Tree Pictures

OK, sometimes I don't post as many pictures here as I do at Mark's Mews.  Cats are more photogenic.  And sometimes trees are just "trees".   But pictures do liven up mere words, and when I mention particular trees, I should show them. 

Part of it is that I don't always have the camera with me outside when I SUDDENLY get it into my mind to do something.  And sometimes I am mostly done with a project and think "why didn't I take pictures?" and then it is too late.  And, given how badly I type (I do a LOT of editing), I should take advantage of the fact that you can't misspell a picture...  LOL!

So here are some tree pictures...

First "Helen's Holly".  It was hard to find an angle where the holly stood out any from the background trees.  This was the best.  The lowest leaves are 6' above ground, so it looks to be about 15" high now and about 20 years transplanted here from 3'.

This is a row of prunings from the holly and a few other trees.  I gather the prunings in  piles I can pick up easily later to load onto the trailer.  The trailer is full of one set of prunings, and there are more in the back yard.  Easily 3 trailer-loads.

This is the front yard Saucer Magnolia showing (as best I can) the twisted branches I am trying to establish.

Hope this helps...

Near Dead Trees and Shrubs

Last year was really hard on the trees and shrubs in the yard.  I have 2 Golden Rain Trees on either side of the front driveway, for example.  In spite of frequent drip watering (obviously insufficient), they both nearly perished.  But there are some branches still alive on both, and both are sending out shoots from the main trunk.  I'm not experienced enough to know if that is really good or not, but growth is surely better than dead.

The 3 Burning Bushes sufferred various degrees of stress.  The first one by the drainage easement is fine but is overgrown with some thorny vine.  That needs to be cut and pulled out.

The second seemed OK, but suddenly had dead branches this Spring.  And they stuck out far.  Mowing was always a threat of poking out an eye.  I finally attacked all the dead branches a couple days ago with a lopper and the "saws-all".  I gained 3' all around the shrub.  And there were some junk saplings growing up through it.  I got them cut to ground level.  I hope they die as a result.

The third one was in better shape.  I don't know why; I didn't water it any more than the second one.  But sometimes, you take good news and just accept it.  It needed minor pruning.

My 5"x8" utility trailer is filled with pruning debris.  Even after I tie it all down, i will barely be able to see out the back of the Forester.  Barely is sufficient.  And on a Saturday, I will be able to return from the yard-debris drop-off County site with a trailerful of loaded mulch.

I have enough prunings for 2 more trailerloads and mulch in return.  I can use all the mulch.  It is nearly compost.  Some of it will go onto the long brown paper strips (that shipping companies use for shock-absorbtion) that I will put down between my garden beds.  More will go onto places in my flowerbeds where only weeds are growing to smother them for next year's plantings.  And any extra will just get added to the compost bins.  They have too much rich kitchen "green" waste and not enough "brown" bulk.  I'll turn the kitchen waste into the second bin and layer it with mulch.

This will be the first expedition with the new Subaru Forester hauling anything.  The trailer hitch was a real adventure.  The factory-installed tow hitch insert is a 1 1/4" x 1 1/4".  It takes a 1/2" pin which they did not supply.  The 1st hitch pin I bought was too short.  The 2nd one was also too short, but I was able to drill the hole slightly larger and hammer it into place.  That thing is NEVER coming off again, LOL!

So great, I will be hauling back a 5'x8'x18" trailerload of mulch and sholveling it into buckets to carry to the garden in effectively 100F heat for a few days!

Well, I do 45 minutes outside and 45 minutes inside to rest.  I'm not gonna kill myself moving mulch!

Pruning Trees

After I finished the backyard Saucer Magnolia last week as high as I could reach with a stepladder, I decided to tackle the front yard Saucer Magnolia.  It needed it as it was more internally clutterred.  Well, I spend more time in the back and I don't landscape to impress the neighbors, so the front yard always comes last.

There were downward branches, crossing branches, and upright watershoots (sideshoots that grow straight up and produce few leaves - basically parasitic growth).  Took 3 hours of pruning.  First, I took out all the watershoots (I have NO idea why they are called that).  That part was easy because I knew I didn't want ANY of them.

Second were down-branches.  They had gotten so bad, I was brushing them aside just mowing the lawn.  No need for them either. 

The third group (cross-branches) was trickier and I had to choose among the competing branches.  I should mention that I planted the 2 Saucer Magnolias because I saw them in a small park next to where I worked once.  They had awesome Spring flowers.  But even more impressive was the way the City Arborists had pruned and shaped the trees into very open shapes with very twisty branches.  I've been trying to replicate that for years.

To try for that look, I clear out most of the internal growth, and prune the branches to take advantage of changes in direction.  The trees don't do that naturally.  Rather, Saucer Mangolias seem accepting of cutting off a growing tip of a branch and encouraging a side shoot to grow at a 90 degree angle for a few feet and then doing that again after a few years of growth. 

The trees I admired in the park are about a century old.  Obviously, I won't live long enough to manage that look.  But it is interesting to do what I can and I can hope that the person/people who move in when I am gone will have some idea about continuing that .  I plan on leaving a history of the house and landscaping, updated until I am too demented to continue.

Some thoughts about trees:

1.  An optimist is an elderly person who plants a sapling.
2.  The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago.  The second-best time is today.
3.  If I had had the money when I bought this house, I would have had the lot cleared of all trees and scraped clean.  I would have magnificent specimen trees today (sourwoods, dogwoods, and golden rain trees), shading out all the invasive vines (english ivy, wild grape, poison ivy, wild blackberry, etc that I struggle with today.
4.  Planting trees is the batchelor's version of fathering children.

Pictures of twisty Saucer Magnolias are hard to find.  This is the best of what SEEMS to be some.  The one on the front left hints at the branch angles.


And this is not a Saucer Magnolia, but shows what the idea of deliberately angled branches looks like.


And that wasn't the end of the pruning.  I have 2 holly trees (they seem to grow wild in my neighborhood).  But more about that next time.  This is about Saucer Magnolias...

Pruning And Shaping

In 1984, I got a job at a new location.  Across the street was a very small park.  It had a reflecting pool and a statue.  And was surrounded by old Saucer Magnolia trees that bloomed in early Spring.  I fell in love with those trees.

The trees themselves were pruned nearly skeletory with the branches forced at odd angles.  So even when not in bloom, they were "unusual".  I immediately bought 2 saplings and planted 1 in the front yard and 1 in the back.  I have enjoyed their blooms for 3 decades.

But they don't naturally grow into the odd branch angles I also loved.  It takes an arborist's skill to do that.  And I am no arborist.

But I try to shape mine as best I can.  Every couple of years, I go at them with saw and loppers to remove the excess growth, clearing out deadwood and internal branches that "clog up the appearance".

I spent most of yesterday doing that on the backyard tree.  Here is the BEFORE pic...

Some branches were drooping so low, I couldn't walk under them.  Other branches were crossing each other or being shaded by others.  So I decided to make some major changes.  Loppers and an electric chain saw can do wonders!

I didn't do it fast.  Shaping a tree takes consideration.  Some branches were easy to decide to remove as they were all droopy and there were uprights that had no value.  I removed those first and then stood back and considered the tree from all sides.

After that, things went slower.  There was one branch in a low position that was in the right place, but had a cavity I knew would fail as the branch grew.  I used the chain saw on it below first and from the top after.  THUMP!  Clean branch collar cut!

After that, I started small, trimming upshoots and crossed branches, always removing the lowest ones.

The AFTER pics...

It looks better already, and I have a few new branches growing out at odd angles that will at least suggest the masterpieces at Rawlin's Park.  The lawn is covered in tree cuttings...

There is more to do higher up in the tree, but it was enough for the day.  It was hot out and close to dinnertime.  After all the gardening and some seed scatterring and raking around the newly-tilled meadow bed, I was soaked in sweat from hair tips to toenails.  It has been a week of 90+F with high humidity and another week of it forecast.  So (not to be indelicate but utterly practical), I stripped and stood in a hot shower to wash off all the sweat and salts.  I felt great after THAT!

And then fed the cats, made a nice dinner for myself (deboned chicken thigh cubed with whole mushrooms, shallots, and garlic over angel hair spaghetti with soy sauce and toasted sesame oil.  With a side of beans, beets, and a large tossed salad.  Then watched some MSNBC news commentary.  Good way to finish a day.

Next, I'll do the same on the front yard Saucer Magnolia. 

Assorted Stuff

Some days, I get more work done in the house and yard than usual.  I've been busy the past couple of days...

1.  The door to the garden enclosure is on a slope, so it is set above the highest ground (to allow it to open).  Unfortunately (in theory), that would allow Evil Squirrels to get under it.  The gap is 2" at one end.  So I need a barrier that doesn't block the door but blocks the gap.  I decided on a way. 

The door opens outwards, so a small barrier at ground level inside the door will work.  But I also need to get a wheelbarrow in there so it has to be removable.  And it is in ground contact, so it can't be wood that rots.  Well, I have leftover pieces of the composite decking and THAT won't rot.  So if I made some holder for the composite piece that could allow it to be lifted out easily, that would be perfect.

Being a woodworker of minor skill, I thought to cut a dado slot in 2 pieces of pressure treated 2"x4" wood 6" long (the width of the composite decking piece).  I've done router work before and am usually successful at it.  But I learned that router small pieces of wood does NOT work well.  Too late, I recalled advice from a woodworker magazine that said to do the routing first on long pieces and then cut the wood to size. 

Hindsight (or, in this case, hind-memory) is 20/20.

It was a disaster.  Trying of router 6' pieces of wood just chewed them up badly (Don't worry, my fingers were never in danger.  I may be only moderately-skilled, but I am EVER so cautious!).  But that attempt failed utterly.

So I decided to BUILD a slot.  A little table saw work, and I had 1"x1"strips of wood to glue to a 3" wide base |__| and the inside was the slot I needed.  When the glue dried I added screws for permanence.  The slot for the composite deck board is 3/16" wider than the board for easy removal.  It doesn't matter if the board is a bit loose; an Evil Squirrel can't lift it.

2.  The 3 areas I surrounded by edging last Fall are not working out as intended.  The closest one was planted with tulips and hyacinths in wire cages to protect them from the Voracious Voles and Evil Squirrels (who consider them delicacies), and daffodils (which are toxic and unpalatable to both).  But the hyacinths never came up (I suspect the 1/2" wire mesh was too small for the stems) and there weren't enough daffodils to cover the intended area.

So I have to dig up the hyacinth cages and try again this Fall, and add more daffodils.  The tulips did nicely and I expect them to be around for many year.   I have some tulips in places where voles and squirrels do not think to dig, and they have been blooming for 20 years.

But in the meantime, weeds are growing.  Most are easy enough to pull up by the roots, but there is a clumping grass with deep roots and pulling on them just takes off the tops so they grow back.  So for 2 days, I've spent an hour each day digging under the roots and prying them up.  I have some impressive piles...   Those will be composted after they spend a week in sealed plastic bags set in the full sun until they are as thoroughly dead as the Wicked Witch Of The East in Oz ("not only merely dead, really, most sincerely dead.”).

The poaching shovel really works well for that (a really narrow shovel).  I got almost all of those dug up!  The remaining weeds are kinds that can be cut off just below ground with my scuffle hoe.


3.  The Evil Squirrel live cage has been set again.  I didn't mind the 2 new squirrels around the birdfeeder (they can't get past the barrel baffle and the round disc baffle above it), but I saw one climbing on the garden enclosure trying to find a way in, and THAT one has got to go.  I'll get it; squirrels are suckers for peanut butter.

4.  The 2d edged circle is not planted.  I meant to move a plant called Lymachia to there, but it is too invasive, so I am killing all of it .  I thought it could be controlled in a circle I could mow around, but I've found them growing in 3 spots around the yard (1 spot 150' away from the patch) so they have to go.  I'll just keep cutting them down to ground level with my hedge trimmer until the roots are exhausted.  Meanwwhile, I will use the rototiller to turn over the soil in the circle and cover it in newspaper (the newspaper uses harmless soy ink).  That should kill off all weeds by Fall.  I think I will move the numerous Black-Eyed Susan volunteer plants from around the flowerbeds there.

5.  The 3rd edging area was planted with wildflower seeds last Fall, but it is mostly weeds.  I'm not sure what to do there.  On the one hand, there ARE wildflowers growing, and I want those.  On the other hand, 90% of the plants growing there are weeds.  I might try selective weeding, but not knowing what the good plants are (that might bloom next year) I might just undo some good plants.  But there are some plants I KNOW are weeds, so I think I will pull them and see what happens.

6.  I'm preparing to paint the rebuilt bathroom.  Have pale mossy green paint, dropclothes, rollers, etc.  Have TSP (trisodium phosphate to clean the 30 year old walls, gloves for protection, sponges, etc.  Ive painted every place I've ever been in (many apartments), so I know the routine..  It taking all the stuff off the walls that slows me.  That mirror has sharp edges!  I want to surround it with a wood frame.  And I have the frames.  But they are dark wood and the wood in the bathroom (towel bar, TP holder, toothbrush holder, light switch cover etc are light wood.  I need to see if I can stain those dark (danish walnut).  And I need to score the mirror smaller by 3" to account for the wood frame size.


7.  Weeded the old flowerbeds for an hour until I came across poison ivy plants creeping in.  I used to be immune to poison ivy, but 10 years ago developed a terrible rash from it.   It is one of those things that don't bother you until they do.  I'll need to wear heavy duty rubber gloves, have a bucket of bleach nearby and dip my trowel and gloves into it regularly.  And hope I don't forget and wipe my brow.

8.  Pulled up a dozen or so thorny thistles.  I wore heavy leather gloves that beat the torns, so it went well.  The thistles don't have deep roots, so they come up easily.  But they have enough stored food to mature their seeds after being pulled up (like dandelions) so they will go in the plastic bags with the poison ivy.

9.  A lot of my trees have the habit of sending out new branches from the trunks anywhere they can get sunlight.  So they drop down to walking level.  Since I get tired of pushing branches out of my way while I mow the lawn, I went after them yesterday.  I bought a pole pruner (a limb saw on a 10' pole) a couple years ago and this is the first time I used it.  It worked great!  A few cuts under the branch then more cuts on the top.  The undercuts prevent the falling branch from peeling off a foot of bark on the tree trunk (allowing diseases to start).  Hard on the arms though.  I may try my electric chain saw next time.

10.  Cleaned the riding mower deck completely.  The top collects dry grass clippings, the underside packs wet grass clippings on the undersurface like paper mache!  It took some real scraping.  Actually, I couldn't figure out how to get to the underside safely.  But I have these 2"x8"x8' boards with metal ends that you can clamp to trailers and other flat surfaces.  So I placed the boards on a 2' high landscaping box and drove the mower up on it. 

After detaching the spark plug wires for safety, I was able to crawl under and scrape the deck clean of packed dead grass clippings.  Took an hour though.  That mower blade really stays in the way. 

11.  I left the mower on the boards last night.  It occurred to me that I should sharpen the blades.  But I had enough old grass on my face and it was time to feed the cats.  So the blade sharpening is for tomorrow...

12.  The edged circles are too small for using my large roto-tiller.  But there are smaller electric versions.  The advertised gas one is called a Mantis.  But I found one with better ratings (Earthwise, with a 4.5 of 5 rating) and ordered it from Amazon.  It should be perfect for the smaller spaces and I've always wanted one like that.










13.  Next project is to whack down the underbrush in the far back yard.  It has gotten amazingly overgrown since just removing a few trees back there 2 years ago.  I have a 4-stroke gas powered Stihl whacker with a metal blade but I've resisted using it because I hate the noise (I'm really a very quiet person), and it seems vaguely dangerous, but it is time to bring it out!  Serious work needs serious tools.  I'll be careful with it.