It’s that most glorious time of year in Maryland, peak autumn, a time of constant change where every day brings new explosions of color. Beyond leaf peeping along our morning commutes, changes large and small are detectable in exquisite detail, if we only pause to step out in nature to look, listen, and smell the fragrance of the season in the air. 

Right now, migratory birds are coming and going, shrubs are blooming and berrying, bees of all stripes are scrambling for the last drops of nectar as fall flowers fade. With some surprisingly low-cost, low-maintenance strategies, you can begin right away to transform your local landscape into a brilliant fall banquet for birds, bees, and butterflies.

At this time of year, wintering birds are beginning to arrive from the north, while some summer visitors linger to enjoy the bounty of fall. Dark-eyed Juncos (Junco hyemalis) are already returning from their northern breeding grounds. I spotted my first juncos of the season flitting about the raised garden beds on Halloween right outside of the Anne Arundel County Extension office. 

On the same day, Cabbage White butterflies were still mobbing blooming New York asters in the brilliant noon sunlight on a day of record-breaking late October heat. The viburnum berries had already been plucked, possibly by the Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) singing nearby, and its outermost foliage had turned a deep Cabernet red on a chillier night. I suspect that mockingbird has now staked out the American holly berries ripening nearby, as he seeks to maximize his energy intake before winter sets in.

At Howard County Conservancy the day before, I noticed winterberry shrubs loaded with ripening berries, where another singing mockingbird steadfastly stood guard. Native honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) is flowering and berrying simultaneously, gracing the trellis archway into the native plant garden, and the common witch-hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) is blooming, our only witch-hazel to bloom in the fall. 

Taking cues like this from nature can be an excellent strategy for planning our conservation landscaping for year-round color. Planting native berrying shrubs and evergreens not only extends our color palette, it provides natural sources of food and shelter for songbirds like Gray Catbirds (Dumetella carolinensis), Northern Mockingbirds, Cedar Waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum), Eastern Bluebirds (Sialia sialis), Yellow-rumped Warblers (Setophaga coronata), Ruby-crowned Kinglets (Corthylio calendula), and thrushes as temperatures cool and extra energy is required to fuel up before, during and after migration. 

Depending on your specific location and site conditions, consider planting Maryland native berrying shrubs to enhance your fall bird banquet. These could include northern bayberry, maple leaf viburnum, red osier dogwood, native honeysuckle, black elderberry, native hollies (American, inkberry, and winterberry), huckleberries, and red chokeberry. 

Leaving fall seed heads standing into winter also provides resources for a whole array of seed-eating birds like sparrows and finches. Even as flowers begin to wilt and fade, they still provide essential nectar resources to native insects that are beneficial for their pollination and pest control services, not to mention as songbird prey. 

So if you are considering what you can do right now for nature and the environment in your own neighborhood, here are a few low- to no-cost fall strategies to get you started right away:

1. Map out one or more locations that you would like to dedicate to a native shrub planting area. Make note of conditions (wet/dry, sunny/shady, soil type) so that you can select the right plants for your site when the time comes. It isn’t too late to plant native shrubs in most parts of Maryland, but if you choose to wait for spring, you can still start preparing the bed and browsing for fall-berrying shrubs now (see #5)! If you don’t know your soil type, this is the perfect time to do some home soil analysis. Observe where stormwater flows off of your property, and consider planting a mulched stormwater buffer using arborist wood chips and native plants to absorb rainwater which can both help reduce downstream flooding and improve water quality while beautifying your landscape. 

2. Pledge to leave the leaves this fall. Raking a thick layer of leaves into your designated shrub planting bed will almost immediately start to create habitat, retain soil moisture, and build rich living soils. I call this “Raking by Design.” Think about this – who rakes the leaves in the forest? Towhees, sparrows, jays, bats, squirrels, deer, and many more wild residents…a reminder that leaf “litter” is an important habitat component for many creatures, and it puts essential nutrients back into the soil as the leaves decompose. If you’re concerned about leaves blowing around, it’s fairly easy to contain whole leaves with low garden border fencing, but it isn’t entirely necessary. Consider designating a portion of your yard a ‘no-rake’ wild zone, where you leave the leaves undisturbed, right where they fall.

3. Leave your native flowers standing well into winter, beyond peak bloom. Birds, bees, and butterflies will benefit from the stems and seed heads well into fall and early winter. 

4. Use fall prunings, cuttings, logs or stumps to create shelter for overwintering birds, bees, and other wildlife. Recycling your “yard waste” is one of the easiest, low cost ways to start building healthy soil and creating habitat to benefit biodiversity in your local landscape. This can take the form of a brush pile, wood pile (situated well away from your home’s foundation), leaving a natural stump instead of stump-grinding, or building a simple “bug snug” like the one pictured here.

5. Browse options for native berrying shrubs to plant this fall or next spring that would be right for the conditions in your yard. While browsing native plant resources like Alliance for Chesapeake Bay’s Native Plant Center, also make note of whether the shrubs you choose are dioecious or not, meaning that you may need to consider planting female and male plants near one another in order for flowers to be fertilized and berries to form. Finding native plants locally right when you want them can be a bit challenging when getting started, so take some time to familiarize yourself with Maryland native plant material sources via Maryland Native Plant Society’s native plant shopping resources. 

Which of these low-cost, low-maintenance strategies are you planning to try to enhance your fall living landscape? Which berrying shrubs might you consider adding to your fall banquet? Leave us a comment below, and don’t forget to let us know which wild visitors are enjoying the fall feast in your neighborhood!

By Stacy Small-Lorenz, Agent, Residential Landscape Ecology, University of Maryland Extension. Read more posts by Stacy.