The utility company flagged a bunch of dying trees on my road a few months ago. Last week they sent a crew out to cut those trees and the logs were left on the side of the road, bucked into four-foot sections so people can use them for firewood. After the scavengers came and left there was not much left except the pieces that were too dead for firewood and short round pieces that were right near the base. Many of these had a hollow rotten center, and as I was pointing them out to my daughter on our daily walk, I thought how cool they would look stood on end in my garden. I did a little scavenging of my own and ended up with some free and unique outdoor sculptures.

I already have a number of large shapely rocks interspersed in my various gardens so these hollow log rounds will fit right in. I am not sure where their final resting place will be or if I plan to stack them or not. If I do I will secure them to one another with a few large landscaping screws, the kind that are used to hold timbers together on retaining walls. I may try to bring out their grain by sanding them a bit or I may just go for the au natural look and let the elements shape and smooth them.

These dying trees are a real threat to power lines so crews are out there cutting them all of the time. Keep your eyes peeled for flagging on tree-lined roadways and take notice when the trees are ultimately cut down. You could score a one-of-a-kind all natural outdoor sculpture.

(Images: Richard Popovic)