Wildlife Benefits of a Naturally Untidy Winter Landscape

[@lovebeeslovebees5055]

Hello, when I drive by beautifully landscaped lawns and shrubs in the front with mulch all around, I am astounded by the lack of pollinator gardens. They look beautiful, but these beautifully looking lawns and landscaping do not seem eco friendly for our very important pollinators. (Perhaps the pollinator garden is in the back yard. ) Our front lawn-couldn't really be called a lawn as lawn definitions go-don't look as good as many others-but we like its benefits to the enviornment. As I drive through towns there are so many areas that could be used for pollinator gardens. I would consider how we garden to be as naturalists-we leave the plants remain in their brown glory until nearly Spring before we clean up. I am concerned about disturbing the bugs if we cut it down after the Autumn bloom. We let our front lawn grow a variety of flowers, we do the no mow May. I can sit on our front steps and watch many bugs and bees zip back and forth across our front lawn-it is amazing to see. Our back yard has lots of shade-so we have vegetable box gardens in the front, along with various flower gardens. There is so much talk about green energy and going green-to me- the reality is if every household grew a pollinator garden we would be doing our part for the planet, and ourselves. We enjoy the Virginia Tech garden in VaBeach. We still have a lot to learn. Our nemesis is the Japanese Beetle-not sure how to effectively deal with those yet. Birds-yes-we have many birds too-they are a joy! Last year I found a bee sleeping in a tulip flower.