I spent most of the day in the yard doing the yard work I failed to do last weekend due to a nasty summer cold. I stacked all the firewood from the black locust I had cut, which was a great workout, if a tad annoying. I then set about clearing out the tangle from the front part of the back yard.
The tangle is what could be a beautiful bed of azaleas and rhododendrons that is right outside of the back door. Unfortunately, the previous owner's neglect had turned it into a slightly unhealthy mass of azaleas slowly choking in honeysuckle and being crowded out by butterfly bushes (buddleia davidii.) The butterfly bushes were planted along the fence to create a hedge, but the volunteers are everywhere. I cut perhaps 30-40 quarter-inch or smaller sprouts today. And filled a 50 gallon trash can full with honeysuckle.
Paradoxically, the tangle now looks less healthy and pretty than it did before. The removal of the honeysuckle has exposed the choked azaleas, which I carefully pruned. With any luck, the azaleas will start to thrive again and turn that portion of the yard into something beautiful. I am quite sure I will be pulling honeysuckle out of that area many many more times this summer and in years to come. But the worst is gone.
I still need to prune a dogwood in my front yard - I took care of one that was trying to grow in the kitchen window today - and a butterfly bush near the lower front entrance to the house that is approaching 10 ft tall. I also want to cut down the 5 butterfly bushes along the rock wall next to the parking area. First, they obscure the wall, which is pretty. Second, as invasive as the darn things are, I'm afraid of them undermining the wall. Lastly, I have so bloody many of them, I'd like to add some variety. I'm thinking of replacing them with liriope, which would cover the entire grassy strip there. Of course, I could put in the liriope and leave the bushes if I wanted, but they'd still obscure the wall.
Posted by brent at 20:29