Trimming Thursday

Seeing that we are almost to the Ides of January, with snow on the ground and grey skies above, I thought a little summer color would be a nice change of scenery (or greenery, LOL)!

Obviously, you may know that I can be ruthless with a paintbrush. But what you may not know is that I are relentless with pruning shears! 

The first three tarp loads of many, many loads

There was SO much to attack prune up in Michigan. The privet hedges were going gangbusters. The flowering bushes were towering. And the evergreens had gone wild and were starting to overgrowing the driveway. Where to start? 

The flowering bushes were tackled after they bloomed. The privets were leveled at 4 feet.

Privet hedges still looking good in October

 And the evergreens?

They required pruners, loppers and then, a chainsaw! These are Pfitzers, a member of the Juniper family and are ancient! They grow in layers and the trunks like to twist & turn ever which way, not to mention they are prickly.

Right side of the driveway before pruning

I had hacked them back some by myself but I will not run a chainsaw by myself and that's what this trimming job really needed. It's a two person job for safety reasons. My friend P came up to Michigan for a day to help me out. Between us, we cut them back a good two feet on each side of the driveway. 

After Pruning!

They had a bit of a rough shorn look but will fill in by this summer. At least, I'm hoping they will so my dad doesn't go into shock when he sees them. The pictures don't show the extent of the hacking but if you look at the before, you can see some of the die back look to the evergreens. And yes, some hostas were also removed during this adventure.

Wide open driveway!

While P was there, we also took down 6 trees. They were only about 20-30 footers, young & thin but grew wild in less than ideal spots. Two of them were located behind the house, basically weed trees that would hit the house should they happen to fall. P handled the chainsaw & I manned, or rather, woman-ed the guide rope. My job was to pull at exactly the right moment of cutting to direct them away from the house so as to not damage the roof. I'm happy to report the roof is fine! 

There is something so satisfying about trimming, whether it's trees, bushes or quilt edges!