Where are you located? Must be somewhere near me. I'm in Alachua County and we had some crazy temperature swings here in late Feb and early March. One of my trees has also lost its leaves and I was thinking the temp. swings could have been a factor, though some here say it could be root rot. Citrus doesn't like temp. fluctuations. Did you have the wild swings from 80 to freezing and back over a few days?

Yeah you're right that's probably why too. I got another rose around that area too and it's got quite big so I think that was taking a lot of the sunlight too. I tried to cut down the tree a bit, but it's too tall so I will have to get one of those electric cutters to cut it. I was going to move it to another place, but was told it wouldn't be best to do it now. Yeah lol I'm not giving up on it unless it's too late lol, I was meant to use the compost tea, but forgot to put it down so when I have a cup of tea I'll remember to keep the bags to put down around there.

I'm assuming this is on grass? Mow the leaves right into the soil, it's a nice winter mulching and a gentle feeding for your grasses. Very thick layers may need to be distributed out to other parts of the lawn. Overall, the leaf mass atop the grass is cutting off the air and sun from the grasses. That damages them, so mowing at least once a week is recommended for normal leaf drops. Light drops can be ignored, however, while heavy, blanket-like leaf falls should be taken care of as soon as possible.

I think it looks good. It's tough to see how deep it is around your evergreen shrub in the middle, but if it's like the foreground, it's fine from a mulching standpoint. You could chop them up, but you could also wait for spring if chopping is what you decide. I agree with your assessment of the grass, it will be tough to ever turn it into a lawn with that much shade. There's no reason to really. Depends on the aesthetic. Besides, to turn that into lawn, and have it look good, you're looking at thousands of dollars. You have a little grass out there, and you could do what many choose... and depending on a budget it it's desired - building on what you've already done, create more definite islands using shredded wood mulch. You could edge it, or not, and just mow your leaves each year and spread it around the plantings, mulching the rest back into the 'grass'. This will require some maintenance, but some people are willing to spend $ on the renewed mulch each spring. What you have looks very peaceful. I think I would continue as you are, leaving the woodland look. I might put in some shade-loving plants and flowers in the 'islands', then each year, mow the leaves and put them around the trees and plantings. I wouldn't even try for perfection, just minor cleaning. Nature looks good all on it's own. Edit: The only place I would be sure to mow the leaves or shred them is right around the house. Whole leaves there look a bit 'unkempt', and it could give home to rodents and other 'unwanted' critters. Just rake it out, and mow them back in around the shrubs.