If a Tree Falls in the Woods...

Last year several dead sumac trees fell over in what I view as our woodland. As I posted about in "Planting Dead Trees" I tried to put them back up to add vertical structure to keep the area looking like a potential woodland and to provide the familiar perches that birds have been using. Most of them fell over anyway.

More fell over and blocked my paths. I decided today to finally pile them up in what will be a large brush pile which will be of use to wildlife. This will allow me to utilize the paths again and to, hopefully, smother invasive weeds and eventually break down into woodsy soil which will benefit future plantings of wildflowers and trees.



...But, I couldn't help but "plant" one of the dead ones that fell over. The soil was loose and the trunk went down fairly far--which made me realize that it is likely the groundhog burrow that is near there. I'm hoping it doesn't block the groundhog...or if it does it isn't too much trouble to dig around it! :)



I had to add some of the Japanese honeysuckles to the brush pile. I'll pile on other brush too to help smother weeds and provide more hiding places for wildlife.



The path--actually the path back into the woods toward the house--looks much more inviting now.