I had such a WONDERFUL visit with my sisters and their husbands. I didn’t want to see them go, but knew they had to. Before they got here, my hubby decided to take on a LARGE project in the yard. We live fairly close to the road and we’ve always had a row of hedges and bushes between us and the road to give us some privacy, but it had become a gnarly mess of honeysuckle, poison ivy and lots of wild weeds. He decided about 2 weeks ago to clear it all out…
I woke up one morning to the sound of the chain saw and looked out to see what he was doing. There was no BEFORE picture, because I had no idea he was going to do it. I searched and searched for a picture of the hedges/bushes before they got out of hand, and could only find a couple… Here is probably the best one…from probably 10 years ago, at least. It’s that hedge out on the right side of the picture… and it was nice when it looked like that… easy to trim and thick and green…
… but recently it looked like this… leggy and too tall for him to easily trim it. It’s hard to tell, but it’s about 15 feet deep, so it takes a lot of our yard.
That part of the hedge is still there, as my hubby has only worked on the part where it is closest to our driveway… it’s SO opened up now, I’m not sure he’s ready to remove ALL the hedges, but we’ll see… :o)
So let’s see what he was working on for days and days… Here he was in the thick of things… this is on the left side of where you saw the nice hedge.
These big trunks belong to the honeysuckle… it was a tangled mess and very hard to cut out…
He used a chain hooked to his truck to haul these through the yard, and hauled 4 or 5 pick-up truck loads of the slightly smaller limbs back to our neighbors burn pile…
So it looks like this now… pretty “see through” and void of any “gnarlyness!”
There is just lots of chipped up wood on the ground, but he’ll plant some grass soon…
That big tree is the Sasafrass tree Simon and his siblings (our Raccoon visitors) lived in a few summers ago.
It is certainly clean and tidy and neater looking, but it leaves us totally exposed to the road. It’s too late now to do anything about it now, so we are just hoping to get used to it and not worry about things. My hubby did it all to make it easier to maintain and mow around…
Well, that’s it for this weeks “yard post!”
See you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
Looks great! I was a little worried about being so exposed to the road but it really does look beautiful. Tell George š.
Wow, he really did a LOT of work in that area! I had no idea that honeysuckle roots could get so big!! I’m sure you’ll figure out something more manageable that will give you some protection from the road….eventually!! Does he have something in mind yet?
Tell George he did a wonderful job! It looks like a botanical garden there with the large, lush trees! That is not a job for a wimpy guy, I’ll tell you that!
The Sasafrass tree is really beautiful, at least the part we see. I can imagine you had one tired hubby for Father’s Day!
I came across a Facebook site one time that showed a volunteer who cleans up peopleās yards who canāt afford to have it done. Yours had just a contained fraction of what he takes on, but just as dense. Canāt imagine what it would have cost to dispose of the greenery as thereās no such thing as a burn pit here in California, at least not open to the public! Good job, George!
I think it looks so much nicer. Makes your home look like an estate now. Beautiful. What George did is not unlike what we have been doing here. Other person has been using a reciprocating saw to carefully remove the privet stalks without damaging any decent plants underneath in some spots. Others, a bigger saw or anything that will cut blackberry and ivy. It was as dense as yours in some places. The load in the pick up reminds me exactly of our former privets. However, here no one would be allowed to burn anything, so my job has been to cut up the greenery with clippers or loppers into small pieces to fill regular plastic garbage cans which we then haul to the front and dump into the yard waste can to be picked up. The big pieces, like in George’s truck, other person cuts up with his saw, and they also go in the yard can as room allows. Here, they suggest clearing everything within 10 feet of the house. Nothing hanging over the house at all. All for fire prevention. Your newly cleaned area looks great, but my question is, how do you keep the honeysuckle, and whatever else from growing back? Seems like it will start sprouting again without digging it out? I really do not want to use any weed killer, but we may have to. What’s George going to do?
I think it looks so much nicer to be able to see the house from the road. What about a three foot fence in it’s place? Just a thought. Tell George, he has been doing an amazing job. Here, we have a lot more to go. Ugh.
Thanks so much for sharing this Jeanne. Hope George, can take a break after his amazing feat. š
Geez George..you are a one man gorilla! That was a lot of work and it does look so nice. Hope you can keep the roots from coming back! I have never seen a tree like that. Sassafras? Impressive size for sureš
Whatever has changed on your blog Jeanne is awesome. I used to lose my posts regularly before I was finishedā¦now it doesnāt happenšā¦.and now it keeps my name and email tooāŗļø Thank you!
Dear Jeanne, I love your pun “yard post.” It makes me think that that is what you might consider, a white picket fence. I have seen some on the decorating shows that are made out of products that don’t need any maintenance.
Applause to your husband for his hard work.
A lot of work to be sure, so good job to George. We’re doing a very similar thing in the bottom corner of our yard, removing the honeysuckle, wild blackberry etc. from the pussy willows. The one honeysuckle at the other corner is allowed to stay. We have a row of arbor vitae against the six foot privacy fence as our privacy from the neighbors. Those things grow very fast. They are probably 10 feet tall.
Your sassafras tree is gorgeous!
Wow! George did an amazing job. I was in pain just seeing the pictures. So much work. The area looks so neat and tidy now. As for being exposed to the road, I live on a corner with a main road into town on one side and a very narrow thru street on the other. Privacy is impossible here because anything we would plant or put up would create a vision problem for turning traffic. We have a neighbor down the street that put up a nice fence around their property. Problem is the top rail of the fence makes it hard to see to the left when turning onto the intersecting street. The other day someone was speeding on that street and totally out of the range of my vision even in an SUV that sits high. I nearly pulled out in front of him but something made me hesitate. I chalk it up to Divine Intervention. I’m surprised they got the fence passed. It only needs to be about four inches lower and the problem would be alleviated.
Summer has definitely arrived here with our feels like temps over 100 degrees. We had a lovely spring and we were hoping that meant a delay to summer heat but it seems that’s not to be so. We get those “bubbles” over us that last for weeks at a time. I really can’t take the heat so I hibernate all summer, especially this year because we have no swimming pool. Evidently they are going to take it completely out and try some other kind of water thing.
When we moved here we had a competition pool at the school that the city used in the summer, but it was needing repairs due to age so they removed that one and we were without a pool for a few years. Then they decided to build another one and took a survey to see what kind of pool people wanted – a competition pool or a recreational pool. Well the recreational pool won out but the people they got to design it did not do a great job. Most of the pool appeals to children under the age of eight but not much above that, since I’ve noticed Skyy and Jaiden’s interest waning as they got older. The only place where you can swim laps at all is where they put the volleyball net so when people are playing volleyball you cannot swim. The sliding board is boring per the grandkids and most of the pool is less than 4 ft. deep. But it was a chance to get outside and still be cool. But it’s no wonder they have been losing money.
Right now I’m playing lady-in-waiting to 60 dolly daughters who said it’s high time they are out of their Easter duds and into something more appropriate for summer. Each time I do this I hope, to no avail, that they have learned to dress themselves. I’ve come to believe they refuse just so they can get the personal attention.
Dear Barbara, oh my goodness are you actually dressing 60 dolls? That is amazing.
I have about 3 doll children that I dress with any regularity. One has had on the same party dress for at least 3 years so you see my definition of regularity (laugh).
I look forward to seeing photos of your 60 children when they are re-dressed. I am guessing you will need a spa date after that. I know that I would (smile).
Good morning all, you would have thought after living here for
50 years I would get the time thing right lol. I said would be having surgery Tuesday your time! We are between 15 and 24 hours ahead of you depending where in the States you live, not behind so I had the surgery yesterday afternoon. Everything seems to have gone well, just had breakfast, first food for 24 hours!
Sam set up my tablet with my outlook E mail address so didn’t have to bring my computer which is great. It is good to be able to keep in contact.
Sam sent me a photo last night of my little dog sitting outside my bedroom door poor boy.
Obviously he is already missing me.