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.
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.
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. “You have an ecosystem,” she says. “It may be a really tiny one. 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.”
Before you pick up a rake, divide your yard mentally into zones. Continue maintaining the high-traffic areas where kids play, pets run, or people gather, as well as walkways and other spots that need to remain clear. Then identify one quieter space—under a tree, behind shrubs, alongside the house, or at the back of a garden bed—where leaves, stems, and a few branches can remain.
If you’re worried that neighbors will mistake habitat for neglect, put up a sign explaining what you’re doing. “I have a pollinator sign. I have a native-plant sign,” Eierman says. “It’s a clue to neighbors and passersby that we’re gardening a little differently—and we’re gardening with a purpose.”
Rake leaves into beds instead of bags
Eierman would like to rebrand “leaf litter” as “nature’s gold.” Fallen leaves insulate bumblebee queens near the soil surface where they hibernate and shelter butterflies, moths, caterpillars, and many other invertebrates. As the leaves break down, they also return nutrients to the soil, suppress weeds, and become free mulch and compost. “Nature knows what it’s doing,” Costanzo says. “We don’t have to clean it up.”
If you plan to shred fallen leaves with a lawn mower and leave the pieces on the grass, do it early in the season, before many insects have settled in for winter, Eierman says. “If you leave all those leaves and then start chopping them up, you’re chopping up lots of invertebrates, too,” she says. When you send occupied leaves to the curb, “you’re throwing away a part of your ecosystem,” Costanzo adds.
When an aster, ironweed, Joe-Pye weed, or native grass turns brown, resist the urge to shear it to the ground. Hollow and pithy stems can serve as nesting or overwintering sites; flower heads shelter small beetles, flies, and weevils; and seed heads become winter buffets for birds. Eierman has watched goldfinches descend on the plants in her yard to pry out seeds.
The easiest option is to leave most plants standing through the winter. Phillips’s Joe-Pye weed grows so high that they’re “taller than me,” she says. To keep those lanky stalks from toppling, she gathers them with twine, transforming them into an architectural feature rather than a botanical pileup.
Diseased plants are the exception. Remove affected material rather than preserving it alongside healthy stems, and use local extension guidance to determine whether it should be trashed, burned where legal, or processed another way. Normal browning at the end of the season isn’t itself a disease.
Uncover a little bare ground
Look for a quiet spot where you can pull back the mulch and leave a modest patch of soil exposed and undisturbed. It doesn’t need to dominate the garden. Even small openings between plants can help, especially when they aren’t covered with plastic sheeting, landscape fabric, or another barrier. The Xerces Society offers guidance on recognizing and preserving ground-nesting habitat.
A fallen limb doesn’t automatically need to leave the property. Decaying logs, sticks, and small brush piles provide structure and shelter for insects and other wildlife; birds also forage there for food. “Keep some of the sticks, keep some of the larger pieces of wood,” Costanzo says. “It really does provide structure and habitat that’s so important in the winter.”
Start small: Place a log along the back of a garden bed, tuck a few sticks beneath a shrub, or build one restrained brush pile in a low-traffic area. Keep dead wood away from the house, and don’t leave a damaged tree standing if it could fall on a person, building, power line, or neighboring property. The National Wildlife Federation has additional guidance on dead wood and wildlife habitat.
Plant one native species this fall
Start with one or two species rather than redesigning the entire property by sundown. Choose plants native to your region and suited to the site’s sunlight, soil, and moisture. Costanzo’s family has added everything from oaks, dogwoods, and redbuds to Joe-Pye weed and black-eyed Susans. “We’ve seen such a difference,” she says. “We have so much diversity.” Last year, seven bird species nested on their property.
Native plants can be pricey, but fall bargain-hunting may pay off. Phillips looks for end-of-season markdowns at nurseries that carry them. “They may not look good, to be honest,” she says. You might put one in the ground and immediately cut it back—but “then they’ll come back the next year.”
Fall is also seed-collecting season. Gather mature seeds from native plants you already grow and spread them elsewhere on your property. Phillips does this with plants she wants to expand into other parts of her yard. Some seeds, including those of many milkweeds native to cold-winter regions, need a period of low temperatures before they germinate. Plant them in fall, Phillips says, and winter will handle the chilling for you.
Stop spraying just in case
Broad-spectrum insecticides don’t distinguish between a mosquito and the many insects you want to keep. Costanzo recommends using them “in response to something rather than proactively,” and only when truly necessary. “They kill every insect,” she says. “They’re not specific.”
That doesn’t mean never treating a genuine infestation or health threat. Identify the problem first, then use the most targeted approach available rather than spraying preventively across the entire property. Follow the label exactly. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommends using pesticides only when necessary and treating only the specific area that needs treatment.
These changes benefit the gardener, too. In an August 2026 National Wildlife Federation survey of more than 1,000 wildlife gardeners, 96% said the practice had improved their mental health, and 93% reported physical-health benefits. Respondents most often described the joy of seeing wildlife, a lift in mood, and the satisfaction of knowing they were making the world a little better. Unlike many long-term environmental problems, the payoff can appear surprisingly quickly. “Within a season, you’re seeing the wildlife come,” Phillips says. “You’re seeing the butterflies. You’re seeing the birds; you’re hearing the birdsong.”
For Eierman, that ability to take action—and see it rewarded—is part of the appeal. “There are very few things we have control over in our lives—particularly the ones that give us a lot of pleasure,” she says. “This is one. The effort that you put into it comes back to you in a big way.”
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