Category: gardening in NC

Build a Bug Snug: An Essential Winter Habitat for Insects

On By durhammastergardenersIn bug snug, Durham NC, gardening in NC, insects, NC biodiversity, Uncategorized, winter insect habitat

By Astrid Cook-Dail, NC State Extension Master GardenerSM volunteer intern of Durham County

A close-up of a bug snug made of leaves and twigs, designed as a habitat for overwintering insects.

One person’s trash is an insect’s treasure? The bug snug is just that. Pruned hollow stems, fallen leaves, seed heads, and twigs are great for the compost pile, but you can also use fall yard waste to build both biodiversity and healthy soil in your landscape. (Image credit: Astrid Cook)

What is a Bug Snug?

A “bug snug” is a name for a small teepee or similar structure built in late summer or early autumn and packed with leaves and other garden detritus often gathered during autumn garden cleanup or tidying. Bug snugs are similar to insect or bee hotels in that they provide insect and arachnid (bugs, generally) habitat.

Why Make a Bug Snug?

Bug snugs are a great place for all types of important creatures to overwinter during the colder months. By using a combination of leaf litter, deadheaded flowers, and plant stems, you can provide a variety of nesting types for different insects. These are the primary habitat features insects use to survive the colder months.1 Many insects such as butterflies, moths, and beetles overwinter in leaf litter, and the bug snug also provides additional protection to the soil surface where some insects overwinter underground, such as ground nesting bees.

Not only does making a bug snug help provide habitat to insects, but by supporting insects, you also support other animals further up the food chain such as birds, 96% of whom depend on a healthy population of insects to eat overwinter and feed to their young.2

Furthermore, it can be a nice design accent in the garden if there is an area that you are tidying up in the fall. While leaving the leaves and plants intact – without trimming or shredding – through the winter is key to supporting next year’s insects, oftentimes there is a small area that may be preferred to be a bit more tidy. If that is the case, then you can make use of those garden trimmings in an intentional way by building a bug snug. Best of all, this project takes almost no time and is free to make if you have a few sturdy branches around!

The bug snug should remain in place until May, or when temperatures consistently rise above 50F for at least one week, which is the time insects break dormancy and resume activity. Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation provides additional cues to determine when insects have finished overwintering and the proper time to disassemble your bug snug. And as simply as you put the bug snug together in the autumn, you can take it apart just by removing the branches used to make the structure holding in the leaf litter and stems.

How to Construct a Bug Snug

Materials

  • 3 tall branches or wooden stakes
  • Leaves, twigs, hollow stems, and debris from autumn garden cleanup
  • Jute twine
A cart filled with garden debris, including twigs and leaves, resting on the ground surrounded by fallen leaves.

(Image credit: Astrid Cook)

Step 1: Gather all materials. Here, I have leaves, vines, and flower stems, as well as wooden stakes.

A wooden tripod structure made from sticks, surrounded by fallen leaves and grass, set in a garden area.

(Image credit: Astrid Cook)

Step 2: Position the stakes to make a tripod and tie securely with twine.

A small teepee-shaped structure made of leaves and twigs, designed as a habitat for insects, situated in a garden setting with fallen leaves and grass around it.

(Image credit: Astrid Cook)

Step 3: Fill with leaf litter and garden trimmings, alternating layers of hollow stems with leaves for airflow and to provide different overwintering habitats.

Notes

1–1 Xerces Society, “Nesting & Overwintering Habitat” 2020 https://xerces.org/sites/default/files/publications/18-014.pdf

2–American Bird Conservancy, “Insect Freefall” 2019 https://abcbirds.org/blog/insect-freefall/

Resources and Additional Information

Enhancing your fall landscape to support wildlife:

https://marylandgrows.umd.edu/tag/landscaping/

On the blog, more about the benefits leaving fall leaves and photos of insects in their different stages that would benefit from a bug snug: https://wp.me/p2nIr1-5bS

Managing backyards to support birds in winter: https://gardens.si.edu/learn/blog/providing-winter-habitat-for-non-migratory-birds/

Edited by Melinda Heigel, NC State Extension Master GardenerSM volunteer of Durham County

Article Short Link: https://wp.me/p2nIr1-6I1

To Do in the Garden: November 2025

On By durhammastergardenersIn Durham NC, fall gardening, garden tasks, Gardening calendar, gardening in NC, Uncategorized

By Gary Crispell, NC State Extension Master GardenerSM volunteer of Durham County


Was it really dry in October or was it my imagination? October is one of my favorite months, but I would rather have one during which I did not have to drag the hose all over the yard twice a week. I don’t water the Accidental Cottage Garden (ACG). It has to make it on its own. That was one of the considerations when I planted it. Darwinism is definitely at work here.

Close-up of a pink zinnia flower with a butterfly resting on it, surrounded by green foliage and other colorful flowers in the background.
Close-up of a vibrant orange and red blanket flower (Gaillardia) among green foliage, with wilted flowers and stems in the foreground.
Close-up of a black-eyed susan flower with wilting petals, surrounded by green foliage.

(Left to right) Drought-resistant flowers keep showing up in the ACG like zinnias along with a stray gaillardia or two, commonly known as a blanket flower. With no frost to date, flowers are persisting late into the fall. And a few black-eyed Susans made a curtain call. (Image credit: Javin Griffin)

There are an astounding number of things still blooming. The African marigolds (Tagetes erecta) outnumber all the rest. They have been carrying the bulk of the load since mid-September. But they have friends. The zinnias (Zinnia elegans) are as foolproof an annual as you can get. Throw out the seeds and stand back. There are still some stray gaillardia (Gaillardia pulchella), cosmos (C. sulfureus), purple cone flowers (Echinacea purpurea), and a solitary Chinese forget-me-not (Cynoglossum amabile).

Doing their Halloween best by coming back from the dead are several black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta) all of which are interspersed with the ubiquitous hardy ageratum (Conoclinum coelestinum). Not a bad show for only 2” of rain. BTW, the pollinators really love the marigolds. I can usually expect to find three or four types of butterflies and an equal number of bee species on them.

Yeah, yeah. Shut up, Gary, and get to the real stuff. No worries. It’s all here.

Lawn Care

A person using a shovel to add leaves and garden debris into a metal bucket, with another bucket nearby. In the background, an outdoor composting structure is visible.
YES, PLEASE!
A row of large brown paper leaf bags on a suburban street beside a green recycling bin, surrounded by fallen leaves.
NO, THANK YOU!

(Left to right) Do this, not that! If you have seen the “Leave the Leaves” signs around you neighborhood in the fall, this message matters. According to Keep Durham Beautiful, “Leaving your leaves is one way to change some of the forces at work behind the twin crises of climate change and loss of biodiversity. Some direct impact and benefits to leaving your leaves includes more beneficial insects including pollinators and fireflies, less stormwater runoff, healthier soil and trees, and less air and noise pollution.” (Image credit: Allie Mullin; Melinda Heigel)


Leaf removal is job #1. If your lawn consists of warm season grass (Bermuda, zoysia, centipede), and you have heavy leaf cover that might mat and smother your turf, that’s about all you need to know. These grasses will soon be going dormant not to be heard from until spring. But wait! The landfill doesn’t need the fallen leaves. Rake them into your beds or a few concentrated piles on the edges of the yard where they will decompose and provide vital organic matter and nutrients. Want more fireflies?

Leaves left to decompose also provide valuable habitat for fireflies and other beneficial insects. They keep their larvae warm, hidden, and protected as they hibernate through the winter. You can also put them in compost piles, not the trash.

Should you have cool season grass (tall fescue, bluegrass, perennial rye) you are still mowing (3”- 4”) and either bagging or mulching clippings and leaves (preferably the latter). Remember, the landfill doesn’t need it. If you overseeded or started a new lawn, be sure it gets ½” of water twice a week at a minimum.

Fertilizing

Pretty much zilch here. You can add lime to correct a low pH (<6.0) at the rate indicated on the SOIL TEST results you received from NCDOA. (Come on! They’re still free until the end of the month, y’all.) Lime is best incorporated into the soil as it doesn’t move through the soil to the root zone very well.

Planting

Have I ever mentioned, “FALL IS FOR PLANTING” before?

A variety of potted plants including leafy greens and flowers displayed against a wooden background.

Image credit: Melinda Heigel

Trees and shrubs can be transplanted this month. It is not too late to plant spring-flowering bulbs (daffodils, tulips, crocuses, etc.) but try to complete this task before the end of the month. (Be on the lookout next week on the blog for tips on planting bulbs). One-year-old asparagus crowns can be transplanted now.

Pruning

Ahh, the perennial garden. Any day now, if it hasn’t happened already, Jack Frost or his insidious sibling Harriet Hardfreeze will drop in for a visit and finish any destruction not previously inflicted by Minerva Moisturestress. After that I plan to enjoy the deceased stalks until spring. There might be eggs of solitary bees or other beneficial insects in or on the stalk. You know, “Leave the Leaves.” How about a new saying? “Save the Stems.”

A close-up of a green, textured leaf or plant structure hanging from a brown stem, indicating seasonal changes in a garden.

Leaving a more “natural” fall-to-spring garden (read: untidy) is important for wildlife. Just like leaving leaves, leaving stems like those of the purple cone flower mean more habitat for over-wintering insects such as the black swallowtail chrysalis. (Image credit: Debbie Roos)


Dead or diseased wood can be trimmed from trees and shrubs. When removing entire branches make the pruning cuts at the outer edge of the branch collar (the flair at the base of the branch) to promote quicker healing. It is a good time to clean up the rest of the garden and landscape in general. You can yank weeds and other undesirable plants (the definition of a weed) and toss ‘em in the compost pile.

Spraying

If you’ve been doing battle with lace bugs all summer hit ‘em with a good dose of horticultural oil and put the sprayer away…well, clean it first, of course. (Might I suggest moving the offending azaleas to a less sunny location in the yard. They are an understory plant and are stressed when in full sun thereby inviting the lace bugs which prefer stressed plants. That’s your cause-and-effect lesson for this month.)

OTHER ENTERTAINING, ENLIGHTENING, AND ENCHANTING ENDEAVORS TO ENJOY IN PIEDMONT NORTH CAROLINA IN AUTUMN…

Three illustrated leaves in a row, each with a distinct outline and vein pattern.

Take a leaf hike in your neighborhood or local park.
Make a leaf pile for your kids or grandkids to play in.
Invite the neighbors over for an evening around the firepit. Hot cider and donuts required.
Enjoy the last few user-friendly days of 2025. They are numbered at this point.

May you have a wondrous Thanksgiving shared with people you love (and maybe some strangers).

Resources and Additional Information

More details on leaving the leaves: https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/2023/09/08/leave-the-leaves-to-rake-or-not-to-rake/

Secret signals of fireflies: https://news.ncsu.edu/2019/07/how-fireflies-glow-and-what-signals-theyre-sending/

How to prune like a pro: https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/general-pruning-techniques

On our blog, information about more fall blooming plants:

Hardy ageratum: (Conoclinium coelestinum) https://wp.me/p2nIr1-2sj

Goldenrod (Solidago spp.) https://wp.me/p2nIr1-4OY

Edited by Melinda Heigel, NC State Extension Master GardenerSM volunteer of Durham County

Article Short Link: https://wp.me/p2nIr1-6F7