I took a pledge today (Habitat Network at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology) to keep a messy garden during the winter for my native wildlife habitat and the pollinator species that frequent it. Really this was an easy one, because I already do most of these anyway:

• Leave your leaves on the property.
• Allow dried flower heads to stay standing in your garden.
• Build a brush pile with fallen branches instead of removing them.
• Forget the chemicals.
• Leave snags on your property.
• Delay garden cleanup until spring, after several 50F days, allowing overwintering pollinators to move on.