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More reason to Leave the Leaves. These fun-shaped growths on oak leaves are the nests of tiny insects called gall wasps. The wasps don't sting and the growths probably don't harm the tree (research continuing).

The wasp larvae overwinter in the galls on the ground and emerge blinking into the spring sunlight (just like us).

These teeny insects are a valuable food source for other animals, and if we rake up our leaves and throw them away, all those bug energy packets are lost from our garden's food web.

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