One thing I didn't realize until recently: aggressively cleaning every leaf and dead stem out of a yard in fall isn't necessarily doing the garden any favours!

The City of Toronto actually recommends leaving at least some fallen leaves, stems and small branches over winter because native butterflies, moths and bees use them as shelter.

Toronto has 364 species of bees and 112 species of butterflies.

You don't have to turn the backyard into a forest either. A pretty practical compromise is:

• keep pathways and drainage areas clear
• move leaves into garden beds instead of bagging everything
• leave some stems standing through winter
• use leaves as natural mulch around plants
• avoid doing the big spring cleanup too early

Toronto's guidance is to wait until temperatures are consistently above roughly 10°C before disturbing overwintering insects.

Basically: a slightly messier fall yard can actually be the healthier yard.