New landscaping next steps

Yesterday while I was sitting in my office a butterfly came and basked on my window. Basking is when a butterfly perches on something in the sunlight and opens its wings to get warmth from the sun. It was a cheering sight. It helped spur me on to keep going with my landscaping plans. I took this picture. I was a little too far away to get a good shot. But here it is. See if you can spot it. 

I hope to get a big rock or two as part of our new landscape for them to bask and “puddle” on. “Puddling" is when butterflies congregate on mud or damp sand to extract minerals and drink the water. There might almost be enough dirt on my window for puddling but of course being vertical there’s no water! 

I’m glad that even before I finish my landscaping they are willing to bask on my window anyway.

Speaking of landscaping, you may be wondering how my landscaping is going. 

Slow - is the word.

So far, it’s mostly in the mental stage. I think the mental work is the hardest. My husband might disagree. But that would be because he doesn’t know how hard the mental work is. I don't know about most people but I find that mental work includes, in addition to research and making decisions, a lot of lifting and digging up things like fear, worry, perfectionism, and “what will the neighbors think.” It feels much harder to me than lifting rocks and digging planting beds.

But I have done other things too, besides ponder, worry and procrastinate.

Yesterday I wrote to a designer, Val Nolen, that my friend Susan recommended. A few minutes ago, she rang back and we made an appointment to meet next week.

Last week I took a series of photos of the house to see how much sun and shade our yard gets throughout the day. Here is a compilation. The top left photo was at 7:30 a.m. The last photo at the bottom was at 5:55 p.m.

According to my calculations:

The part of yard along the foundation gets about 4 hours full sun (some parts more or less). The front half of the yard (closer to the side walk) gets about 7 hours full sun. The "nature strip" between the side walk and street on the side closest to the mailbox gets 7 hours full sun. The "nature strip" between the side walk and street on the side closest to the fire plug gets 6 hours full sun.   

I have also been reading books, watching videos and sketching out rough ideas.

We recently also took a walk around our neighborhood to see what other people are growing and how they have arranged their front yard (for my Aussie friends “yard” means garden.) It was nice to see that even simple designs and plants can look appealing. I was also intrigued by how many people have added patios in the front of their homes. I've always thought it a shame that most houses in our area were not built with porches. It's nice to see that so many people seem to agree and have decided to create their own. 

Other things I want in our landscape in addition to a sitting area and butterfly and other wildlife friendly plants, is that it will look nice, be low maintenance, drought tolerant, cold and heat tolerant, with a mix of perennials and evergreens that will provide year round interest. If you're not familiar with the concept of year round interest, it basically means that it won't all just die back to bare dirt or dead twigs during the winter. I also want a walkway that will go across the front of the house that will connect with the walk ways we already have along the side and in the back. We also hope to plant another shade tree or two but of course it will be a while before they will provide shade.

It sounds like a lot, but I know it is possible and I am looking forward to meeting with the designer next week. I'll keep you posted as to how it all goes.

Thanks for coming along on this adventure with me.

Feel free to share your landscaping experiences or suggestions in the comments.

Tree Removal Part 2

In case you missed my last two posts, here's a quick recap: Our big ash trees in the front yard were severely damaged by the big winter storm this past February. Experts advised us to remove them. 

Last week I recounted the first day of the process. In this post we'll look at the rest of it. (see links at bottom for last two posts) 

Day 2 - Tuesday 8/17/2021

10:59 TG (tree guy) arrived a little while ago. Did quite a bit already. A different, older, man (OM) is with him this time. GS (grandson) not here today.

A little video:

TG is sawing up the parts he just cut off. OM is loading them into the trailer.

Weird how discombobulating it is to have all this happening. Partly, I suppose, because I’m trying to document it and still do other things, like cleaning and decluttering. Also, because John is home and grumpy about it. [I found out later that he was stressed about some work stuff, not about being home.] Maybe I didn’t really need him to be here. But I felt like I did. I wanted him to be here in case they needed to ask anything urgently or if anything bad happened. [Like a couple of years ago when another tree guy injured his back.] So, I very much hope John won't actually be needed, accept for taking photos I mean :-). 

John took this at 12:54

Sometime after 3:00 it started pouring rain. TG took shelter under the eaves in front of my office window. After a couple of minutes, he dashed to his truck to shelter in the cab. OM kept sawing but then joined him a few minutes later. I was talking to a friend on my cell phone at the time so did not take any photos. John took this one from the front porch. 

Their truck was parked further over to the left, so it doesn't show in this photo.

They started up again after things dried up.

They left around 7:00 p.m. Their trailer again piled high with branches.

Day 3 - Wednesday 8/18/2021

9:45 a.m. I went outside and took the above photo this morning before the tree guys came. I surprised a squirrel that was coming down from the top of what's left of the tree on the left. It ran away before I could get a photo. I wonder what it thinks about all this. 

I sent John back to his office this morning. He is stressed about work problems and our internet has been so intermittent. I hope nothing happens that I’ll wish he was here for. [Thankfully nothing did.]

10:30 TG and OM just pulling up. 

10:43 I’m going to do a little cleaning while they set up.

Just after 11:00 they began the process of cutting down the trunks. TG cut around the base of the trunk with his chainsaw. He stopped a few times and OM poured something on the blade. (maybe water to cool it?). After TG had gotten most of the way around they cut a large wedge out of the bottom of the trunk on the opposite side, no doubt so it would fall away from the house. Then OM used a blower to clear the saw dust out of the cut at the base then TG used his chain saw again and cut away the remaining sections.

Here is a video of that final cut and when the trunk fell:

2:17 Both trees down. TG sawing up trunks. OM raking debris and carting giant chunks of logs to the trailer.  

It’s hard to grasp. The trees are really gone. I feel sad. 

But I’m glad the "tree guys" took their time (not slacking-- just not rushing). It feels more respectful of the trees somehow. (safer too)

5:55 they have been gone most of the afternoon. I assume they will be back tomorrow to grind the stumps down (and I haven’t paid them yet). I have a dental appointment in the morning though, so we will be away until noonish.

Thursday, 8/19/21

Got back from my appointment around 12:30.

TG here-- alone this time-- blowing wood chips off the walk ways. He's already finished grinding the stumps.

Later: I was glad it was done but I felt bereft. 

The house looks so barren and ugly without the trees. I wanted to have a cry. Instead, as I wrote in the previous post, I went on-line and looked up landscaping companies in our area and signed up to have a company come out the following Monday. 

But the company never showed up. Could it be a sign? Maybe my friend Susan is right. Maybe we can do it ourselves. We might even enjoy it. It would certainly be an opportunity to practice overcoming perfectionism!  

Mind you, I’m not promising we’ll do it ourselves but whichever way we do it I’ll try to blog about the process. So, stay tuned as we explore options and figure out what to plant next.

Links to previous two posts:

August 4 - End of an era

Sept 8 - Tree removal Part 1 and next steps

Tree Removal Part 1 and next steps

It’s taking longer to write about the tree removal than the actual tree removal did. Not that I've worked on it as long or as hard or as steadily as the tree removal guys did over the four days it took them to remove the trees, but it’s taken me nearly two weeks to post about it. 

Meanwhile progress in figuring out what to plant in place of the trees is also slow. The yard looks so barren without them. It’s depressing. I’ve long felt that our front yard didn’t have much “curb appeal,” but now with the loss of the trees it has even less. Of course, they have been dead and freaky looking for several months, but it was easier to be in denial about that while they were still there. Now there is no denying the yard is bare. 

I did try to make progress with landscaping. On the last day of the tree removal when the trees were gone and the stumps ground down to the ground, I felt so sad and the yard looked so bleak that I signed up with a referral company (Home Advisor) to have a landscaping company come to help us design a new landscape. I felt like we needed expert help and I was worried that if I didn’t do something right away we would end up doing nothing. 

But the company never showed up. 

I told Home Advisor that. Actually, I replied with the number “4” to their multiple-choice question when they texted to ask if the landscaping company came. 

I expected some sort of response or effort from them to make sure they came another time, or at least an apology. But that was a week ago and still no response. 

[Home Advisor finally called two weeks later--from Colorado. So they aren't even in our state. I told them what I thought of their services. They apologized that the landscaping company never showed up and sent me an email with a list of landscaping companies that are supposedly in our area. (Including the one that was a no show). None of them is near us though, so I don't know if they will really be willing to help us.] 

Meanwhile I spoke with my friend Susan and she recommended someone else that is closer. She also encouraged me to think about us doing it ourselves. 

She said that thinking about it is doing something. (I told her I was afraid that I would just wind up doing nothing.) In situations like this I usually get anxious and perfectionistic and then feel too discouraged to do anything at all because I am afraid of doing the wrong thing. Or, I get an idea but “second guess” myself--or let other people’s opinions persuade me too much--so that we end up doing something that is nothing like my original idea and I spend the next ten years hating how it turned out and kicking myself for not following my original idea. (That has happened before and it is a bummer. I really don’t want to fall into that trap if I can avoid it.) But I know that gardening in general is often a matter of trial and error. And experts--and the internet--sometimes give contradictory advice. Of course, things grow and change over time, or die, and have to be modified anyway. But I do want to get off to a good start at least.

Meanwhile, I have lots of photos of the actual tree removal so without further delay: 

The Removal

Monday, August 16

It’s 8:27 a.m. and the tree guy (TG) isn’t here yet

When he said he would be here in the morning I asked “do you mean around 8:00 a.m.?” he texted back, “yes”

Maybe it would have been better if I had asked “what time?” and let him fill in the blank.

8:49 TG just arrived in time for John to explain something about our drip irrigation system before John’s on-line meeting started. John said that TG seemed to understand what he wanted when he told him about the black tube and what not to do. (I really wish we had a normal sprinkler system.)

I see there is a young guy out there with TG. I wonder if it is his son or grandson, I’m guessing grandson (GS).

GS got a ladder out of the truck. Putting it against the tree by my office. That is the tree that another tree guy was working on a couple of years ago when he fell and broke bits off 5 vertebrae in his back (Thankfully he recovered!). I texted several friends last night to pray for safety.

They are doing stuff to get ready but not in a rush. 

I made a cup of tea and washed dishes.

9:31 TG up the tree. Cutting. Several smallish branches down. I took a bit of video from my office window of  GS using rope to guide down a branch. 

9:48 more branches coming down. I hope I am not distracting them by taking video or photos through my office window.

Chunks falling with a thud

10:03 I switched laundry to dryer and did a little cleaning.

TG and GS made a lot of progress while I wasn’t looking.

Switching ladder to another branch. Ladder nearly straight up!!! I would not want their job!!!

More sawing. Branches falling with a swish and rain of saw dust

John went outside and took these next few photos (don't worry he was at a safe distance!)

10:20 TG cutting up branches on the ground and GS helping

10:42 TG back up in the tree. Not much left of that tree

It’s surprising how much more light there already is coming into my office and into the front door. Even though the tree was mostly dead its trunk and branches and odd leafy clumps still provided some shade.

10:54 Took another video this time from outside far enough away to be safe. 

11:22 I’m trying to clean my office. It certainly needs it. But it’s difficult to declutter and clean and chronicle the tree removal all at the same time even though I am in my office while watching them work. 

1:49 TG starting on the other tree

5:00 They left with their trailer fully loaded with branches. 

One tree mostly gone and the other tree still to go.

It was a shock to see the tree like this. Then I noticed a large yellow butterfly sunning itself on top of the stump. I was delighted! I love butterflies and it seemed like a confirmation of an idea I had about what to plant next: since our yard will be getting a lot more sun with the trees gone, we can grow more butterfly friendly plants. 

But meanwhile we still had a few days to go of the tree removal... 

To be continued...