Falling branches: bad for trees, bad for you

As if snow and sleet weren't bad enough, ice is the devil in the bad-for-trees trifecta. When weak branches are covered with ice, they can easily be ripped out by wind or simply fall from the weight. This poses a danger to the homes, cars, power lines and people below, and opens up a gaping wound in the tree from which it may not recover.

So it's important to evaluate trees on your property and remove any dead, diseased, rotted or broken branches right away. 

If you're so unfortunate as to lose an entire tree during a storm, you might try to salvage it, as they've done in Glacier Gardens in Juneau, Alaska. The garden's "Rainforest Adventure" takes visitors on a tour of 50 acres of rainforest that's been interestingly landscaped.

Take, for instance, the way they've made lemonade out of fallen trees by turning them upside down, replanting them and decorating the sprawling root system -- now facing upward -- with miniature flower gardens.

Then again, I wouldn't recommend it, but it sure is fun to look at.