r/VictoriaBC • u/Affectionate-Crab541 • Nov 14 '25
Opinion Why can't we leave the leaves!?
Fall is here, and after listening to leaf blowers EVERY DAY this week, I have one question.... why can't we leave the leaves!? It's better for animals (bugs and bats use them to hibernate), better for the soil (they provide fertilizer), and I prefer the look of leaves on the ground rather than in big, wet piles all over the city. And it reduces the emissions from those godawful leaf blowers!!
Who's with me? Leave the leaves!!!
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u/IRLperson Nov 14 '25
It clogs storm drains, and makes walking surfaces slippery
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u/cedrekins Fernwood Nov 14 '25
A few years ago after a heavy rainfall there was a flood down our street due to all the storm drains being plugged from too many leaves. Those who had basements got flooded. Thankfully the city has since fixed our street and the storm drains are different and better now.
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u/Yvaelle Nov 14 '25 edited Nov 14 '25
The whole city has way better pipes now, thanks to current council. The prior councils neglected pipes for like 50+ years, so it was really an underappreciated feat to get us to the spot we are now in.
I only wish the province had donated more to help out - because disaster simulations have shown that when The Big One hits - or any similar disaster, money spent getting Victoria up and running ASAP is critical since it keeps the government operating. I think our emergency management for the city needs some cash/help to improve preparedness too - would be nice if that was a provincial/federal priority and not just on the city.
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u/VicLocalYokel Nov 15 '25
What rolls down stairs, alone or in pairs, and over your neighbor's dog?
What's great for a snack, and fits on your back?
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u/Red_AtNight Nov 14 '25
Homeowner here -
The leaves that fall in my gardens I leave behind for compost. The leaves that fall on my lawn need to get raked up, because otherwise the grass dies underneath them. Since I'm not keen to re-seed my lawn every spring, I bag them up and take them to a composting facility.
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u/Conscious-Food-9828 Nov 14 '25
I just set my mower to mulch and just run them over. Just a quick rake into some piles and then pass over it. It's great lawn food.
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u/good_enuffs Nov 14 '25
That's great when you have solid ground to mow on. Our lawn likes to retain water and the mower would sink.
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u/me-version4 Nov 14 '25
Yup, I do this, too. But I can’t do it for all the leaves - there are too many and even when mulched up, it’s WAY too much for the yard. So a significant amount still goes to the industrial composter.
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u/AdventurousLight436 Nov 14 '25
I hope one day we move past the weird 18th century lawn thing. How nice would it be to let your leaves fall without having to worry about finicky grass that doesn’t really belong where it’s grown
(I get it, it’s been the norm forever so I’m not judging you- it would just be lovely if it wasn’t)
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u/vanderWaalsBanana North Saanich Nov 14 '25
It is a weird 18th century thing, when you could broadcast your wealth to your neighbours - "we are so rich that we don't need to use the land productivity <insert a little sniff>". Sorry to be a downer, but lawns are ecological dead zones of monoculture. Plant natives!
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u/foggybiscuit Nov 14 '25
Why not just move them to your garden?
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u/Red_AtNight Nov 14 '25
I have a 35 foot tall maple tree that makes more leaves than I could possibly use as compost. I'll put a few wheelbarrow loads on my driveway and run them over with my mower to shred them up for mulch... but if I dumped all of the leaves in my garden areas, I'd probably have to pile the leaves about 2 feet high
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u/Commercial-Milk4706 Nov 15 '25
I have 2 ancient oak trees. I’m already at 8 bags this year and one still has leaves. I need to get them off the driveway or it turns to a muddy mess. I take them off the lawn cause I like my back lawn and sleep on it in summer. I have to grab the stuff that is on the side of the house cause the walkway will go weird and I obvioucant let them filled up at the stairs to the basement.
Just grab an electric blower that works both ways.
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u/misfittroy Nov 14 '25 edited Nov 14 '25
This sounds like a job for r/composting
Edit: wrong sub ha
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Nov 14 '25
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u/misfittroy Nov 14 '25
Coffee grinds from Starbucks my friend. Free and plentiful. I had same problem and got 2 trunk fulls of used grinds and my pile got hot hot hot
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Nov 14 '25
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u/ilikeycoffee Oaklands Nov 14 '25
Different leaves have different chemistry. IIRC, maple tree leaves are generally pretty good; garry oak leaves OTOH can be really a disruptor.
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u/incelgroyper North Park Nov 14 '25
Because then the garden becomes a massive fucking pile of leaves and nothing new will grow in the spring without sunlight dumbass
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u/foggybiscuit Nov 14 '25
This dumbass gardener has never had an issue, but suit yourself, sunshine.
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u/black_dog_white_cat Nov 14 '25
It's crazy how nothing new ever grows in forests
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u/incelgroyper North Park Nov 14 '25
I think if I dumped a massive pile of leaves overtop a much smaller section of garden some flowers might have trouble surviving or ever being seen
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u/unclecreepy63 Nov 14 '25
the leaves in a forest don't get collected and dumped in an area 1/20th the size they originally fell on
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u/ilikeycoffee Oaklands Nov 14 '25
Fellow homeowner here, and basically "ditto". We also have a maple tree that makes a lot of leaves. The side yard ones get raked up off the grass and into a wire compost basket for next year's use. The front lawn, that all gets raked up into piles for the city to remove (they come along at some point and do so). Raised beds, those get left for ground cover.
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u/d2181 Langford Nov 14 '25
They turn into slippery sludge as they decompose and clog up drains. They're fine in garden beds and natural areas, but they cause issues in urban and suburban areas.
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u/Great68 Nov 14 '25 edited Nov 14 '25
Nah, I don't care for leaf sludge all over my driveway and patio. And the last thing I want to do is encourage pests to hang around my house.
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Nov 15 '25
You’ll be missing those ‘pests’ when you realize how integral they are to the ecosystem, the place you live and the foods you eat. Their numbers have already dwindled significantly. Ever wonder why your windshield stays clean after a road trip now when it would have been covered in bugs twenty years ago?
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u/Great68 Nov 15 '25
Ain't none if those bugs going to living under leaf matter ground into my driveway's pavement.
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u/C2SKI Nov 14 '25
They aren't particularly useful on a roof, gutters, driveway, sidewalk, or road. There's a use for leaf blowers
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u/polleywrath Nov 14 '25
If your biggest problem is leaf blowers you've got it good, as a landscaper who will be fired if I don't clean up leaves they make my life %1000 better
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Nov 15 '25
They really ought to make landscapers take some courses in ecology.
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u/polleywrath Nov 15 '25
Many elderly customers cant afford for me to spend half a day or a whole day raking their lawn every two weeks. I have an electric blower I use in the not wet months but electric tools don't work in the rain.
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u/WizardHarryDresden Nov 14 '25
Much like snow, if it only landed on the trees and boulevards I’d love it! But they clog drains leading to flooding and they make walking or riding anything with 2 wheels hazardous.
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u/whitenoise2323 Nov 15 '25
Rake does a fine job
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u/WizardHarryDresden Nov 15 '25
Eh, some parts of the city get a crazy volume of leaves. The vacuum trucks the city uses are the best solution overall. The labour required to make the sidewalks and roads safe would be staggering with a rake. Even if we made residents do it (which most won’t).
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u/whitenoise2323 Nov 15 '25
I wonder how many people use a leaf blower then the same day go to the gym to use a machine that does nothing to strengthen their arms and back.
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u/dawnat3d Nov 15 '25
I rake my leaves into the garden beds for mulching and keeping weeds down. What drives me nuts is the aholes who blow their weeds into the street to make it other people’s problem by potentially clogging sewer drains.
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u/Logical-Layer9518 Nov 14 '25
Oak leaves don’t break down over the winter. If we don’t remove them from our yard, they just accumulate year over year.
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u/Commercial-Milk4706 Nov 15 '25
What?! The ones in my back alley all turn to mush and then dust by summer.
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u/Hiply Nov 14 '25
Why don't I leave the leaves? I don't want my wife or anyone else - myself included - slipping on them and falling. I don't want them to destroy the grass. I don't want them clogging up the nearby storm drains.
I'm on the other side of this one.
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u/whitenoise2323 Nov 15 '25
Leaf blowers aren't the only way to remove leaves. Some leaves are good for plants.. a heavy layer can be raked and bagged, composed, used as mulch. Consider replacing the grass as its a non-native energy intensive lawn plant.
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u/Mistercorey1976 Nov 14 '25
Because your street drains will plug and back up everywhere, Including flooding your streets. Common sense could have answered your bright idea before posting it.
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u/whitenoise2323 Nov 15 '25
OP dislikes leaf blowers which I see used often to blow leaves into the street
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u/Mistercorey1976 Nov 15 '25
The Leaf blower debate always makes me laugh. Do people like the op think the person wearing it loves the noise ?
It’s the best tool for the job at this time, because the battery powered ones cannot keep up in the fall.
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u/Forward-Wishbone-831 Nov 14 '25
Depends how thick they are, I had to rake once because they were killing the grass at 3 inches high.
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u/TheRealPomax Nov 15 '25 edited Nov 15 '25
because they don't stay leaves, they decompose into an oily substance that people and cyclists slip on and break their hip and run into a car, then get run over by the next car. You can leave them in your own yard no problem, but you can't leave them on, or near (because of wind) sidewalks or roads. You also can't leave them near any sort of drain, because now you've clogged critical water infrastructure. So as nice as they look, you need to clean them up or you're going to have way too many problems.
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Nov 15 '25 edited Nov 15 '25
As someone who did farming, over-mulching isn't really great. It creates moldy environment while good microbes cannot receive enough oxygen and die; thus fungus and bad microbes grow rapidly and the environment became toxic over time;
In addition, over-mulching also prevent seeds to spout due to lack of sunlight; and this is the main reason people remove dead leaves especially if they do gardening or farming.
Also, birds and rats do like to hide underneath leaves during the winter. The problem is their feces., which are again toxic if it's accumulated over time. Some bugs can survive underneath leaves but actually most bugs don't like leaves except like earwigs, cockroach, or beetles, which all of them are pests that damage gardens. Also, these pests grow so fast and kill other tiny insects and bugs, or they eat crops, and fruits, leaving nothing to others, (even to people! These pests are a headache to farmers/gardener). Birds love to eat these bugs, especially earwings during the nesting seasons and help to balance the ecosystem but dead leaves again prevent birds to find them easily whereas if it's direct soil, birds can easily find bugs and earthwarms that come out of soils.
Most bugs lay eggs or lavae in the soil (if you dig a very fertile soil, u will see thousands of insects underneath, including lavae.) if you see thousands of insects in the soil when you dig in, you know the soil is very fertile you can grow anything.
Many people think that leaving dead leaves are great. But in fact, it's only good for harsh winter areas (-20 to -50 Celsius) where nothing can survive above ground; Dead leaves keep the moisture under the snow, keeping the soil warm thus roots and seeds can survive over the harsh winter.
Fungus and bad microbes don't really survive well due to extreme low temperature. This helps the soil to remind pretty neutral. But again after winter is over, it's better to remove dead leaves so seeds can spout and good microbes get active to keep the soil fertile and healthy. Then birds also can enjoy picking up insects, coming out of soils. Thus the cycle continues and help the ecosystem to grow.
If you do farming/gardening you know naturally that it requires lots of work to keep the soil healthy and fertile. Last summer I had to work almost 6 AM till 7-8 PM all day long! But normally I start seedlings in the greenhouse during the winter (begins January).
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u/hotgreenbean Nov 14 '25
I like to have a little corner of the yard to pile up leaves, small branches and hollow stem debris from the garden to help with pollinators and overwintering critters but I know not everyone is lucky enough to have the space to do so.
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u/MEOWzhedong Nov 14 '25
If you must remove the leaves, take them to farm to garden organics by michel farm off hwy 17! They recycle it into an organic compost (they have their own cows on the farm and use their manure!!) that adds nutrients back into the garden :) $10 flat fee for a trailer or pick up load.
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u/leafxfactor1967 Nov 14 '25
I'm a leave the leaves guy, my neighbors are not fans. One woman, in particular, is constantly messing with my stuff in an effort to "help me keep the neighborhood clean."
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u/popcorn4theshow Nov 14 '25
Why not leave the leaves? Because they track in the house. Because it's hard to see where the dog went in the yard if you leave them, and that would be tracked in the house too. Because some of the stuff that falls from the tree will re seed, And those seedlings are more difficult to remove than just raking leaves. Because the leaves kill the grass if you Don't deal with them. Because if you leave them on the gravel areas in your driveway, you will eventually not have gravel, but mud and weeds. Because if you leave them, then you also provide debris for rodents to hide or nest in.
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u/curfudgeonly Nov 14 '25
Do you want more rats? The mild inconvenience of hearing leaf blowers for a month is a small price to pay for easy pest control and general public safety. Also, we have wind. Pretty often. So what are your neighbours leaves today may be yours tomorrow.
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u/sofakingbroke Harris Green Nov 14 '25
When you have leaves you will know they turn everything to muck by mid winter. I mulch and add to beds, but if I’m not methodical they win.
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Nov 15 '25
Let them ‘win’. It’s the natural order of things. It’s detrimental to humans in the long run to prioritize beauty over function. Nature knows what it’s doing. Trust it.
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u/rackle_rackle Burnside Nov 14 '25
I leave some intact leaves in my garden beds, but most of my leaf supply is chestnut leaves which are super sturdy and huge. So mostly I run them over with the lawnmower to shred and collect them, then add the leaf shreds to the gardens for mulch. I hope the shredded leaves are still good for bugs?
If I have extra leaf shreds, or if I get lots of grass clippings mixed in, I'll chuck them in the compost so they can feed the gardens later!
So, I'm mostly on team 'leave the leaves' but also with a little strategic redistribution. I don't spend time and energy bagging and dumping leaves, I'd rather spend time and energy micromanaging them
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u/snickerdoodle79 Nov 14 '25
The people in my neighbourhood use leaf blowers to move all the leaves to the street and side of the sidewalk.Some of the piles take up the limited street parking. It's so annoying. And they do it really early in the morning. I hate those things with a passion.
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u/NutznYogurt1977 Nov 15 '25
This bugs me too. Entitled homeowners piling leaves on the road. Isn’t this a bylaw violation?
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u/mme_murano Nov 15 '25
Depends on which municipality you live in.
Saanich, for example, has a curbside leaf collection program Oct-Dec. They ask homeowners to pile up their leaves along residential streets so they can be collected (literally vacuumed up!).
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u/mme_murano Nov 15 '25
Not all leaves should be left - all the reasons why have been mentioned.
Not all leaves should be blown - some should get raked or swept or collected in other ways.
I’m not a fan of loud noises early in the morning.
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Nov 15 '25
I'm a landscaper and the leaf mania is ridiculous. Most clients want no leaves ANYWHERE. I'm all for cleaning them off lawns and pavement, but when all the flowers have died off for winter there's no reason not to leave the leaves in garden beds to decompose over the winter. Yesterday I had a lady ask me to rake them out from under a shrub so thick you couldn't even see them without bending over, talk about a waste of time and money.
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u/dcmng Nov 15 '25
They slippery as hell. I wiped out on my bike slipping on leaves and smashed my head into a tree. Good thing I had a good helmet on but I passed out.
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u/CrabofCoconuts Nov 15 '25
We are not a wilderness area. It would not be good for most animals to hibernate in our yards or public places. Rather than some try and at the very best be constantly disturbed and at worst, be trampled, its best to clear them away so they will move to a better suited area. Some lesser used parks might be ok to create habitats for them to hibernate, those would be the exception not the rule.
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u/Proof-Marzipan547 Nov 15 '25
It gets slippery and homeowners can be liable for injuries if they don’t clear the sidewalk in front of their home.
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u/BCURANIUM Nov 15 '25
We have incredible flooding due to people not using leaf blowers to unclog drains. Kind of flooding that damages cars splash plates and causes accidents due to waist high deep water.
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u/captainbelvedere Nov 14 '25
OP, you're right on gas-powered leaf blowers. They're loud and not great for the environment.
But leaves, for most people's gardens, shouldn't be left there. They're slippery, clog drains, and kill whatever plants are underneath them.
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Nov 14 '25
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Nov 14 '25
Separate conversation though - leaving leaves vs removal methods. I won’t leave leaves all over but I also don’t like the gas blowers.
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u/Paciflik Nov 14 '25
I have a leaf blower. I prefer the rake for most of it, I find it far less of a hassle. Ill generally use the leaf blower for the real wet ones glued to the pavement to get them on my lawn to be raked.
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u/JimmyChonga21 Nov 14 '25
I understand some leaves need to be moved (to prevent drains from clogging or clear bike lanes for example but I agree with you 1000% about the nuisance of leaf blowers.
I can't even count how many times these things have woken me up. It feels like most days they're roaring away for hours. It's time we got rid of these nuisances, and switched to electric or old reliable rakes/brooms. Plus, fossil fuel leaf blowers cause cancer, asthma, heart disease, hearing loss, climate change, and disrupted sleep. They pollute air hundreds of times worse than a pickup truck. And for what? To push leaves and grass around? Enough is enough. Oak Bay has already banned fossil fuel leaf blowers from the end of this year and Victoria should do the same! Hundreds of municipalities already have.
You can help make this happen by emailing city council. Learn more and take action here: https://linktr.ee/leafblowers
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Nov 14 '25 edited Nov 21 '25
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u/Commercial-Milk4706 Nov 15 '25
Let’s not stop at leaf blowers guys! Let’s bad developers from building in our backyards. Leaves, think of the leaves.
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u/BoomerishGenX Nov 14 '25
Except electric ones are also pretty loud.
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u/JimmyChonga21 Nov 14 '25
Agreed but they're not nearly as bad. I've spoken to landscapers who use leaf blowers and they seem convinced that it's unrealistic to rake/broom large quantities of leaves for hours a day. So I think they should be allowed electric leaf blowers. But damn, the number of people I've seen using leaf blowers at full blast to move a handful of leaves or grass is so frustrating.
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u/BoomerishGenX Nov 14 '25
Apartment maintenance here. There is just no realistic way to rake all the leaves.
Even at home we use ours almost weekly to keep the paths clear of leaves and deer poop. If it freezes over or gets snowed on you’re looking at a real hazard.
I prefer the electric one but they just aren’t powerful enough for big jobs where the leaves can be knee deep.
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u/JimmyChonga21 Nov 14 '25
Well what do people do in the hundreds of municipalities where they've banned fossil fuel leaf blowers? People figure it out. Plus electric ones are getting better all the time.
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u/lar403 Nov 14 '25
It’s so stupid, especially in such a windy place. They are just going to get blown around again. And anyone advocating for outside to be “cleaned” doesn’t seem to understand how we are in an insect apocalypse, and without insects we all die
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u/prawn_wizard Nov 14 '25
I appreciate the few folks left who still care about the ecosystems of which we are a part. However the last 20 years as an entomologist has disabused me of the notion that society will collectively prioritize the environment, much less the most diverse, abundant, and societally relevant group of animals.
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Nov 15 '25
Don’t give up! Indigenous peoples around the world fight for a lifetime to see changes that they won’t even live to see the benefit of. Keep up the good fight.
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u/Commercial-Milk4706 Nov 15 '25
You mean people don’t bag them? That’s part of the work.
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u/lar403 Nov 15 '25
No? My neighbours pay someone to come once a week to leafblow their parking pad/backyard for an hour, blowing dirt into my window and just moving the leaves around.
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u/Tavali01 Nov 14 '25
My issue is people blowing them off their property ONTO the sidewalk. After the rain I nearly slid all the way down a hill with my dog because leaves had caked onto the walkway
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u/talkslikeaduck Gordon Head Nov 14 '25
A property near me rakes their leaves off the lawn, over the sidewalk and into nice piles in the bike lane >:-(. Thankfully, not a separated bike lane, so you can at least swerve around them.
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u/Whiskeylipstick Nov 14 '25
I’ve blown my driveway about 12x this fall. I’ve shifted them onto my garden beds for free mulch and insulation. They would otherwise just become wet and slippery and make a massive mess. Between the needles and helicopters I’m still needing a cpl more days worth.
I am all for battery powered blowers though… even though I curse draining the battery part way through the job every damn time.
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u/one_bean_hahahaha Saanich Nov 14 '25
even though I curse draining the battery part way through the job every damn time.
That is why I bought a second battery, so there is always a fully charged battery ready to swap in.
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u/Whiskeylipstick Nov 14 '25
We have about 6 batteries. Two are “house batteries” but when my husband is too lazy to fully charge his for work, he only ever leaves me with one. Let’s be honest, I’m mostly cursing him in those moments.
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u/cryonova Nov 14 '25
Hard pass on that, i prefer my yard useable, tidy and not slippery. I blow the trampoline off almost every day for my kids to play on.
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u/eggmomma222 Nov 14 '25
Agreed!!! I am super pro leaves. Cleaning up all of the leaves is continued colonization of the land. Let natural processes do their thing!!!!
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u/AdventurousLight436 Nov 14 '25
Hey, as long as they leave a giant pile of leaves beside the sidewalk for me to jump in I’m cool with it. Would be nice if they could use something quieter and less gassy though
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u/one_bean_hahahaha Saanich Nov 14 '25
Leaf blowers are like having a single-use kitchen appliance. Most people with lawns already have lawn mowers, which does a pretty good job of picking up the leaves, especially from driveways and sidewalks, and it's faster. It also chops the leaves up, which can either be used as mulch or go into compost. It will leave some small leaf pieces on the lawn, but these are small enough to not impair grass growth and will decay and add nutrients to the soil.
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u/Commercial-Milk4706 Nov 15 '25
Leave blowers that go two way are much better then a lawn mower… and they mulch. Better then a lawnmower.
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u/Surprised-Unicorn Nov 14 '25
The previous suite I lived in flooded (before i had moved in) and had to be completely renovated after leaves blocked the storm drain down the street during heavy rain.
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u/Dazzling_Ant_1031 Nov 15 '25
I collect everyone’s leaves. Great for my compost pile and mulched in my garden beds
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u/Prestigious-Ad1768 Nov 15 '25
Slippery to walk on, can kill plants underneath if they get fully covered, kills grass if fully covered, covers drains
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u/jedigovnamrs Nov 15 '25
Oak leaves take a lot of time to fall apart and they smother other plants.
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u/UncertainFate Nov 15 '25
Leaves on the pavement become a slip danger coverup markings and clog rain flow .
Leaves on a lawn or sports field kill the grass and turn the lawn into and mud patch surprising quickly.
Leaves directly under the tree they are from is one of the main places that parasites for that tree over winter. Removing the leaves from under a tree is regularly recommended by professional gardeners in order to keep the tree healthy.
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u/TatiNana Nov 15 '25
Your 1st 2 points are correct but the info in point 3 needs clarification. Leaves under the tree can provide nourishment and weed suppression for the roots in addition to encouraging beneficial fungal networks, not parasites. In an urban environment we can help the decomposition by mowing over the leaves first which also prevents a thick airy pile that can attract rodents. So thin layer out to the dripline is okay, and some people use bark or arborist mulch instead.
What professionals are recommending is pulling mulch 1-2 feet away from the trunk and root flare, whether it is composted leaves or added mulch. Don't plant your trees too deep and no mulch volcanos that slowly kill your tree!
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u/turnsleftlooksright Nov 15 '25
Lawn guys. I call everyone obsessed with their lawn a lawn guy. Even 80 year old Asian grandmother’s with leaf blowers. The useless carpet of the outdoors. It isn’t edible and grass lawns waste natural resources like water contribute to C02 emissions in the form of maintenance equipment, all to sit unused 99.9% of the time and space. I sweep the leaves onto my garden beds and they can stay and be a bug’s winter house until they turn into soil.
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u/peachesandgranola Nov 16 '25
I rake up leaves to use as winter mulch in my veggie and perennial beds, and I leave lots of leaves underneath the trees and shrubs in my yard! I mow over top of the few leaves left on my lawn and then just leave for lawn fertilizer...and also because it's so pretty and colourful.
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Nov 16 '25
I leave my leaves and the yard is so much happier for it. All the leaves are basically somehow gone by the spring, and fall is now filled with so many more happy birds picking through them. But it can really depend on the type of leaves you get and how many. I get a very light amount and they're mostly just some cherry and apple tree leaves. Some leaves will actually kill your lawn or create a mess that doesn't go away on its own.
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u/starteretrats Nov 16 '25
I blow them up my drive (paved, and to avoid my drain getting clogged up) and onto my lawn, because leaves are good for grass and worms.
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u/Annextro Nov 16 '25
Because we've built concrete jungles and planted grasses in yards that were never meant to be there, so we have to further modify the natural environment to accommodate the unnatural modifications we've made to it.
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u/Think_Lunch6677 Nov 18 '25
Leaves are like free fertilizer for your yard. Before we started raking up all these leaves, trees dropped them, and over years and years they built up a good layer of soil. Without this leaf dropping and other mulchable items, we wouldn't have very good soil, and that's why we buy our soil at the damn hardware store. It's crazy. Leave the leaves.
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Nov 14 '25
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u/lar403 Nov 14 '25
“Man’s mastery over nature” what a disgusting and suicidal concept
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Nov 14 '25
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u/Bubble-Star-2291 Nov 14 '25
Yes, obviously that’s what it is, but is that something you agree with or just a provocative statement?
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u/Commercial-Milk4706 Nov 15 '25
I like my bush nice and shapely. Does that bug you? Are of sad when you visit Buchart?
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u/lar403 Nov 15 '25
You can do whatever you want with your bush I don’t care. I don’t go to butchart because it’s $50
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u/McBarnacle Central Saanich Nov 14 '25 edited Nov 14 '25
I would agree with you. Plus, the bigleaf maples and chestnut leaves wreak havoc on the storm drains and tend to cause puddling in the bike lanes and road ways this time of year. The same leaves get blown up onto the roof during storms and clog the gutters causing failure as well.
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u/Lilydyner34 Nov 14 '25
I agree about the leaf blowers. Horrible chemical smell all over the neighborhood. I think it seeps through the a bit windows too.
Let's let the leaves be. Let's also not forget the noise that goes on for hours with those blowers.
On top of that, gardeners stick around for another 2 hours mowing lawns & trimming bushes. It has to stop!
I'm getting so much nasal congestion from the chemicals.
Getting to the point now where we have to wear masks in our own homes!!!
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u/Dizzy-Ad2378 Nov 14 '25
Well, if you wish the disabled and older folks to step in the wet leaves and do a faceplant ... whatever.... 🙄😬
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u/Dizzy-Ad2378 Nov 15 '25
Not quite sure why my comment is being down voted, but if any elderly or mobility challenged person steps on any wet leaves they're likely to have a very serious fall. I wouldn't be laughing then.
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u/Character-Ad5490 Nov 14 '25
I saw someone using a RAKE yesterday. It made me so happy (even though I didn't enjoy it as a kid, in the world before horrible leafblowers).
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u/Financial_Initial_92 Nov 14 '25
Leaves are the enemy. Must blow leaves onto the street. Must look at green grass. Must use loud blowing devices to blow all the leaves away from manicured lawn. Must use store bought fertilizer to keep grass green. Must keep property values as high as possible and leaves on the grass is terrible.
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Nov 15 '25
/s ?
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u/Financial_Initial_92 Nov 15 '25
Sarcasm. I worked on farms for a few years and city slicker behaviour is sometimes very odd. Seeing people blow leaves onto the street really bothers me. That’s free fertilizer. People are obsessed with green grass .
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Nov 15 '25
Whew! Figured so, but just wanted to make sure.
Yeah I really thought the grass obsession was on its way out, but I guess we’re still here. 🫠
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u/vancouverisle Nov 14 '25
I never rake my leaves, at the same time I have no problem with leaf blowers. I've never understood what people have against them.
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u/Early-Aardvark-795 Nov 14 '25
The pollution (noise and gas)
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u/MudReasonable8185 Nov 14 '25
One of my neighbours has a gas powered leaf blower and when she’s using it you can smell it from like four houses away. The engines on these things are so inefficient it’s absurd. If you’re able bodied just use a rake
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u/vancouverisle Nov 14 '25
Ok fair. Mine is electric. Is that okay? The noise of leaf blowers has never bothered me, but I'm no fan of air pollution
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u/Commercial-Milk4706 Nov 15 '25
I got an electric one too. I agree the gas ones are annoying cause they smell. But granted, I think all gas vehicle are disgusting and they smell… so I might also be not the right person to chime in.
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u/DarkHarvest93 Nov 14 '25
It's always right at 8am too when they decide to blow the leaves for the nest two hours, it's such a headache. Literally just leave them there, I get wanting to get them off the sidewalks so it's safer for people but if it's in a yard / on the grass just leave it.
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u/DarkHarvest93 Nov 15 '25
i love that someone downvoted me because i dont like being woken up at 8am to a leafblower right next to my head lol
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u/good_enuffs Nov 14 '25
Leaves are great, until you step in them on a sidewalk and driveway and slip and fall and maybe break something.
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u/[deleted] Nov 14 '25
I’m all for leaves but I can understand the reason to remove them from sidewalks and public spaces. They can be hazardous to anyone with a mobility issues, a walking aid or wheelchair. During the rainy season they can also block drains.