Bush Busting

2010

In April 2010 we had trimmed out huge holly bushes in the side yard. The plan was to keep all the shoots and weeds from growing up beneath them again. But that didn't happen and we ended up with ugly big hollies with lots of thick twig-like sprouts all over the place. It was a mess.

2013

This week we again put a big hurting on our poor old hollies. The foliage was so thick that no air could move around and all the leaves were encrusted with black mold. Even the birds had given up using the branches for nesting sites. It was nasty.

I was inches away from total annihilation of both (which is still not out of the question). But the big bushes are over 25 years old and I hate to destroy them if I don't have to. I am giving them a chance to become the beauties I envision them to be. Hopefully this week's rains will wash some of the dirt and mold off of leaves that haven't seen daylight for a long time (wishful thinking at best).

We still have a little more tweaking to do, a little more thinning in some places, but we got tired and needed a rest. Hopefully we won't wait two more years to get back to it!

We used the golf cart this time to pull limbs into the woods. I must say we definitely learned that Abby, who used to avoid the golf cart, now loves to ride on it now. Several times when we got off the cart she remained, waiting for the next go 'round!