7 Fall Yard Habits That Help Pollinators Survive Winter

A few years ago, Katie Costanzo and her students went curbside shopping for trash. They collected eight bags of leaves that homeowners around Buffalo had raked up for disposal, then sifted through them to see what—if anything—was hiding inside. The bags were anything but empty.

They contained insects from more than 25 families, representing every stage of life from eggs and larvae to pupae and adults. There were bees, wasps, lacewings, hoverflies, beetles, and more—all tucked into material their human landlords had deemed garbage. The class exercise was later published in American Entomologist.

That’s the problem with what we call “fall cleanup.” Costanzo, an ecologist and entomologist at Canisius University, wishes people would stop viewing leaves, stems, and wood as trash. And leaves are only the beginning. Queen bumblebees may be tucked just beneath the soil in your yard.

Native bees and ladybugs can shelter inside hollow stems you might otherwise have snipped and stuffed into a yard-waste bag. Beetles, flies, and other insects hide in spent flower heads, while birds return to those same plants for seeds. Once cold weather arrives, a yard might look like it’s closed for the season, but “all this business is happening” through the winter, says Mary Phillips, head of native plant habitat strategy at the National Wildlife Federation.

Pollinators are animals that move pollen from one flower to another, allowing plants to reproduce. In an American yard, that group includes native bees, butterflies, moths, beetles, flies, and some wasps—not only the honeybees most people picture. The same habitat also supports plenty of beneficial creatures that aren’t technically pollinators, including predators and decomposers that help keep an ecosystem functioning.

Kim Eierman, an ecological landscape designer and author of The Pollinator Victory Garden, encourages homeowners to think differently about even the smallest patch of land. Maybe you’re lucky and have a lot of land—but you have an ecosystem, so we need to start treating our landscapes that way.” That means reconsidering some familiar features, including the closely cropped lawn she calls a “green desert.” Here are seven fall habits pollinator experts practice in their own yards—and how to make each one manageable. Before you pick up a rake, divide your yard mentally into zones.