We have to clean up our leaves around the house since we heat with a wood stove. Don’t need an ember coming down on leaves piled against the house. I also try and keep the leaves cleaned up for a good size perimeter around the buildings in case someone else catches their place on fire and it turns into a forest fire and heads this way. Several times a year in Fall and again in Spring, we rake the leaves onto the driveway and burn them. Gives a 100 foot buffer.
Previous property owner across the road used to burn his place off in Spring and did a set it and forget it method. He set it off one year and headed to another county to do errands. Several hundred acres. Forestry dept had a helicopter to see where it was and relay to bulldozers on the ground to stop it from advancing to the neighbors’ houses.
Glad he’s gone.
I clip the tall, dry fescue before winter for fire safety but also because I like the look of solid white snow yard over snow with brown/tan grass sticking out of it. Plenty of that across the road for the birds.
My father used to burn the dry lawn on a windless day, while we stood around with a big bucket of water, rakes, shovel, and a wet straw broom. Never had an accident.
I will soon be going to my Virginia shore property (a little south of Maryland) to plant bulbs. Workers have cleared a small wooded area right next to the coastal swamp with high rushes. The trees there are growing in sandy land 2 or 3 feet higher than the marshes. What kind of perennials can I grow under the trees which will lose their leaves, and what should I grow near the edge which is sunny in the afternoon. The bulbs I have are crocuses, daffodils, tulips, and hyacinths. I know the crocuses will come up before the trees have leaves, but how much sun do the others need? Also, what other plants might I buy to make a nice little forest glade with a small bench for reading out in the shade and fresh air? My fig tree has done well nearby.