Thank you, friend, if you have continued reading this post and gotten past the title. Really? Winter Tree Trimming? You want to talk about that?
Okay. Bring it on.
You might not think that getting our trees trimmed is such a big deal, but for me it is.
Because.Ā
It means we took a step towards simplifying our landscaping chores.Ā And a landscaping remodel has been on my list a long time.
Backyard Mesquite
It all started with this messy tree in our backyard.Ā Our yard is north facing, so the tree provides no shade in the summer and is messy.Ā
Constantly messy.
So why keep it?
When our local arborist (is that the right word?) came to give us advice and a quote, he told us that tree is literally one of the best trees heās seen in our town.Ā It would break his heart to remove it.Ā And then we would have an ugly view of our back fence and the house behind us.
Hmmm. Well, we hire people who know what they are talking about and I have an open mind.
He said that if we cut it back aggressively right now, before it gets warm, the tree will spend its energy growing and not making such a mess.
So today, we have a tree that has lost a lot of limbs and hopefully will reward us with beauty and not punish us with such a mess.
Hop Bushes
On both sides of our house we have the messiest hop bushes. The two next to our hot tub are the right size to provide privacy but all the others are just messy, out of control and harbor non-stop nesting doves.
So we had the rest removed and the side yards look so different.
And I am not exaggerating when I say I blow leaves and petals daily when the trees shed. On the gate side of our yard, our AC units live and we keep our trash cans there. Blowing just moves the debris behind everything and I can never get a clean side yard.
Hub went out and capped off the irrigation and we love it already.
Front Yard
While the arborist was here, he noticed we had a broken main branch on one of our front trees. Ugh, so we had all the trees in the front cut back and they did the best they could with the broken tree. Hopefully it will recover soon.
Hard Work
Apparently having trees trimmed is hard work. I brought the workers Cokes and when I next looked out, I saw one man taking his rest on the sofa.
He scrolled his phone a long time, but they did a good job so I didnāt mind.
Up Next
While the changes in our yard are not as drastic as I would have liked, we are making progress and it feels good.
Next we will have the rock on the sides moved to the back hill and have paving or paths built which will be much easier to walk on.
Wrap Up
It has turned pretty cold here this week and we were so spoiled with our warm December, it seems hard to deal with.
How are you dealing with your winter? Enjoying it or ready for warmer and longer days?
Thank you for doing some tree trimming with us and have a great week ahead.