If you have violets creeping into your lawn or garden, you may have tiny fritillary caterpillars hiding under your fallen leaves. These tiny hatchlings stay low to the ground, awaiting fresh violet leaves in the spring. The eggs hatch in the late summer or fall, but the caterpillars survive until spring without eating. Great spangled fritillaries lay their eggs near patches of violets, their host plant. They rely on leaf litter to disguise their presence and keep them safe until spring. Lunas overwinter in cocoons, which can often be found on the ground. Luna moths, perhaps the most beloved moth in North America, lay their eggs on a variety of trees - sweetgums, walnuts, hickories and more. Many species spend the winter tucked away in crevices and shelters, but some simply stay hidden under the leaves. Other species survive in the immature stages, as larvae or pupae. Some, like mourning cloak butterflies, wait for spring as fully formed adults. Some, like grasshoppers, overwinter as eggs, buried in the soil. Invertebrates must find a way to survive the winter. As homeowners begin to embrace better urban biodiversity, let’s not forget the potential for biodiversity hidden within the leaves. It is becoming more popular to shift away from the traditional, sterile, bug-free yards and instead create slightly wilder spaces with the native plants that better support birds and butterflies. Without the insulating cover of dead leaves, fewer of our resident worms, spiders, beetles, bugs, flies, snails and many more invertebrates could not survive a harsh winter. It is particularly important in the winter, when it becomes shelter for creatures that may not need it in the warmer months. Leaf litter serves as vital food and habitat for many invertebrates. Today, most American homeowners remove this dead plant material from their yards and instead use synthetic fertilizers to keep the grass green.īut when leaves are removed, more is lost than just free nutrients. The process builds and enriches the soil, feeding the very trees the leaves fell from. I encourage you to support Urban Leaf Lumber's effort to rescue old timber by investing in your own unique wood project.In the wild, leaves pack down under trees and slowly decay. So much furniture is veneered and to have a piece of solid, aged wood to grace my living room is unique and very special. I appreciate that Urban Leaf Lumber is doing their part in reclaiming old trees that would end up in a chipper or burned. Urban Leaf Lumber even made a special trip to Traverse City to deliver my one of a kind reclaimed wood. I eventually settled on a piece of white oak that turned into the beautiful coffee table pictured. Since I was attempting to match a similar piece of wood, Urban Leaf Lumber went above and beyond in sending me pictures of different wood types. I read the attached flyer for Urban Leaf Lumber and knew I had found my coffee table solution. I was surprised to see racks filled with beautiful natural wood. After scouring several furniture stores, I stumbled across Urban Leaf Lumber at my local Habitat Resale store in Traverse City. I was looking for something unique for a coffee table that would not break the bank.
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