It is part of the ritual of autumn — to clear the dead limbs from the willow trees along the property line, rake up the debris in the orchard and remove those annuals whose bright blossoms have faded and shriveled into rusty folds of lifelessness.

As the season changes, the rich green growth that enveloped the garden for the past five months has transformed into patches of dull, coal-colored leaves, dealt a fatal blow by the first touches of frost. Fall is a time for many trees and plants to secure their defense systems, shed excess foliage and hunker down for the winter ahead. For others, this is the end of the line.

In years past, we have used the fall cleanup as a time to remove the last of the ash trees that had the life strangled out of them by the emerald ash borer, we have thinned out a few apple trees that showed no interest in bearing fruit, and culled a couple of arbor vitae the wind and our heavy clay soil had beaten into submission.

For quite a few years, there also was a clumsy yet empathetic discussion about the fate of “the ugly tree.” We humans are all less than perfect, so in the midst of this broad sweep of the homestead, could we harshly judge a tree that through no fault of its own had missed out on the symmetry gene?

I introduced many to “the ugly tree” several autumns ago when this then decade-old disheveled sentinel was in an especially ragged mode, and we considered removing and replacing it. But on that occasion, the president must have felt it deserved a pardon because “the ugly tree” was granted an extension of its life. The shovels and the logging chain were put away, a fresh batch of mulch was applied around its base and “the ugly tree” received a mild dose of a timed-release fertilizer to help it weather the oncoming winter.

A few more years have passed, and this unbalanced evergreen still is part of the landscape.

We became the less-than-proud owners of “the ugly tree” after seeing it discarded to the deepest corner of the last weekend of the season closeout/​clearance sale at a nearby nursery. Its price had been reduced several times and with its odd shape, missing appendages and general unkempt appearance, “the ugly tree” was in its final days.

A worker at the nursery said if unsold, the scraggly remnants of the sale would be fed through a chipper and reduced to mulch. That was all we needed to hear. This tree that looked like a melding of the bizarre talents of Salvador Dali and Edward Scissorhands was going home with us. We already had several dozen healthy, mature and well-balanced evergreens on the property, but we would find a place for this misfit.

Face it, we all love the runt of the litter when we see a collection of puppies. There is something charming, something pathetic and also something exceptional about a true mutt. In a world where the value of beauty and perfection is grossly oversold, we keep a warm place in our hearts for not just the mundane but also the abnormal, the unusual, and the peculiar.

“The ugly tree,” with its complete lack of equilibrium, has been all of that and more. It is clear this one never will be considered for the White House lawn or Christmas at Rockefeller Center, but it has an increasingly secure place on this property.

It is a favorite with some of the songbirds — I think its open spaces give them a better view of the surrounding skies, and the pending threat of an aerial attack by the hawks that own the air in rural Wood County. From the branches of “the ugly tree,” these birds also can quickly reach their favorite feeding grounds in the crabapples nearby, or swoop down to the pond for a drink.

This has been an especially proud year for “the ugly tree,” because it added height, took on a deep, healthy green tone and demonstrated robust growth on most of its limbs while maintaining its distinct personality. With the ever-present voids along its stem and the absence of the symmetry displayed by its somewhat haughty neighboring pines, “the ugly tree” still resembles a trigonometry problem with far too many tangents, but its imbalance has become its calling card.

It is so easy to jump on the bandwagon and cheer for the winners in the world with their flawless appearance and beauty to excess, but it seems much more rewarding to stand up for the ugly trees around us. Without realizing it at the time, we have received a lot of lessons from that scraggly mess of a pine. It is nice having it around.

FISHING REPORT: The staff at Netcraft in Maumee reports very strong catches of yellow perch have come from the Big Pickerel Reef and Crib Reef areas in the Camp Perry firing range. They also relay steady perch fishing has been had in the waters south of Kelleys Island and north of North Bass Island. Walleye anglers have done well near “K” as well as off the Camp Perry firing range and around Scott Point Shoal. Along the Maumee River, anglers have picked up a few walleye below the dam at Grand Rapids using jigs dressed with grubs.

Contact Blade outdoors editor Matt Markey at: mmarkey@theblade.com or 419-724-6068.

First Published October 28, 2016, 4:35 a.m.