Leave the Leaves for the Bees

Did you know leaves can provide winter habitat for bees and other pollinators?

Fallen leaves create a pollinator-friendly habitat by providing shelter from the elements, camouflage, and food for the winter. Pollinators play an important role in our local agriculture and economy. Bees, butterflies, and other pollinators are responsible for pollinating about 75% of food worldwide! In other words, for every four bites of food, three were provided by pollinators. We can help pollinators survive the winter by simply leaving the leaves.

Consider supporting healthy, essential habitats for pollinators by keeping fallen leaves in your yards.

What You Can Do

Your backyard is a great place to establish a pollinator-friendly winter habitat. Here are some guidelines to get you started.

• Let leaves remain in gardens wherever possible.
• Keep leaves whole. Pile them around trees, shrubs, perennials, and in garden beds.
  • Fallen leaves have the same weed suppression and moisture retention properties as shredded wood mulch-and they're free!
• Grow pollinator-friendly plants.
• Avoid using pesticides including insecticides, fungicides, and herbicides.

Oregon is home to over 500 bee species and 150 butterfly species alone. The City supports creating sustainable pollinator habitats, maintaining healthy landscapes, and is a Bee City USA. This year, leave the leaves to help protect the bees.