Holly doesn't make me jolly
Deck your halls with boughs of holly if you will, but I'm "undecking" my front yard of two overgrown, underpruned, scale-infested, sooty-mold-covered hollies. In fact I just got done whacking out the second one, which is now piled high on a tarp sitting on the driveway, waiting for me to chop it into small enough pieces to get rid of. (For some reason, a shrub taken out in pieces seems to take up way more volume than the original shrub.)
I've also raked up a short ton of old holly leaves that were under the bushes in varying states of decay, interlaced with plastic bags, chunks of shingles, styrofoam bits, and other detritus that have been in hiding for God knows how long. I'm almost afraid to dig any deeper lest I find I'm on top of a landfill. There's also a whole row of those brick-red concrete edging pieces with the scalloped tops, which I hate; the hollies had grown out maybe four feet in front of them, drooping down to the ground so you couldn't even tell they were there. Looks like it's time to get out the crowbar and dig'em all out.
Once I cut out as much of the stumps as I can, it'll be time to build a decent planting bed and put in some new plants. I'm not sure just what I'm going to put there, but you can bet your arse it won't be hollies. I've squeezed behind those prickly buggers to get to the hosecock for the last time.
3 comments:
Oddly, I like Holly...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/61803300@N00/15373184/
Hope you're doing ok. Things sure aren't the same without you.
Removing old bushes and shrubs is a pain. My in-laws and I disposed of eight boxwoods from the front of our house as Phase One of our relandscaping project. Now, we're stuck with roots. Our first estimate from a professional landscaper was high, but at least it included a few items other than just root removal.
If only I can cut down that sump pump pipe sticking three feet from the house...
Trundling_Grunt: I won't argue with your last statement. Things sure aren't the same. As to whether I'm doing "OK", I guess that depends on your definition of OK. If "OK' encompasses drawing unemployment for an extended period while sending out resumes and going to the odd interview (followed by either a "Thanks but no thanks" letter or no response at all), then I'm quite OK.
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