Eco-Justice Team - October 2025

Many people in our area have begun to plant sustainable gardens filled with pollinator-friendly native plants. Schools are more likely to have butterfly gardens and encourage children to be involved. As fall arrives, we can continue to support God’s creatures in easy ways. Here are some ideas to nurture plants and wildlife in your garden:

1. Don’t cut back perennials and grasses. Leave them during the winter so they provide seeds for birds, shelter for insects and sculptural beauty during the winter months. Many birds like to dine on the seeds of native plants like sunflowers, asters, and echinacea, so don’t deadhead these blooms until spring.

2. Do clean up the vegetable garden. Remove plants such as tomatoes and peppers, as they can harbor disease. You can cover the beds with straw (not weed-containing hay!) or dried leaves.

3. Plant spring bulbs and native ephemerals, such as bleeding hearts, trillium, and bloodroot. You might want to mark them with a stake, so they don’t get weeded out in the spring. Fall is also a good time to plant milkweed seeds. Many species require a period of cold, wet weather before they germinate in the spring. It’s called cold stratification. Some gardeners keep their seeds in the refrigerator until spring.

Either way, make sure they are seeds from locally grown plants.

4. Leave the leaves! Gas powered blowers are noisy and very polluting. According to the California Air Resources Board, a commercial gas powered blower in one hour produces the same emissions as driving a gas powered sedan for 11,000 miles. And their noise will annoy your neighbors! Fallen leaves are vital for a healthy landscape. They provide shelter for insects and butterflies, and nutrition for your soil. If you need to remove them from pathways, rake them into garden beds, or leave them on whatever lawn

you may have left. For bigger or tougher leaves, you can run your lawn mower over them to break them down and speed decomposition.

5. Clean your garden tools. You can then swipe a thin layer of oil over them to protect them and prevent rust.

6. Get additional tips by checking out https://perfectearthproject.org/ or

https://homegrownnationalpark.org/.

Fall is a beautiful and invigorating season. Use it to ensure your garden’s health through the winter to come, as we move into the celebratory season centered on hearth and home.