One of the things I like about our neighborhood is the park like setting. Mature trees frame the neighborhood and gave us a great deal of privacy. Trees also age and in a suburban environment, where people don't always understand that you can't just dig, cut, and pour concrete over a trees roots without consequences, their health and longevity may be compromised.
A pecan tree in our front yard had fought off years of weed-eater blight and gouges by lawn mowers before the stress was too much and it started dying. That wonderful tool we use to trim our yard, the string trimmer, can be deadly to plants. When used improperly it can and will literally cut through the bark of trees and shrubs destroying their circulatory system. The roots pump, and pump water and nutrients but they can't get to where they need to go. Our pecan tree was dying a slow death. Branches were constantly falling off the tree; when we bought the house the tree was so far gone I didn't even recognize it as a pecan. Being in our front yard and constantly dropping branches on the garage it was the first we had cut down.
Like us trees get wounds. Most of the time the wound heals just fine. Then there are times when the trees defense mechanisms just can't heal or compartmentalize the damage and decay sets in. If the tree has decayed or rotted wood at the base chances are it will eventually fall down. We found such a tree in our back yard and decided to cut it down before some natural event sent it crashing onto our house. Rather than have the stump ground we left it to decay. The decayed area at the base of the stump is home to a local toad.
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