Everywhere in America that I have lived, their primary use case is landscapers blowing leaves and trash from private property into the street, thereby clogging drains.

As an American, I have only ever seen the opposite. Pretty much everyone where I'm at just mows over the leaves. Blowers mostly used to clear streets and sidewalks. Rakes are sometimes used to collect leaves and burn them, but even that is uncommon.

However, I live in the midwest. We don't have as many trees here as the east or west coasts.

I'm on the East coast and I do mulch leaves with the mower for most of my lawn. However there are parts of the property where we have more trees and where leaves accumulate from being blown by the wind from other parts of the lawn. In those parts the lawn would probably die if I didn't clear the leaves myself.

However I also have honeylocust trees which drop loads of these large bean-like seed pods and these stems after the leaves fall which bunch up and can only be best described as like "wads of shaved pubic hair." I also have sweetgum trees which drop these hard, spiky seed pods that I also need to rake up. The mower can turn those into projectiles.

Really the best solution, in my case at least, would be to alter the landscaping in that area to something that would be unaffected by the leaves, but I don't have the time for that now. So clear leaves I do.

That's the smart way to go, decomposing leaves fertilize

This, same in Australia. Blow it into the road or the neighbours. Then no longer my problem. What is so difficult with using a rake and picking it up?

The American neighborhoods I've lived in, the lawn care companies blow them into piles, and then the city collects with the truck.

There's a LOT of leaves in the northeast. They absolutely NEED to be collected. It would bury the roads here if they didn't.

Just because they do that doesn’t mean they’re supposed to.

uhh, usually they bag them up where I've lived.

I have literally never seen this anywhere I’ve lived. It’s always been the opposite.

You're lucky. On multiple occasions I've had rocks and leaves blown into my face by one of these people, while I'm driving in a convertible car with the top down.

> Part of it is because of lawns, if you have a lot of trees the leaves can simply smother your lawn.

Do you think we don't have trees and lawns in Europe?

Of course I don’t think that. What made you think I did? Because I stated something that can happen?

Because someone asked 'why do they do this in America when they don't do it in Europe' and your explanation was 'because if you have lawns trees can smother them'. That doesn't make sense as an explanation to the question unless you think having lawns and trees or not is a difference between Americans and Europeans. Otherwise how does it apply?

All I stated was that if you have a lawn, it is possible for uncollected leaves to kill or damage parts of your lawn.

I don't know why "they" don't do it in Europe, I have no idea where the commenter I replied to is from in Europe. I was just stating one reason why people do it here.

Q: "Why do people in America clean leaves off the lawn?" A: "Because it's possible it can damage the lawn if you don't in some circumstances."

Simple as that. No idea why people do or do not do it elsewhere.

Why would it be any different elsewhere? Plants generally work the same no matter which country you're in.

Do you think they think you don't have trees and lawns in Europe? Why are you acting like this is hard to understand?

Because the statement was framed as a purely american problem

In some places they're a hazard. They get wet, people slip. Especially cyclists when the leaves get into the bike lane.

End of season forking them on to a hedgehog heap?