I Draw Home-Notes 4 Home- Tiny Worlds at Rest: The Beauty of Leaving Your Garden Untidy

Marissa Villescas
Oct 14
3 min read

Updated: Oct 22

A hand-drawn can of soup labeled "ABC Soup" with a pink heart. The setting is minimal and white, creating a playful and simple mood.

Alphabet Soup

A Love Letter to the Wild Corners of Our Gardens 🪴

Dear Friends and Colorful Humans,

As the leaves fall and the light wanes , I find myself thinking about all the tiny lives around us preparing for winter—birds, butterflies, bees, and beetles—each looking for a place to call home. This season always reminds me that nature doesn’t hurry, and that beauty often hides in the quiet, “untidy” corners of our gardens.

Here’s a little love letter to the wild edges of autumn—where even fallen leaves become shelters, and doing nothing at all might be the most generous act of care.

Tiny Worlds at Rest: The Beauty of Leaving Your Garden Untidy

Fall is a season of migration and quiet preparation. Birds take to the skies, butterflies drift southward, and even the bees begin searching for cozy nooks and crannies before winter sets in. I’ve always been absolutely in love with the natural world—especially the pollinators. Birds, butterflies, bugs, bats, and, of course, bees.

I suppose it started when I was little—digging for worms during kindergarten recess, fascinated by the tiny lives around me. I’ve been a gardener ever since. Over the years, I’ve learned to let my garden rest naturally through the winter. At first, it was simply out of circumstance—an early snow storm would sweep through, and I just didn’t get around to cleaning up. But later I realized those untidy gardens were alive with a hidden beauty. The plants I left standing had quietly sheltered hundreds of small creatures, a little Tiny World.

The more I’ve learned, the more passionate I’ve become about sharing this: what we often think looks messy or “unfinished” in a garden is actually teeming with life. Those withered leaves, the overgrown berry bush, the tall goldenrod and asters—these are not eyesores. They are sanctuaries. Every time we chop them down to make things look “neat,” we remove the very places pollinators depend on for their last meals before winter.

One of the most valuable gifts we can give nature is shelter.

• Shredded leaves can’t replace the protection of whole ones—and raking them away might remove eggs, cocoons, and caterpillars.

• Fallen wood? Stack it instead of tossing it. Many insects depend on old branches and logs for safe hibernation.

• Nearly 70% of bee species nest in the ground—so if you’re replanting or prepping a winter garden, keep your digging shallow and gentle.

• Leave the dried stems of perennials. Their seed heads will feed finches, and their hollow stems will shelter countless insects through the cold months.

When we minimize “yard work,” something magical happens. A miniature ecosystem begins to thrive: butterflies lay eggs on fallen leaves, moths tuck themselves under their cover, solitary bees make homes in woody stems, and bumblebee queens curl up in small pockets of soil to sleep until spring.