So I had these empty spaces where the old trees and junk shrubs were cut down and the roots grinded out...
I planted a crepe myrtle nearest the house (because it will be 8' tall). I'm going to plant a 6" rooted cutting from a variegated Eononymous shrub and keep it topped at 4'. I'm still debating whether to replant new Golden Rain trees at the front sides of the driveway. Given that I seem to be layering by height towards the house, I might go with ground covers or small 'Knockout' roses (no aroma, but they drop the dead flowers and don't attract Japanese Beetles).
I think I will root a few cuttings of my 1 remaining (of 3 original) Burning Bushes to go where the Beech Tree once stood. The Burning Bush originally growing near that spot has been overwhelmed by a wild rose I want to keep.
That one was a nice accident. One was growing in the backyard when I moved here and I didn't know what it was. Nice smell, pretty (but small) flowers. Then, after it was graded out during some landscaping work, I saw a picture of it in a gardening article and regretted allowing it to be killed. It was called a "Hawthorne Blush' or 'Hawthorne Rose' or something like that.
Second chances are rare. But apparently, the Hawthorn Rose had gotten seeded next to the Burning Bush and grew along side vigorously. I'll save the Rose and plant a new Burning Bush!
But my lawn is not easy to mow. A riding mower is not the most agile of equipment. I have too many curved edgings. I think it is time to change that. My neighbors across the street have nice curved high stacks of inter-locking paver bricks, so I don't want to copy them.
And I tend to be rather geometric. In the yard, straight angles are easy to mow. So what I'm thinking of is pulling up all the (rather useless) curved plastic edging and replacing it with rectangular wood frames. But for the sake of visual interest, I thought of nailing various height scraps of wood to the outer side of the frames.
I have pieces to use. When I built the step-down fence 30 years ago, I was left with about 100 odd-sized bits of pressure-treated board. I saved them in the garage. Now I have a use for them! I LOVE reusing stuff! I will cut the pieces to 4"-8" random-length pieces and nail them to the basic wood frames around all the shrubs in the front yard. The small air-gun nails are weak, but will hold the pieces in place while 2 lines of exterior wood adhesive permanently affix them.
Have to make the shrub-frames first of course, but that is relatively easy. And last about as long as I will. And pressure-treated wood won't bother the shrubs. I'll post pictures when I get that done.
Next post, adding topsoil to level the lawn from the root grinding and planting grass to cover it...
