This will be another entry into “this isn’t your usual gardening blog” because today I’m going to talk about my love for dead trees.

Let me backpedal for a moment. I don’t love that I’ve lost so many trees in my yard over the eight years I’ve lived here. I don’t rejoice when I lose them, I am sad. And there have been many. But dead trees can be beneficial to wildlife, too, so I try to focus on the benefits of their loss.

I live in the “Cross Timbers,” a region of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas that forms the border between the eastern forests and the Great Plains. The Cross Timbers has always been marked by alternating drought and wet seasons, so the woods and trees here are fairly resilient. But climate change has brought extremes, and the state of Oklahoma has lost millions of trees over the past five or six years. Trees weakened by drought and other stressors have lost the battle to a variety of diseases, from insects to fungus.

My yard is a microcosm of the problem: I’ve lost ancient oaks, pecans, redbud trees, a pine tree, and almost all my walnuts. The trees that I haven’t lost have been shedding limbs to ice, wind, and drought. The amount of dead wood I have in the yard is staggering.

Many people would have burned that wood or at least had it hauled away. Not me. In the areas where I can leave it, I have. It will decompose and enrich the soil to feed the trees that take root in the future.

Decomposing wood is also good for cultivating insects. These insects feed birds. So, dead wood=good bugs for birds. I’ve noticed more thrushes in the yard in spring the past few years, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that my habitat for them has improved with a rich understory fed by dead and decaying trees.

I’ve also left a few dead trees standing. These have been pecked and reshaped by woodpeckers (see picture). The holes hammered out by Downies, Harries, Red-bellies, and Pileated woodpeckers served as nesting sites for Chickadees and Titmice this year. We also think a Pileated woodpecker nested in our yard. Dead trees are good for birds in multiple ways.

Of course, you can’t leave dead trees standing in areas where they might fall and damage/hurt someone or property. I got permission from my neighbor to leave the old oak in the picture standing. It might fall on our mutual fence, but I’ll pay to repair the fence if the tree falls on it.

Insurance companies may prohibit dead trees on your property. Dead wood can also contribute to fire load, and that may be a consideration. So, I understand that this is not an option for many.

But there are people who own acreages, and this message is for them. If they aren’t a threat, leave your dead trees either where they fall, or where they stand. They’ll enrich your soil, feed your birds, and give them nesting sites, as well.