Ditch the Mums and Reclaim Fall with a Rewilded Yard

Boring mums in a rainbow of designer colors and shapes appear every fall along with themed porch and yard décor signaling the changing of the season. They are considered quintessential autumn fall flowers, yet they are only native to Asia and were introduced in Europe where they were then brought to the US in the late 1700s.

At first glance this typical landscape tells you it's fall - but it's not at all representative of a natural fall in the United States because the mums, fig ivy, ditch lilies, boxwood, plumed cockscomb, and green grass are not native to anywhere in North America but come from other parts of the world!

The problem with mums is they contribute little to the local ecosystem and perpetuate a horticultural tradition of poor stewardship of our outside spaces. They have more in common with the plastic flowers on fall wreaths than native plants. 

❎Mums are not invasive but because of their seasonal ornamental popularity they have displaced fall blooming native plants in our yards and created a cultural connection based on commerce and emotion, not ecology. ❎Mums are typically mass produced by the nursery industry to have no nectar for pollinators.

❎Any pollen or nectar that might be hidden in the double, triple, or pompom mum cultivars are impossible for pollinators to get to because they have been altered for people to look at, not for wildlife to use. Vital energy is wasted by native bees trying to get pollen.

❎There are no butterflies or moths that have coevolved to specifically use mums as a host plant. There are a few generalist moths that may use mums to complete their lifecycle and other insects may use the plant as a food source

❎The pyrethrin in mums naturally deters or kills insects – and an organic pesticide is even made from a mum species (not the one in garden centers).

❎Despite natural insect repellent properties, during the production process mums are still treated with neonicotinoids which are systemic pesticides affecting all parts of the plant that kill insects that use it in any way.

❎The ornamental horticulture industry’s production of mums is not sustainable. Both “florist” and “garden”’ mums are the same perennial species (Chrysanthemum x morifolium) but have been cultivated to sell as perennial garden mums in the spring and annual florist mums in the fall. Florist mums are bred to bloom not to establish strong root systems to survive throughout the year and the garden mums rarely live more than a few years at best. Both are often discarded as trash in mass plantings or displays so new seasonal winter plants like pansies and kale can take their place.

❎Like any exotic ornamental, the intensive greenhouse production of mums comes at a high environment cost that includes fertilizing, treating with pesticides, and transporting long distances.

❎Mums need to be kept moist in the South’s hot weather, fertilized to promote blooming, pruned to keep form, and deadheaded to continue the cycle of care they were bred for.

Besides being uninteresting, mass produced mums are ecological problematic in a number of ways.

The bigger issue is the yards showcasing a fake fall aesthetic are typically seasonally static and lack obvious cues to the season such as fallen leaves. Gas-powered leaf blowers violently attempt the senseless act of removing every leaf from yards landscaped with pesticide soaked monoculture lawns. The leaves along with organic matter such as acorns, pinecones, tree nuts, twigs, are mulched, bagged, and removed as "yard waste". It’s impossible to tell the season from the meatballed or squared off exotic ornamental evergreen shrubs that are sheered weekly to keep them looking the same 365 days a year.

The senseless goal of keeping the landscape looking the same all year is destroying local ecosystems. The bottom photo was taken in October last year - the plastic grass is a growing trend for biophobic homeowners who want to keep their yard lifeless and static.

It’s easy to free our yards from fake fall and reclaim the season to support a healthier ecosystem for wildlife and ourselves. The main action we can take is to do no harm and stop removing and destroying the natural matter in our yards. Leave the leaves, leave the pinecones, leave the acorns, leave the hickory nuts, leave the pecans, leave the twigs, leave the fallen branches, leave the shrubs without pruning them, leave the seedheads, leave the dried stems. (Of course, move natural matter off hard surfaces such as sidewalks, walkways, porches, decks, and driveways and put it somewhere else in the yard.)

A healthy ecosystem is dependent on leaving all the natural matter in the yard and not destroying or removing it as "yard waste".

Once you flip the switch to welcome fall instead of trying to control it, you can sit back and enjoy the fascinating and ever changing nature show. No mums or leave blowers needed. Fall is abundantly alive 🍂with leaves falling and nutrient cycling back to the earth

As I sat on my front porch on a particularly stunning fall day a few years ago the leaves falling from the trees in my front yard were quintessentially fall. I leave the leaves where they fall to enrich the soil and continue to support the trees and other native plants in the yard.

🍂with bright berries standing out on increasingly leafless deciduous shrubs

Most native shrubs in the South are deciduous. Some native berries start showing themselves as leaves start disappearing. Coralberry (Symphoricarpos orbiculatus) is a low growing and suckering native shrub with berries that stand out in the late fall and winter landscape until hungry winter wildlife eat them.

🍂with defoliated plants from generations of butterflies and moths getting ready for winter

In a rewilded yard a sign of success is evidence of caterpillars munching on host plants. Native purple passionflower (Passiflora incarnata) is the host plant for gulf fritillary butterflies. The caterpillars eat the vines as the growing season winds down but they don't harm it in any way - the vines come back as strong as ever the following year!

🍂with perennial plants going dormant to refocus energy on root development

You can see the clustered mountain (Pycnanthemum muticum) is starting to die back now that it's done blooming. The blooming blue mistflower (Conoclinium coelestinumis) just starting to shine!

🍂with native annuals dying after completing their lifecycle

Native annual partridge pea (Chamaecrista fasciculata) dies after blooming but is covered in pea pods that ensure more plants will come up next year!

🍂with pollinators still working to get nutrients and energy from stunning fall native flowers.

Early fall is still prime pollinator season! Yellow crownbeard (Verbesina occidentalis) peaks in fall right before the asters start blooming. It's a host plant for 19 butterfly and moth species in Georgia and attracts a wide variety of pollinators including this sweat bee - just look at those pollen pockets!

🍂with the landscape changing from flowers to seedheads for wildlife

By the time late fall frost signals the end of pollinators, flowers have faded and seedheads have taken their place.

🍂with goldenrods and asters slowly stealing the show before frost shuts it all down.

Goldenrods and asters are both keystone species meaning they have an outsized impact on supporting the ecosystem where they are native to. This is obvious as fall progresses and they take center stage! This collage showcases just some of the many goldenrods and asters growing in my small rewilded yard including Georgia aster, old field aster, white wood aster, climbing aster, calico aster, showy goldenrod, bluestem goldenrod and old field goldenrod.

🍂with dead branches and dried stems offering hummingbirds a resting perch to look for predators above and insects below as they get energy on their long migration south.

Hummingbirds seem to prefer perching on dried plant stems and dead tree branches. This sweet little hummingbird kept returning to rest on a dead branch of an oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) in between warding off other hummingbirds and sipping nectar. It's not obvious but he's also foraging for insects - if you look closely you can see his tongue dart out for tiny flying insects.

The structural beauty of fall is in the shades of brown that signal the progression of the season as flowers fade, plants go dormant and die back, and leaves blanket the ground. The functional life in fall comes from the death of summer.

🐦Crunchy leaves shelter moth cocoons for the winter and give wildlife a place to snuggle under

Leaves are vital for the survival of wildlife in the winter. This cocoon was under leaves that were moved for a mid winter project. I believe it's a cecropia moth. I moved it to a safer area of the yard where no one walks and covered it back up a bit with leaves.

🐦Brush piles made with fallen branches gives wildlife a place to seek shelter, cover, and find food when the weather turns chilly

I consistently add fallen and found branches to my largest brush pile. It slowly decomposes and always has wildlife on, in, or around it.

🐦Fruits of native plants offer natural food sources for wildlife such as berries, seedheads, tree nuts, and pinecones.

Wildlife has coevolved with native plants to survive. Beautyberry seems to be favored by birds and other wildlife. By winter the berries are pretty much picked clean! The little moth resting on the beautyberry is an Eastern grapeleaf skeletonizer moth – an essential food source for birds and other wildlife as both a caterpillar and adult. It feeds on plants in the grape family including native Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) which I have growing in my yard.

🐦Native grasses, sedges, and other plants left standing give winter birds and other wildlife a place to seek cover, shelter, and forage

Native grasses like this river oats (Chasmanthium latifolium) offer a hiding spot for wildlife. I've noticed more than a few native green anoles in the clumps. They're green or brown depending on whether the clump is green or dried.

🐦Stems left standing give insects a place to overwinter in and birds such as woodpeckers a place to find protein rich food where those insects are overwintering.

I made bird branches with a variety of tall dried plants stems and fallen branches arranged in a sturdy tomato cage. Native bees and other insects overwinter in the stems and woodpeckers visit them to forage!

Nature is dynamic and can’t be mass produced. If we can let the wild aesthetic of the season naturally unfold, we can support wildlife habitat throughout the year and in the process connect to nature in a meaningful and authentic way.

Fall is such a beautiful and vibrant time of yard if we just leave the natural processes in place. .

 **My references are for the Southeastern United States and may differ in detail from other regions of the country.

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