March 20, 2019 – Trees down – and new gardens to plan

         Every seven years in a garden, you have to re-adjust, cut out, expand or contract shrubs, trees or flowerbeds.  Every few years I have re-done many of the gardens.

         This year I am on year twenty-one [21] in my garden at this home and it is serious eradicate and restructure for my retirement gardens that I expect will take me another 20 or so years. Aren’t I optimistic?

         Today I had seven trees taken down that should have been taken down a few years ago, but I just now got around to it.  It has opened up entirely new garden areas with new possibilities.

         The Leyland semi-circle of seven three-foot specimens I planted 21 years ago were gorgeous for many years. They quickly grew from three feet to 30 feet to even taller. But, a few years ago we had an ice storm and one fell on top of another causing two to genuflect from the heavy ice and snow.  The tippy tops landed on the side of my house – with no damage.

         But, they were so massive my husband and I couldn’t handle cutting them down ourselves as they were 30 plus feet tall.  I had a man and his son cut them down and haul them off.  It took two flatbed trips to remove the limbs and trunks.  Of course, they were the two trees in the middle that left a “lost tooth” effect in my ‘privacy’ screen of evergreen. 

         There were two on the east and three on the west and a gap in the middle I suffered with for several years.  My husband wanted to “save” the rest of them, which were now moth eaten by bagworms.  As this sad sight has been a burr under my saddle, I made the decision to cut them down without my husband’s input.

Photo of "And Then There Was One . . ." - the last one taken down:

         This year, the first tree taken down was a large Leyland at the front north corner of the house.  I was mistaken twenty years ago when I planted it twelve feet from the foundation – as it was still not enough space and it towered over my home for 20 years until a few months ago.  In that time, it had split into three trunks in the end and one of the three trunks decided to rest its branches on my roof during the last ice storm.

         During the height of the ice storm, I could hear the icy sleet and wind as its limbs were swishing on my metal room.  I honestly expected to have a tree in my bed by my morning.  I had someone cut it down about a month ago.  That someone was supposed to come back and remove the ragged stump, do some raking and re-seed the lawn.  Today I had the new tree man take out the ragged stump.  I already did the raking and I have been working on the re-seeding and patching the ruts in the lawn he created with his heavy equipment.

         As they say in the South – I will have a prayer meeting with the first tree man when I catch up with him on work not done completely and what he has to do to re-pay me for his laxness.  I doubt that will go in my favor – but I will at least try it.  That too, is optimistic – now isn’t it?

         But, the big tree at the front of the house – which caused a circle 30 feet in diameter is now full sun and open to endless possibilities of replanting.  I’ve sketched out at least three versions with a wish list of plants.  I still haven’t decided what I am going to do completely, but I will move the giant pot to the stump and plant the new Wave petunias to cascade out of that pot this year and figure out what I want to do as the spring garden centers present me with possibilities. [I promise a blog on what I eventually do.]

         That area is full sun and it screams for color.  The soil has been shaded and mulched for two decades – so it should be easy to accomplish something spectacular.

         As for the Leyland semi-circle, which is, no longer in existence, except for the soft earth overlaying years of detritus [organic matter produced by fallen leaves and mulch] I have something special planned.  

         I’ve a pair of 6 x 8 foot greenhouses in my shed  - still in the cartons. I purchased them last fall waiting for me to have the trees cut down and put in foundations.  Then I will be ready to put them together.

         Talk about trying to be a superwoman . . . yeah, I hear you.  But, I’ve dreamed of a greenhouse all my gardening life and now, in my retirement – I will have something new to play with.

         One of the last two trees was a persimmon tree that just loved to drop fruit on my pathway from the patio and stepping on its fallen fruit walking the dog or rushing out to feed the birds was hazardous to my health.  I slipped and fell on my butt one too many times and vowed I would cut the tree down.  It is now gone and I am delighted I won’t slip and break my neck on fallen persimmon fruit again.

         The last of the trees was one that was at the end of the driveway and it was getting to the age where it was dropping dead limbs as thick as a man’s arm on our automobiles.  Before I needed to buy a new windshield, I decided it was best to cut the tree down and that creates the beginning of the permeable driveway.

         Yes, another “super woman” project. I am going to pave it with permeable cobblestones. Hold onto your seat – I plan to lay the pavers myself.  It will be a DIY project, and I actually have someone lined up to help me on the excavation of the crushed stone driveway to the right depth in order to begin that project.

         I will be taking pictures and blogging about that project – as it is a massive undertaking.

         I must say – much was accomplished on this first day of Spring.

Good gardening to you!