I have this Palo Fierro (Ironwood Tree) on my property. It looked more like a bush when I first bought my piece of land but on closer inspection I realized that it was actually a very old Ironwood Tree that had been cut down and what I was seeing was the new growth from the old stump.

The stump must be almost 20 inches in diameter which means, since it's a slow growing tree, that it likely had more than 30 years of growth before someone cut it down.

My wife and I spent some time cutting out the sucker branches from the stump so that it would start to grow like a tree again. We took out the weak branches, the branches that crossed others and those that didn't look quite right. It was painful for both us and the tree because Ironwoods have a lot of little thorns all over their branches.

We wondered why someone would take such an old growth tree and cut it down, as we would never consider doing something like that. It's very probable that the wood was turned into charcoal for someone's barbecue. A tree that took 30 or so years to grow was used up in just a few people's backyard social gatherings.

My constant struggle is to replant things on this piece of land that I own. I want trees that produce some shade and ones don't need a lot of water or care, trees that survive in this harsh climate. This Ironwood tree would have been a real sight in its' glory days and is the evolutionary perfect tree species to exist there.

I'm happy though that the Ironwood tree has a root system that survived. It's giving the tree's new growth a base on which to thrive. The stump is something more established than a lot of the other trees on my property.

If I ever feel the need to cut down an established plant I think about the history of the plant and how long it took to establish itself. I think about the effects of cutting it down on the ground directly below the tree. I think about the birds and other animals that make their home in the tree and then usually I'll leave it standing.