Hi Aberdeenshire
Just trying to catch up on some of the Forum posts.

I certainly wouldn't worry about leaves in the shrub bed, in fact I'd encourage you to thinly spread more under the bushes (within reason). They are great at providing cover for invertebrates and worms, fungi and other bacteria will soon help break them down.

It’s very sad to hear about your elms, but I would certainly leave the stumps - they are a fantastic resource for all kinds of deadwood specialists. You would not have completely lost your Elms. They sucker prolifically and will re-grow for anything between 8 - 15 years, before they succumb again to attack. Elms have become almost self-coppicing in their nature. It provides an excellent, self-perpetuating continuum of young regrowth right through to dead wood. They are now to all intent and purpose more like a shrub/small tree than the great majestic beasts they once were.  

In this part of the country, elms are very common and occur in many of the hedges. It’s always interesting to see how they attract different wildlife over their short life span.