Leaving Leaves and Dead Stems Protects Overwintering Insects

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Margie Patlak explains that many garden insects — including luna moths, which wrap themselves in leaves to form cocoons — overwinter under a protective layer of fallen leaves, and that native bees lay eggs inside hollow or pithy plant stems. Raking leaves onto garden beds rather than bagging them serves double duty as mulch and insect shelter. Patlak also recommends waiting until mid-spring, rather than early spring, to cut back old plant stems, so that bee larvae inside them have time to mature and emerge. She contrasts this with the older gardening advice — still taught in some master gardener programs — to clean up all debris in the fall to prevent disease.