’Tis the season when people talk about cleaning up their gardens. Cutting everything back, clearing the beds, and removing the "mess."

I try to resist that urge no matter how messy things look. The seed heads stay, the dead stems can stay, the dried flowers and fallen leaves stay. What looks untidy to us looks like home to someone else. I look out into the garden this time of year and I don't see plants that are finished.

I see habitat. Places where bees may be sheltering. Seeds feeding birds.

I see next year's garden already beginning.

The restoration of my city plot has taught me that beauty doesn't disappear when the flowers fade.

It simply transforms. Providing habitat is beautiful.