Yardening 6- Feb 2014- Snow SNow go away!

On my way out to the mail box yesterday I looked for spring blooms but most of the areas where the earliest blooms are were still covered with snow piles. I heard a rumor that we are to get more bad weather. I will have to check the weather forecast later.

Chance of snow 80% is on March 18th according to the Weather Channel.

This message was edited Mar 9, 2014 11:18 AM

who among us will have the longest lasting snow pile? Someone did that after Snowmageddon, compared to see who would have the last snow mound.
Maybe we'd rather not focus on that though!

Right now--all the shopping center parking lots would win that one...
as they snow plowers all choose to build a huge pile out of the way--somewhere...

and there they sit--dirty and muddy looking...a monument to this stupid weather.

I still have snow in front of my house--quite a bit...it faces North--and it just has not melted yet.
G.

Geez Speedie, what happened to that beautiful Crape Myrtle??

Crape Murder: http://www.classicgardens.com/crape-murder/

Yep, what Muddy said; that's what happened to it. We "did" Christmas differently this year; the previous owner's son-in-law (who runs a landscaping company, if you can believe it!!) was in charge of Christmas; all the buying of the product to sell. Well, he figured he wanted to "clean up" the place to make his product more visible from all angles, so he MURDERED the Crape.. in fact, most of the Crape's on the property. MAJOR HACK JOB; not only on the Crape, but on the Vitex RIGHT in front of the store too, as well as ALL the grasses in the landscaping around the store. ALL HACKED BACK -- and RIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS, TOO!! DUH, should he not know better!?!?! Boy, did I tell him about it, too!! Gave him a blue earful!! That vitex was so horribly hacked that the new owners could not keep it - it's been replaced with a Weeping Bald Cypress. Can't WAIT for it to start greening up!! =)

OK, gotta go get ready for work. Have a beautiful Springy day y'all!! =)

1: Vitex hack job

2: Pampas Grass hack job

3: Scotch Broom hack job

4: Miscanthus hack job.

And this guy is running a landscaping company? Just proof that you don't need any sense to be a 'professional landscaper'. I've made my mistakes too but I don't label myself as a professional either.

These are probably the same kinds of hacks that suggest tree topping as a good method of tree maintenance to uninformed homeowners.

One of my neighbors had a paper bark birch topped this year. Fortunately it is in their backyard and I don't have to see it everyday. It looks HORRIBLE. I can't even take a picture, it's just too hideous. It would give you nightmares.

In other news, there's a plastic bag stuck in a tree near my house. How do I get it out? It's probably about 12' up. Was thinking about tying a stick to a rope and throwing it at the bag to try to snag it out.

This message was edited Mar 11, 2014 8:35 AM

Oh, doesn't that just drive you crazy. Do any of your neighbors have a pool? I have an extending pole for the pool that extends pretty far.

12' is maybe reachable with an extending pole saw- wish I lived closer, I could bring one over. The saw teeth would grab it I think.

A topped paper birch- }}}SHUDDERRR{{{ plus sounds like a recipe for killing the tree.

Thanks for the suggestion about getting the bag out of the tree. No one around us has a pool but I'll see if we can borrow a pole saw.

Sally, the poor tree will surely die. In fact, I hope it's sooner rather than later. I hope it is already dead. Otherwise the poor thing will put out sad little water sprouts and just languish in a slow death spiral. What a travesty! I almost want to go ask the people who did it so that I can start an advertising campaign against them.

Just figuring, if I you reach six or seven feet with your hands, and I know my pole saw extends to at least seven feet too..I have a big broken branch in my redbud that is oh say 14 - 15 feet , and one inch one lousy extra inch, off the ground.

Sadly I'm sure you know it 'goes both ways' ...I can hardly (much) blame the hungry tree trimmer when faced with the insistent homeowner "But I want it topped!!!"

Haha...funny Typ...

When we moved into our house January 2010, there were two trees in the front yard. A Norway Maple and a Silver Maple. Both of them had a 1-1.5' thick ring of mulch around the trunk and it tapered off probably extending in a 10' diameter around each tree....strike one...the Norway had already succumbed to this 'landscaping technique' as we found out when a wind storm blew down one of the leaders February that year. Keep in mind there was no snow, ice, or leaves on this tree. It turns out that it was infested with wood borers and had been languishing for a while as the neighbors would later tell me they tried to get the previous owner to cut it down. The Silver Maple was topped a several years prior, which gave a nice home to a woodpecker family...strike two...Mr. and Mrs. Woodpecker moved out and a nice carpenter ant colony moved in to take over...strike three...so that one came down too. Good news was I got to plant a Dawn Redwood and Blue Atlas Cedar in their place :)

sally--

I did not know you have only lived in your house since 2010!
Thought you have been there "forever"......like me in mine--44 years....

Wait! You would have been a little kid back then...
G.

Oh man...if you're talking to me, I haven't even been alive for 44 years ;P

I second that sequoia

That's OK--I will just think of you all as my amazing "grandchildren"!

Ir is nice having some young-uns here on DG...

Better behave! I have the ole ruler in my hand... G.

Typwc, the pole saw sounds like the best way to get that bag out but, if you have a hose that will reach that far, you could also try blasting it with water.

Gita- ?? I don't know what you mean, if you mean ME sally, or donner sally.
I've been here with Mark for 24 years.

Or maybe that bag will catch rain and get enough weight to pull it down.

Silly me......must have been too late in the evening...

That was sequoia that said that...Why on Earth did I think you said that????

Take me to the Loony Bin....

Why am i up so early???? I have to be at work at 5:30AM today...

..."someone has to be the opener!!! We all take turns..." explanation...
G.

Karen, did you get that bag out of the tree yet? The hose spray sounds like a good idea, you won't have to borrow anything from anyone! :) And even if it's not strong enough to knock it down from that distance, maybe the water can still reach to fill up the bag (like Sally suggested with the rain).. and the weight of the hose water can pull it down. So ugly when bags get stuck up in trees, tsk tsk!
And, topping that birch!?!? Oh NOOOO!!! Someone there made a really bad decision, either the homeowner (if he insisted on it) or the "landscaper" by actually doing it! ACK!!! Are you friendly with those neighbors? Show them this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAP6AT2Adgo Maybe if they see it they will decide to put the poor thing out of its misery soon!

Jeff; that's just sooo sad, the treatment of those trees that you described!! I like your choices of replacements though! Got pictures?? :)

Perusing the crape murders around our property yesterday... already I'm seeing dying off of some of the left-over hacked twigs. Those 15+ year-old trees might end up coming down after all. GAH!!!!!!!!!

Haha Gita, I have no Grandma anymore so you could be my adoptive one :)

I attached some pics for you Speedie. Every year I take a photo diary of the yard progress on Memorial Day. Those were from last Memorial Day. The Metasequoia was a 6" sapling when I planted it in 4 years ago....now it's over 21'!

Thank you Sir, they are gorgeous!! Good for you taking such loving care of your Meta - you are clearly a GREAT Tree Daddy! (hmmm... new name?? HA!) I especially love the cedar though, that one is a BIG WOW!!!!!!

Nice trees Jeff! Nice garden beds too. Your yarden looks great.

Great idea to take a picture at the same time every year! I love that blue conifer.

I had a terrible camera phone when we first moved in, so we don't have any "before" pictures, but there was literally no plant life here before. Except for Virginia creeper and English ivy! Ugh!

I'm going to try to get some yardening done today before the storm hits. Maybe put down some fertilizer today and let the rains soak it in.

Bag is still in the tree. I found out yesterday that my nextdoor neighbor's kid was playing with the plastic bag that magically ended up in the tree. So many annoying things about that, it hurts my head. Anyway, I didn't want to attempt to take the bag out of the tree when the offending neighbors were outside, so it hangs there still... like a beacon of stupid parenting practices.

Oh did I just say that? Sorry I'm feeling a little feisty today. And I'm just going to go "out on a limb" and say that these neighbors will NEVER be on Dave's Garden.

#seewhatididthere

This message was edited Mar 12, 2014 11:01 AM

Haha...tree daddy... :)

Yeah it was a #15 pot when I planted it. I was ignorant back then though and didn't know to cut the roots in the bottom. Darned thing was so heavy I could barely get it in the hole. Hopefully it matures nicely. The cedar is actually part of a huge shrub bed I installed in the fall. I will be adding some more this spring so hopefully that looks nice in a few years.

Thank you for the compliments :)

Lol

Really looks great, I have years of before and after pics and it is so interesting to look back and see how far we came.
Typwc, Most of our neighbors are pretty good but we have had some really doozies over the years. At least there is some space between the house and the neighbors. One I quite often think about was the one that told me one day that my goats were very noisy early in the morning when I fed them. I just looked at him and said "Didn't you notice the barn sitting very close to your house when you bought it"?

Lol....I can't resist but is this person just a grumpy old goat???

LOL, Grumpy young goat. He didn't last long. He was going thru a divorce at the time and I think he just needed a quick cheap place to live till he got things settled. So I guess you could take that into consideration. We were very pleased to see him go.

Yeah I hear that. We have a couple renters next to us and I just found out that the one landlord is selling the house and then across the street the other renters are moving out. We don't care much for those ones..

Holly, I've heard about conflicts between farmers on their old farms and homeowners in newly developed neighborhoods and I'm always left scratching my head about that same thing: Did they really not know that there was a farm with farm smells and farm sounds right there? They were the ones that wanted to move out into the country!

In a rowhouse, I've got lots of neighbors. Most of them are great. Even the ones who let their kids play with plastic bags are actually very good neighbors. The rowhouse across from my backyard is currently for sale. I am very nervous because they could really make or break my sense of tranquility in the backyard. Hopefully they are clean and quiet and don't have a lot of cookouts with wild shirtless drinkers shouting expletives and "Woohoo!!!" all night. My worst fear!

Haha!

People move out to the country and then complain about noisy wildlife, bugs, etc...duh

Oh man, how I would LOVE to be your neighbor Holly!! The "Farm Sounds" are so peaceful and sweet and Happy-making!! And (ok, yeah, I'm weird!) I love the smell of manure!! The best part of being, and driving, around here around all the Amish farms in the Spring is when they spread the manure on the land before they sow -- Mmmmmmm, so SWEET!! =)

Typ, heeheeheee "WooHooo all night", LOL!!!! Yeah, I hope you get a nice newly-retired but still-young couple who likes gardening, have a mute dog that's about 3" tall, and enjoys quiet evenings in their back yarden, enjoying whispered chats about Columbines over a glass of wine. =)

speedie: now that would be PERFECT. We used to have neighbors that had a chronic "problem" with overestimating the amount of gourmet food that the two of them could eat. They would walk up to our back gate and say: "Hey, can you help us eat these sausage-stuffed mushrooms?" "Sigh, If I must!" ;)

Holly, I'd totally be your neighbor too. Bring on the animal sounds!

Oh man....I've never gotten an appreciation for the smell of manure...

I do however enjoy the smell of Espoma products when applied.