Partying like it’s 1959 wasn’t the only item on our agenda last weekend. It was also a very special weekend because we celebrated Stephen’s birthday! His dad came up on Saturday and we had a blast with our friends at a beer tasting party that night.
Sunday started off with a trip to the Village Inn for breakfast and then we planned on running by Lowe’s and heading home. The minute we stepped into the garden center at Lowe’s and discovered all their plants were 50% off, we knew we were in for a change of plans! If you’ll remember, Stephen’s dad was the one who turned his empty lot in Little Rock to a gorgeous jungle of landscaping over the past few years.
After an hour in Lowe’s and two carts full of plants and miscellaneous yard tools later, we got ready to spend the rest of the day working in the yard.
The first project on our list? Sadly, it was tackling the tree in the bed by our front door. You might remember the tree looking like this back in July…
… but the devastating heat of the past summer coupled with our lack of knowledge on how to care for this tree sent it downhill fast. Only the bottom branches of this evergreen had held onto their leaves after our heat wave.
The points raised by a few of you in the comments on that July post, regarding the size of the tree and the potential for roots to crack our foundation, were echoed by Stephen’s dad, so we decided the dying tree had to go.
The process was simple enough. Cut away the lower limbs to prevent damage to the roof and then clear the rocks from the base of the tree and cut it down with a chainsaw.
The picture-taker (that’s me) had to run an errand at this point, so by the time I returned the tree was down and the bed was already re-planted! We all agreed that a smaller tree would be better suited for this area, so a Japanese Maple was the winner. Stephen and Joe mounded up the bed with topsoil and planted a few other plants around the maple to keep the area from looking too bare.
Believe it or not, the old tree’s stump is still in this bed, under the soil and rocks. Over time it will disintegrate and the maple will take over.
We know this maple will eventually grow and mature, but for now we like to call it our Charlie Brown tree. It was sad to see our big shade tree go, but Stephen and I are both of the opinion that maintaining the integrity of our home’s foundation is priority number one.
Have you ever had to sacrifice a tree that was too close to your home?
