Oak trees are incredibly popular for hundreds of butterfly and moth species!

Yes, leaves are good fertilizer. Personally, I think perfect looking/golf course/ country club-looking lawns have become less attractive the more I have learned about the amount of chemicals, monoculture, and destruction of natural landscape that is involved in the maintenance of a certain aesthetic. Maybe the patches in your lawn really aren’t a big deal to most people, but yeah I guess many people learned that their yard is supposed to look a certain way (according to some people). I just hope that people over time care to help out invertebrates because I’ve noticed a massive decline in fireflies and insects in general over my lifetime. 🍂🍁🪲🐛🦋 I miss the fireflies and other insects that used to fly up to lights outside at night… there aren’t as many anymore.

Fireflies lay their eggs in leaf litter. They are beetles and the larvae live in dead leaves. I just searched the internet about it and these are some articles/blogs about it:

https://mygreenmontgomery.org/2022/do-you-like-fireflies-leave-the-leaves-to-save-them/

https://www.dukefarms.org/making-an-impact/stewardship-at-home/creating-a-firefly-habitat/

https://hgic.clemson.edu/leave-the-leaves-for-the-fireflies/

Just leave the leaves on the ground. No need to rake them. Leaf blowing is damaging to invertebrates that live in the leaves and the ground. It’s good and healthy for the invertebrates that live in them to leave the leaves alone. It also helps to support various pollinators and butterflies… By reducing raking and just leaving the leaves where they are, you save time, energy, and are doing something good for the planet. And it provides more food for the native birds in the area. I also think honestly that leaves on lawns are pretty.

https://xerces.org/blog/leave-the-leaves

You’re using your energy for better things- you’re helping fireflies and other critters that live in the leaves by leaving the leaves alone. Fallen leaves are very pretty anyway. I don’t think leaves on grass looks messy, especially ever since I learned how many invertebrates live in them… and this helps to feed the birds too…

r/NoLawns is great and growing in popularity over time. Glad that the lawn aesthetic is dying out, and that native plants that help pollinators are increasingly more and more popular.

#LeavetheLeaves: https://xerces.org/blog/leave-the-leaves

“Besides providing the right plants, and protecting your garden from pesticides, one of the next most valuable things you can do to support pollinators and other invertebrates is to provide them with the winter cover they need in the form of fall leaves and standing dead plant material… the vast majority of butterflies and moths overwinter in the landscape as an egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, or adult. In all but the warmest climates, these butterflies use leaf litter for winter cover. Great spangled fritillary and wooly bear caterpillars tuck themselves into a pile of leaves for protection from cold weather and predators. Red-banded hairstreaks lay their eggs on fallen oak leaves, which become the first food of the caterpillars when they emerge. Luna moths and swallowtail butterflies disguise their cocoons and chrysalises as dried leaves, blending in with the ‘real’ leaves”

🙂🦋🐝🐛