Just about now, you can see holiday trees sitting in the front or side yard, waiting for the assigned pick up date to be collected and mulched. This is one way to be sure your holiday tree gets recycled to the benefit of the environment. The follow through to getting your tree composted in a community program is to be sure your take advantage of the composted material later by bringing some back home and using it in your landscape beds. Those fallen needles that need to be collected can go to the compost pile. There are a few more ways to continue to benefit from your tree right in your own yard.

If you are feeding the birds, setting your tree up nearby gives the birds a place to sit while they take turns going to the feeder. This gives us more to watch and saves the birds from using energy to fly back to the trees and shrubs farther away during the cold winter. That tree also provides shelter from stormy weather. If you already have some evergreens in the landscape, you have already witnessed this survival technique.

You can buy or make your own suet balls to hang in the tree as another source of food and energy for the birds. You will begin to attract the larger birds that really enjoy suet and provide more entertainment. Other sources of food and a great family activity will be to pop some popcorn, buy a bag of cranberries and string them together to hang on the tree. Clear out the crisper drawer in the refrigerator and put out apple or orange slices from the apples and oranges that are too far gone for us to eat.

If your winter activities don't include the birds, you can use the tree in the landscape. We count on snow to provide an insulating blanket on our tender and any fall planted perennials. So far this winter there has been plenty of the white stuff. By using the evergreen branches cut from the trunk to cover those plants even though they are well protected right now, they will benefit next spring as the snow melts away. You are providing the protection from the drying winds and any branches covering the perennials will also collect additional blowing leaves for protection and disguise, your perennials are hidden away from the rabbits and other wildlife that enjoy the young tender leaves. The soil will stay frozen and the young plants will not be heaved out of the soil by the freezing and thawing cycles that occur. Go ahead and set the tree trunk aside until gardening season and plan on using it to support peas or beans or grow morning glories in the garden. By the end of the 2014 garden season, the trunk can be burned in the outdoor fire pit.

If your community does not recycle holiday trees, consider contacting wildlife organizations to see if they can benefit from using your tree. They can be used to provide habitat for fish and just recently, a YouTube showed polar bears enjoying a tree at a zoo.