Village Gardener: Two days after the New Year

by Georgeanne Vyverberg –

 

So, what does a person do with the dried out dead corpse of that fabulous tree? The one that took so long to find and bring home to decorate. It was special and so many photos were taken of it with family and friends including the dog. Stories abound how the cat climbed it and knocked it over. There it stands in the corner of the room, with needles limp and falling. You are tired from the holidays and the tree must go.

But wait! It can still live on, chipped into pieces to use as mulch under shrubs and lining paths through the gardens. Neighbors can get together and rent a chipper and make a party of it. If you have a bird feeder it can be used as a shelter propped up near it for the birds. Cutting large branches to cover lightly those tender perennials can mean the difference to whether they survive or not. Any of these projects can make your tree still live on doing what trees do when they die.

They give back to the earth and the earth gives it all back. Plants are amazing beings.