Just think about what happens in the natural world each spring before starting your spring cleanup. No one rakes up the leaves in a woodland. Branches and dead trees decompose where they fall onto the ground. The same sections of the tallgrass prairie and woodland did not burn every year. Except for wildlife seeking refuge, seed heads, nesting material or food, no one cuts or hauls away last year’s dried plant material each spring.
Below is my updated spring cleanup advice based on what I have learned from the natural world over 20+ years and the recommendations given by experts like Doug Tallamy, Heather Holm, The Xerces Society and more.
❀ Cut back a portion of last year’s dried plant material (perennials and grasses) to around 10-20″ and leave around any leftover 10-20″ stems from the previous spring. Leave most of the dead branches on shrubs with pithy/hollow stems like the Elderberry, Sumacs, Raspberries, Roses and Hydrangeas. Check *all* plant stems for overwintering insects ( for adults, pupae or cocoons) before trimming or removing.
I once found a Luna moth cocoon that looked just like a bundle of leaves hanging on a sumac branch, just before I was about to prune it. Yikes!
Tip: If you have many plants, try a small electric or battery power hedge trimmer to cut back perennials and grasses quickly at various heights. The stems left behind are not really noticeable once the surrounding plants and leaves fill in (See photo below). Leave some of the trimmed-off plant material in the garden and the rest in your compost pile, without chopping the stems. Please refer to this great graphic stem nesting habitat.
Why? About 30 percent of native bees create nests in dried or dead hollow or pithy stems. Some bees won’t emerge from their nest until the following spring since some have longer lifecycles. Even as the weather warms up, insects in general emerge at different times throughout the year or have a longer lifecycle than a year, so I don’t follow the “50 degree rule”. If you’d like to learn more, please read Doug Tallamy’s article :Insects in Winter.
Spring Cleanup – leaves and cut stems left behind. Click on photo for a larger image.
❀ Add mulch to new gardens only and use composted leaf mulch instead of wood chips since leaf mulch more closely resembles what is naturally on the ground floor of a natural area during spring time. Never till your soil. Instead of mulching every year, please allow plants to spread and fill in to form a “living mulch“ which over time will help suppress many weeds and protect the soil. Over-mulching will prevent a living mulch from forming and harm wildlife. Bare, undisturbed areas of soil in between the plants of a living mulch is ideal.
Why?: About 70 percent of native bees nest in the ground, especially areas of bare soil, and in cavities, and 70 percent of ground nesters are solitary, the rest nest in colonies. Native bumble bees, who nest in colonies, will use cavities in trees, abandoned rodent holes, underground tunnels, and sheltered spots under brush piles according to the Xerces Society. I once discovered a bumble bee nest in my compost pile when I inserted a pitchfork. I ran away unharmed. Beneficial native solitary wasps also nest in areas similar to ground nesting bees. Solitary wasps are much different than the colony nesting yellow jacket wasps. Two common solitary wasps are the Gold Digger and the Cicada Killer. Check out the video below of solitary cellophane bees emerging from their nests on a sunny slope in a client’s Naperville yard. To learn more, listen to these Xerces Society educational podcasts about wasps and ground nesting bees.
❀ Leave the leaves in your garden (See photo in first bullet about stem nesting bees).
Why?: Read Doug Tallamy’s great article Leaf Litter: Love it or leave it. Learn what I do with my extra leaves here, including a fun project.
❀ Perform a prescribed burn on sections of larger native plant areas if burns were historically performed by Indigenous tribes on your area’s ecosystems, it is safe and legal to do so, and you are properly trained. Alternatively you can mow down larger areas, but rotate sections each year and only mow a portion, leaving some stems around.
Why? There are many benefits and this will save time for larger areas. Even after a prescribed burn, some vertical stems remain for stem nesting bees. For those who want to learn how I prepare for a prescribed burn, read “Preparing for the Arrival of the Red Buffalo“.
❀ Re-fresh the wood mulch in your garden paths if needed using reputable, local companies who generate mulch from local tree trimming and don’t add dyes. Tip: I let the mulch pile sit in the sun on my driveway for a month to bake off any hitchhiking pests or diseases before I actually use the mulch.
Why?: I once saw a huge barge on the Illinois river carrying a large load of mulch from who knows where (distance) and from what source (trees). Many companies who bag or sell mulch in bulk get their mulch from these barge shipments. Mulch dyes can harm the delicate soil ecosystem and contaminate the soil with heavy metals. Source.
Please tailor these suggestions according to the size, number of and type of plants on your property. Once you learn and practice these techniques, a nature friendly spring cleanup will also save you time and money over a traditional spring cleanup where landscapes are heavily mulched, and wildlife are annihilated with leaf blowers and mowers, then hauled away.
I recently had the opportunity this spring to explain to a curious neighborhood kid how the Anemone cylindrica seed (photo) fluff left behind this spring is used to build bird nests. He thanked me for sharing. I hope many colorful insects, cheery songbirds and other wildlife will also thank me with their presence this year knowing I did my best to protect their habitat and minimze harm this spring! I’m always learning and will update this blog if I find news ways to protect nature during spring cliean-up.
Anemone cylindrica (Thimbleweed) seed head fluff, is sometimes used by birds for nesting material, including the Ruby-throated hummingbird.