There is a reason this time of year is called fall. In a forested city such as Atlanta, lots of leaves fall. At first they are golden, almost like gold coins, especially the leaves of Ginkgo biloba. The American beech drops leaves gold leaf like that burnish to copper, and everyone loves the paint box red of bright Autumn Glory and Red Sunset maples’ leaves on the ground. We naturally think of these in the forests, but there may be value even in landscape backyard ideas.
After all the admiration of the melting colors comes the question of what to do with all those fallen leaves. There is a thought provoking article in the November 25, 2013 edition of The New York Times* (“Rake the Leaves? Some Towns Say Mow Them”) that addresses this issue. Here at Gardens to Love we agree that mulching leaves is a best practice. At my house (under an American Beech tree) we proudly never remove a leaf from the property. All are returned to the ivy bed and shrub borders. By spring they have disappeared into the earth. Fallen leaves are Mother Nature’s way of creating new soil, feeding the existing soil and insulating soil against the cold, heat and drought. Removing leaves cancels out all of these benefits and in fact subtracts soil and fertilizers thereby creating a vicious cycle of need in gardens and lawns. Think of all the potential for mulch, and rethink your own front yard and landscape backyard ideas with natural fall leaves. There are plenty of ways to hide or strategically design and fertilize with leaves as mulch. You wouldn’t think of it until you look or design for it. Believe it or not we do it for clients every fall. Mother Nature’s organic materials work in the cycle of seasons. Knowing this going into landscape design and upkeep can achieve wonderful results – we’d be happy to show you how and maintain nature’s fertilizer for visual and organic wonder.
Consider leaving all the leaves in your garden rather than having them removed. After all, it’s a gift from Mother Nature.
Marcia Weber
Should your landscape design installation include the leaves of fall? See more on our landscape installation expertise.
love the colors!