snap this picture, I was greeted by a flurry of winged visitors who had been eating seeds and digging through the leaf litter for insects and larva. Visually this space may seem messy, but, ecologically, this land is beautiful. Without the leaves and last years growth, we are robbing the ecosystem of vital elements needed to properly sustain itself- reference the nutrient cycle. If we give time and grace to nature, we will experience beautiful things

I do appreciate the visual beauty of a landscape and thus will make accommodations for that. I will cut back some, not all, old stems and flower heads around mid to late-May when most over-wintering insects have emerged. Some insects have a 2 year cycle and require old stems to be intact for the whole time while others emerge later in the season! I also make a point to clear pathways, sitting areas and garden edges, as humans do like some sense of order. The resulting cuttings are distributed back into the beds with any excess piled elsewhere to create wildlife brush piles. Soon the new vegetation will overtake the remnants of last year and you will witness again the visual wonders of nature.

If you really feel the need to remove leaves and other organic detritus, I suggest popping the hood of your car and giving that space a good cleaning. Leaves are great for the landscape but not for our cars.