I always enjoy Mickey Rathbun’s gardening columns; her love of gardening and graceful writing is a delight to read. Her latest column on removing an old black locust tree was particularly thoughtful and poignant. However, I’d like to offer a more ecologically helpful perspective on the value of dying trees and the dangers of invasive plants.

On the advice of a local tree company, Rathbun and her husband cut down and removed a leaning black locust that was also infected with fungus. It does sound as if the tree really had to go, but it could have been done in such a way to preserve some ecological benefit. As Rathbun notes, dead trees provide homes for many birds and mammals, but they also host a huge community of invertebrates and microorganisms that are food for those and other animals. Retaining standing dead trees, or as much of them as is safe, is an enormous benefit for birds and other creatures we cherish. Any part of the tree that cannot be left standing can continue to feed critters if left to rot on the ground, either incorporated into the landscape design (garden edging?) or stacked away in an inconspicuous location elsewhere on the property.

Rathbun also discusses a large patch of bittersweet and non-native roses (I think she meant multiflora, not floribunda roses), and as she mentions, both are fast growing, aggressive invasive plants. They are overspreading our landscapes everywhere, including residential properties and conservation land. As Rathbun notes, removing these plants is an ongoing battle, but she thinks leaving the tangle will benefit the birds. Unfortunately, that is not true. While the birds may like perching on the branches, they will find little or nothing to feed their chicks there. Nearly all our birds need caterpillars to feed their young, and they need a lot — as Desiree Narango and Doug Tallamy (see the book “How Can I Help?” by Tallamy) have demonstrated, they need many thousands. Caterpillars do not eat non-native plants, so these invasive plants are reducing the food supply birds need to reproduce. Our yards need at least 70% native plants to provide food for a nest of Carolina chickadees, for example. Yes, some birds will eat the berries of both the bittersweet and the rose, but that simply spreads more of these disastrous plants as the birds poop out the seeds everywhere they go, depriving them of more food for their young in the future.

How to deal with that growing thicket of invasive plants? If any roots or seeds remain in the soil, they will grow back. Although I avoid using chemicals of any kind if I can help it, I do use an herbicide on these plants. I cut the stems of bittersweet and multiflora rose at the ground, and then immediately paint or dab the stem with a tiny amount of Brushtox or Garlon (the active ingredient is triclopyr). If that is not practical, regular weed-whacking will keep these plants from setting seeds and taking over the trees. Heavy layers of overlapping cardboard covered with several inches of wood chips (maybe from that black locust?) will keep the seeds from sprouting and you can plant native bushes and trees into that bed.

Loss of biodiversity, especially of native plants and insects, is a real and immediate crisis that is not getting the attention it needs, but we ignore it at the peril of all life on Earth, including our children and grandchildren. But we can turn this around, if we all change the way we manage our home landscapes.

Here are the key actions:

1- Stop using pesticides or chemicals of any kind as much as possible.
2- Turn off all outside lights, replace white light bulbs with yellow, and/or use motion-activated fixtures.
3- Remove invasive plants in your yard, or at least keep them from spreading and setting seed.
4- Reduce or eliminate lawn area, especially under native trees.
5- Mow lawn at least 4”, include low-growing flowering plants, and mow every 2-3 weeks,
6- Add native plants so you have at least 70% native plants on your property (by biomass)..
7- Retain all plants that die on your property and incorporate them into your landscape.
8- Leave the leaves where they fall as much as possible; don’t shred them.

Every step we take is a gift to life on our planet.

Heidi Dollard of Belchertown is a member of the Massachusetts Pollinator Network. Learn more at https://masspollinatornetwork.org/.