Rest the Rake and Leave Some Leaves
PHOTO David J. Boozer (Unsplash)
Who doesn’t like doing less work and getting more benefits for your yard, your landscape, and the environment? The gardening practice called “leave the leaves” is as simple as it sounds, and the benefits are abundant. Less time raking, bagging, and removing leaves means more time enjoying simply being in your yard, observing the habitats you’ve facilitated, and appreciating being outside with a shortened chore list. As several Wildflower Center staff members and local gardening experts remind us, outdoor spaces can become more beautiful, nutrient-dense, resource-rich, and pollinator-friendly, when we engage in this simple practice that mimics nature’s own cycles.
What the trees really want
Leaving some leaves is extremely beneficial for trees themselves. Letting leaves compost naturally where they fall means recycling the nutrients and protecting the soil surface. “This natural cycle is good for the soil,” Phillip Schulze, Arboretum and Natural Areas Manager at the Wildflower Center says. “It’s good for water retention and good for habitat for insects and other little critters.”
By keeping all those nutrients in place, you’re replicating the natural forest cycle, and “that’s what the trees really want,” says Schulze. “The tree roots want to go in that upper surface of soil, where there’s really good oxygen and where the rain comes,” Schulze says. “Having that life in the soil and having that looseness that comes from leaf mold” (aka decomposed leaves) is important for tree roots.
While leaving most leaves is beneficial, there is one type of leaf common in Central Texas that requires a special note: “Live oaks (Quercus fusiformis) are a particular challenge in that they drop a lot of leaves” and are slow to decompose, Schulze advises. These thicker, waxier leaves break down more slowly and can be a slippery hazard on paths and driveways, so they should be moved off of walkways. They will decompose eventually but will take longer and the process may require a more active hand to keep the leaves moist and turn them more often. Other species, such as red oaks (Quercus buckleyi), pecans (Carya illinoinensis), cedar elms (Ulmus crassifolia), and hackberry trees (Celtis laevigata) have leaves that break down more quickly and make great compost.
PHOTO Michael & Diane Weidner (Unsplash)
Finding beauty along the way
While people tend to leave leaves for practical reasons, the result often can add a tremendous amount of beauty and interest to the view while reminding us of the seasonality of our world. Andrea DeLong-Amaya, Director of Horticulture at the Wildflower Center, says one of the best benefits of leaving some leaves is that it means less work! But she emphasizes that this approach doesn’t need to compromise on aesthetics.
DeLong-Amaya appreciates the beauty that fallen leaves contribute to a landscape, with the color and texture they bring. “One of my favorite things in the fall is when the bald cypresses (Taxodium distichum) drop their leaves,” she says. “They’re such a beautiful color, and have a fine, soft texture. They make this beautiful orange blanket underneath them.” In addition, she reports that “if you happen to have some bigtooth maple (Acer grandidentatum) or some flameleaf sumac (Rhus lanceolata), as they drop on the ground, they can be very colorful.”
PHOTO Anne Nygard (Unsplash)
DeLong-Amaya acknowledges that while a yard may look tidier with raked leaves, she encourages people to consider creating designated no-rake areas. “Maybe leave certain beds with the natural leaves on the ground,” she suggests. “If you really want things to look nice, rake your leaves up and then shred them and put them back in. That’s a way to keep things looking a little more intentional and not just like, ‘oh, we haven’t gotten to cleaning it up.’”
Leaving the leaves is a fairly simple practice. But DeLong-Amaya notes that some attention should be paid to plants that don’t like to stay wet, or that you might worry about smothering. If you have plants in these categories, simply move some or most of the leaves off of them. “If you’re taking leaves off of a spot, then you can put them into your compost pile, or move them to another location in your garden where you want some thicker layers of leaves,” she says. If you’re having an issue with the wind blowing leaves where you don’t want them, you could shred them, to make them a little more compact so they’re not as likely to be blown off.
Leaving some leaves wasn’t a thing people were talking about when DeLong-Amaya first started gardening and working in this field many years ago. But these days people are ever more appreciative of following nature as a model. “So that’s what we’re doing, mimicking that in the garden, but in a controlled way, or at least a thoughtful way,” she says.
Leave some leaves — and logs, too
Marsha Riti, a certified Master Naturalist and landscape educator at the Elisabet Ney Museum in Austin’s Hyde Park, embraces the idea of leaving some leaves, and hopes people will consider leaving some logs, too. “People don’t realize that insects love to burrow into logs. They love to go under the logs,” Riti says. “If you’re getting rid of … logs, you’re losing the nutrients that would naturally feed back into your soil, and you’re also losing that habitat that is so necessary for insects.”
In June 2025, Riti worked with a group of six volunteers to build a nest-like structure in the meadow on the grounds of the Ney Museum. By weaving and nestling together downed post oak (Quercus stellata), pecan logs, limbs and branches from the property, the crew formed a large, nest-like wreath shape that provides a “sculptural moment” in the meadow, Riti observed. Future plans include adding plants that will climb and twine around and over their creation, such as berry- or seed-producing plants, which would be beneficial for birds.
Riti notes that another benefit of leaving a cluster of branches in the landscape is that it serves as a sort of secondary understory or hopping spot for birds between a tall tree and the ground. Riti suspects that birds are drawn to such perches as it helps them be aware of the predatory behavior of ground-dwelling animals — such as snakes, foxes, coyotes — and gives them a chance to see what’s on the ground before jumping down. “This is a space that is very welcoming for birds, because they have access to food, water, shelter — all the things that they need are here — and it’s because we don’t intensively remove things from this environment,” she says.
PHOTO Anna Evans (Unsplash)
In Riti’s home garden, she puts leaves and logs to good use, piling pecan leaves in her beds of inland sea oats (Chasmanthium latifolium), throughout the year to create mulch. She also tucks stacks of small logs into the back of the beds. While these formalized garden bed areas are “more buttoned and tidy looking, they’re still full of leaves. You wouldn’t know that they’re full of leaves, because all you see is the inland sea oats,” she shares.
Since starting these practices, Riti has noticed so many more beautiful moths, along with an increase in her garden’s firefly population. Riti calls this approach low intensity yardscaping or landscaping. She finds “it is so much more beneficial for your property, for the ground, for the soil microbes, for the insects, for everything.”
A zone approach for the home garden
Caton Brown, an experienced home gardener and volunteer for the Travis County Master Gardening Association, has spent some time considering his approach to leaves for his yard and garden beds. “It’s a balance between looking good and being natural,” Brown says. “The more natural it is, the better off it’s going to be for the insect habitat, moths and the fireflies, which everyone likes, but also cockroaches and everything else.”
Brown has settled on a zoned approach, with low-leaf, medium-leaf, and high-leaf areas. There are some areas of his garden, such as paths and mulched areas, where he doesn’t want a lot of leaves, so he gathers and moves them to other areas of his yard. In a medium-leaf area, such as under trees, he keeps things natural, leaving the leaves where they fall. Then in high-leaf areas, he collects and dumps extra leaves.
Brown has designated an area toward the back of his yard, behind a shed, that he leaves as natural as possible. It may look messy, but that’s part of his leaf planning – he’s selected the space as a spot in which insects can bury themselves undisturbed over the winter. “I don’t even touch it, for the fireflies and the moths, because they need to overwinter, and then they emerge in the spring,” he reports.
Brown finds that leaves are “really good for mulch, really good for compost, and phenomenal for chicken coops.” When Brown kept chickens, he used leaves in the runs and as bedding material, providing what the chickens needed while saving on expenses.
At various times in his years as a home gardener, Brown has collected bagged leaves from neighbors, whether to build soil, add to compost piles, or use in his chicken coop. “It really is helpful to have a lot of leaves,” Brown says, noting that he makes sure to avoid live oak leaves as — just as Schulze noted — they take longer to break down.
Brown adds that while he keeps fresh leaf clippings on his lawn as he mows, he takes care to remove dried leaves from his lawn, raking them and piling them elsewhere. Dry leaves take time to break down, and he doesn’t want them sitting on top of his grass, preventing sunlight from reaching the blades of grass. He has noticed issues with some types of leaves — like those from fruiting trees and roses, that can cause leaf fungus and defoliation. To avoid this concern, he clears these leaves away.
Trust in nature
Another important element of leaving leaves and leaf litter behind is the welcoming environment these conditions provide for bees and other pollinators.
“There is this huge movement around rewilding our urban spaces and having more ecologically friendly practices in cities. And that’s really taken off with this whole pollinator gardening movement and diversifying lawns, having native lawns and native gardens,” says Dr. Sean Griffin, Director of Science and Conservation at the Wildflower Center and a restoration ecologist. “I think that leave some leaves fits within all of that as another practice that is taking off because people are increasingly seeing the benefits.”
Leaving some leaves encourages invertebrates and promotes healthy ecosystems in general. “We always recommend that people, even if they have a manicured garden, keep a little area somewhere in their garden that they leave messier, with some branches, leaves, that kind of thing to provide nesting habitat for pollinators,” Griffin says. He also encourages people to leave some stems and pieces of wood in their garden spaces, which are excellent nesting sites for solitary bees, wasps and spiders. “A lot of our bumblebees here in Central Texas don’t necessarily nest in the ground. They kind of nest in brush above the ground, in old bunch grasses or wood piles or piles of leaves. Bumblebees are some of our best pollinators, so we really encourage people to leave some habitat for them.”
Finding the right balance between ecological health and personal comfort is the key, according to Griffin: “If there are certain parts of your yard that you feel comfortable leaving leaves and others you don’t, you’re still getting ecological benefit, even if you’re just doing a part of your yard.”
Griffin views this movement as complementary to the pollinator movement, where “rather than having extremely managed yards and landscapes with a lot of inputs from people,” gardeners are placing more trust in nature.
Ready to leave some leaves?
Are you ready to leave some leaves, twigs, and even logs, too? The arguments are persuasive: such practices create more benefits for the world around us, while shortening your chore list. And if you already have incorporated some of these techniques, consider adding a new element to your yard: perhaps an untouched pile, or a leaf zone, or a nest of downed limbs. When in doubt, look to trust and mimic nature as much as possible. It’s the best way to recycle more nutrients, enhance habitat, and make an ecological difference.
Want to support wildlife this fall? Learn more about our Leave Some Leaves campaign for simple tips on helping nature thrive.
Learn More:
Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation on Leave the Leaves!
National Wildlife Federation: Resources for National Leave the Leaves Month
National Wildlife Federation: Survey Finds Increase in People Leaving the Leaves; One-Third Still Throw Away Six or More Trash Bags Per Season
National Wildlife Federation: Seven Species that Need You to Leave the Leaves
Gardenista: Ask the Expert: Doug Tallamy Explains Why (and How to) Leave the Leaves
Friends of Texas Wildlife: Leave the Leaves, Please
How Can I Help? Saving Nature with Your Yard by Douglas W. Tallamy