Taming the Jungle . . . .

When we bought our house last fall I was enamored of all the trees. Then one put a hole in our roof and we made the difficult decision to cut it down along with one other that was not really healthy. It was sad to see our biggest tree gone, but I do enjoy the light my house gained and I definitely sleep better at night. Now that spring is here we have been spending hours in our overgrown yard trying to tame the beast. I find the more I rip out the more I am willing to rip out. I still love my trees and bushes, but I didn't flinch to pull out the overgrown, half dead, all ugly bushes that bordered our driveway . . . .

And I agreed that the trees needed their bottom limbs trimmed up on the side of our house. . .

Before. . . . .and after. . . .

We still have to clean up some more on that one. And finally, since moving in Rob has been working on getting me to allow the tree smack in front of our house to be cut down. I have resisted because I bought the house for the trees. But after putting in work on the house I agreed that it was a little sad that the tree blocked the view of and from half our house. So today, while I was showing weakness, I agreed to cut the tree down. Rob went in to shower, I can in ten minutes later and was informed that Dan the tree man would be by in an hour and a half to cut down the tree. WOW. He works fast. He did assure me that this tree would be the last to go. You tell me if we made the right choice. . . .

Before. . .

And after. . . (the tree is still lying there--Dan cut it down one hour ago, so the view will improve soon. . .I hope)

What really amazes me is how much strangers get annoyed when you cut things down. Neighbors expressed concern when we cut the two trees down last December and just about a half hour ago a woman driving by came to a dead stop and stared with her jaw in her lap for a good thirty seconds before slowing rolling away. Should you really have to answer to your neighbors when it comes to your landscaping?

On a positive note, we have added a few things to the curb appeal. We painted the shutters black (Well, half of them. Right now they are half black and half green--perhaps not the best example of added curb appeal, but when they are done it will look fabulous.) We changed the exterior lighting and house numbers, we bought a new front door that is currently drying in the garage. We stained the outside a dark almost black and are painting the inside white. We took out the half dead azaleas in front and planted sweet box bushes that will eventually form a hedge. And we hung six hanging baskets from our porch--our porch has a built in drip system to water the hanging baskets. So some lovely things are happening around here, see. . . .

The middle one is of the sweet box in front of our house. I plan on planting agapanthus in front of it, but even the dwarf variety might get taller than the bushes are currently. I may have to wait until the bushes grow a little. Rob is calling. The tree needs clearing, so back to work I go! I will post pics of the new fabulous door when it goes up. Then all I will need are more plants, and the porch rails installed, and a few rocking chairs for the porch. . . . .