Hi leaflady, after we cut down the tree we discussed if we should replace it. The tree had grown a lot in the last ten years and was turning my sun garden into a shade garden...so we decided to hold off on replacing it. Our main concern (besides loosing a lovely tree) was loosing the shade to our upstairs bedroom. We thought our bedroom was going to get really hot in the afternoons without that tree. As it turned out this was not the case at all. Plus our grass is looking a lot better. So we will not likely be replacing it. I did use some of the mulched leaves for winter insulation on some of my plants. I never gave much thought to the nutrients, you are so right!
