Ever on the lookout for stuff I can reuse or recycle from holiday decorations, Christmas is second to none. Even better than composting Halloween pumpkins.
Back when I used to go with fresh-cut trees to decorate, I recycled them after the holidays. Each yielded beautiful evergreen needles perfect for garden mulch, plus a sack of kindling from cut-up branches and small stack of fast-lighting firewood logs.
But occasionally I would keep the hat-rack of a trunk, with branches bobbed back to the diameter of my pinkie finger, tie it to a fence post, and festoon it with glass bottles that lasted easily two or three years.
Not everyone’s cup of tea, of course, but the question remains: what do we do with natural Christmas trees, wreaths, and other discarded natural holiday greenery? It’s easy enough in most towns to set it on the curb for someone else to deal with. But at least consider the alternatives, even if just tossing behind some shrubbery as wildlife habitat.
I am all about composting everything possible, loathe to put dozens of bags of perfectly recyclable grass clippings, tree leaves, or other debris out for pickup. My little garden, like pretty much every other yard, has a small out-of-the-way area where I take responsibility for garden debris. And I believe that even the most environmentally cynical could do this, if for nothing other than a virtue signal.
How about just the fun practicality of it? A “dead hedge” is easy enough, just laying fallen limbs and branches end-to-end between or around trees or along a shrub border or fence; pile on leaves and in no time, you will have rich soil that can be easily dug and planted. And I really enjoy my simple “stumpery” of logs and limbs placed in a shaded spot and planted with ferns and other woodland plants.
This isn’t a pipe dream; it has been done for centuries before landfills and urban mulch piles. Small town and country gardeners have little choice, other than the once-ubiquitous burn pile. They just find a place to pile stuff up, whether or not it will eventually be used as compost.
In fact, across most of the world, including the village in northern England where I spend part of every year, there is no system, no equipment, no place for handling yard waste except after extreme weather events. In even the most celebrated botanic gardens there are “snags” - dead trees that pose no real danger to life or property - deliberately left standing as naturalistic sculptures that double as crucial wildlife habitat, often supporting flowering vines.
More than just wooden eulogies to once-thriving trees, these snags, on top of providing an ever-changing succession of colorful mushrooms, lichens, mosses, and ferns that all thrive on decaying wood, are crucial refuges for disappearing urban wildlife, including native bees which are better than honeybees for pollinating flowers, fruits, and veggies. Plus, tree frogs, lizards, and the beetles, grubs, earwigs, spiders, and other soft critters they feed on.
Ideally, you would find birds and mammals delighting in the soft wood high up off the ground where they can peck grottoes for raising successive generations. Think woodpeckers, owls, chickadees, nuthatches, and tufted titmice, maybe even flying squirrels, bats, and other small mammals.
Not sure how I segued from recycling a used holiday tree or wreath into a “save our wildlife” tome, but you get the ideas. Garden styles have evolved for centuries to suit local resources as well as personal and community aesthetics. How would it hurt if we collectively started neatly positioning garden debris as a win-win?
Felder Rushing is a Mississippi author, columnist, and host of the “Gestalt Gardener” on MPB Think Radio. Email gardening questions to rushingfelder@yahoo.com.
