April 4, 2017        - Grey Owl Juniper – I love them and I hate them.

          I really love the grey owl junipers.  I love the color, I love the wispiness of the shrub, and I love the growth rate – awesome here in North Carolina, here in my hard red clay.

          But, I hate it they get ahead of you on growth.  They get too big; it’s like you just turn your back and they need to be trimmed again. They are beautiful, but time consuming.

          When I originally landscaped this house back in 1998, the grey owl junipers were just arriving on the scene at the garden centers.   Because of their looks, I snapped four of them up and ran them down the front of the house.  They were beautiful and came along quickly and then suddenly – too quickly.

          On several occasions I have had a handyman come in and cut them back drastically – and they bounce back quickly with growth.  They don’t want to stay small at my house.

         

My original planting consisted of a pink honeysuckle vine between the first and second grey owl junipers. As the grey owl junipers grew too big, the honeysuckle vine kept getting larger and larger and spilling over the junipers.  Looked lovely, the hummingbirds didn’t mind the overgrown shrubs, and I basically turned a blind eye to the shrubs getting too large for the sake of the honeysuckle vine.

          But, upon investigation of too much heavy snow on the junipers two years ago, I noticed the wrought iron trellis I had put up for the honeysuckle had been crushed to the ground under the weight of years of over growth of the junipers.

About a month ago I had the juniper next to the front steps cut down by my handyman and hauled off.   I simply couldn’t keep it trimmed away from the railing and the bush was way too big for the location.   I also wanted the pink honeysuckle vine to now become the focal point as it is large.

          This morning was clear and cool and perfect for tackling the bent over honeysuckle trellis and the overgrown honeysuckle vine, and to nip another half of the juniper along the front of the house so that I could reclaim 6 feet of precious sunny garden space.

I drastically cut back the honeysuckle vine and yanked the wrought iron trellis back upright and tied it in place.  There is plenty of new growth so I expect it to bounce back nicely.

          I drug all the cut limbs and excess vines out onto the front lawn. 

I don’t normally drive the F150 pickup truck because it is a standard and I’m not good with a clutch drive anymore.  I will only venture driving the truck along my driveway or out my drive and then across my lawn to the back of my property.

My husband is always amused at me when I try to drive it.  I managed to get the truck to the end of the drive near the front lawn to load it.  I filled the truck half full of limbs from the front step area.

         

          Then, I tackled the three grey owl junipers I planted around the mailbox.  These I have cut back every other year to keep them smaller – below my waist.   Two years ago I got two stings from a wasp that was hidden in the shrub.    I packed my wrist on ice, and phoned my handy man to come by and spray the wasps and trim the shrubs when he had time.  Month or so later, my handy man, armed with spray tackled the junipers and got them down to about knee high again and hauled off the limbs.

          Last fall, I again was going to tackle cutting the junipers back as the tips were brushing on the mail carrier’s vehicle.    Again, a nasty wasp stung me when I was cutting the second limb. I packed my hand in ice and shelved the project until today.

          Luckily today, the wasp nest had disintegrated over the winter and they hadn’t built a new one yet.  I cut the junipers back severely and tossed the limbs on the truck.

          I strapped the load of limbs down with ropes.  I cross it from corner to corner and then once over in the middle, just as it started to rain.

Done for the day due to rain!