I have a medium size maple tree in front of my house.  Intellectually I knew that it has no motivations, but at this time of year I can't help thinking that it has a nasty streak.  Every year about now the tree drops a few brightly colored leaves--just enough to make me think it's time to rake.  I rake, which makes me feel virtuous.  The next morning I invariably awaken to find that the tree has dropped every single remaining leaf overnight.  When I go out, I am knee deep in leaves and have to rake all over again, an activity that now takes four times as much time as the day before.  

Why don't I just supress the urge to rake on the first day and wait until all the leaves come down?  Because if I did, they wouldn't come down all at once.  Some things are just laws of nature.

                                                                                                                      ****

I used to think of the fall leaves as a curse, but as I have gotten to be a wiser gardener, I have changed my mind.  The following are a few things that fallen leaves can do for you:

• Provide exercise: Forget about blowing away your leaves.  Rake at least some of them at a brisk pace and you will get part of your daily quota of exercise while beautifying your property.
• Fatten up the compost pile:  If you have either a compost pile (passive or active) or a compost tumbler, fill it up with leaves, yard clippings and compostable household garbage (no protein material, bones, etc.).  Leaves degrade fairly quickly and will help enrich your garden next year. 
• Blanket your beds:  At the end of the season, I cover my flower beds with a blanket of fallen leaves.  It helps insulate them for winter, and provides some amount of soil enrichment as the leaves degrade.  

Good gardeners never waste resources.  As you look out the window at the ocean of fallen leaves on the lawn, think of them as money in the ecological/garden bank.  You will feel much better.