I trimmed and dispatched and weeded out and cleared a working field for myself, so that I could dig out a very aggressive (and deeply entrenched) maple. Silly thing must have been at least two seasons old, and was getting a great start on year number three!
On an earlier pass through the yard this spring, Brian had cut off the top of the tree, leaving the roots and a healthy portion of the bottom intact. That did not deter this particular tree.
As I was working on creating a trench for the last of the retaining pavers on the NE side, I saw a tangled mass of rose runners, Black Nightshade, misc weeds and old flower shafts from a resident Hosta sweetly encircling the headless Maple in a raised area at the corner of the house. So, I figured, why not just clear it out and be done with it? - and that's just what I did.
Holy smokes, it was not going to budge without a fight; fortunately I was in the mood for one, so I put up my dukes and dug in.
Doggone it if that silly tree wasn't as mule headed as I am!
Just when I thought 'one more good leveraged pull and I win,' I moved a little too close in the wrong direction to the remaining portion of the rose bush that I hadn't trimmed away, and....YEEEEOW!!
Trying to pull my arm free proved to be the wrong thing to instinctively do. When I looked down in the direction of the discomfort I noticed the thorns firmly embedded in the topside of my forearm and pulling my flesh in the opposite direction that I desired to move. I had to stop myself and think about doing the exact opposite thing from my current action.
Not an easy feat when you are stuck to a thorny mass. You know you are stuck but good when you must use your other hand to extricate yourself.
Karl dressed my holes and I went back to work on the Maple...but not before I took out a healthy chunk of the attack roses.
From there I 'went to town' incorporating three (4) gallon buckets of rotted down leaves into the soil around the Hydrangeas. I have moved the little Hosta out, figuring to use it elsewhere, and I have transplanted a Foxglove and some other (I can't remember its name) perennial to the large open area under the window. Both should thrive there. I also planted a new Clematis at the vacant base of a post once occupied by a fragrant Honeysuckle. Let's see what happens.
Oh, yes! I almost forgot. Today I used my new birthday present for the first time! A Honda 4-stroke rototiller! What an experience - and boy, did it make fast work of that flowerbed! Wahoo!
That was a lot of exclamation points! But you would "!" too, if you had unleashed that sort of monster on your own for the first time. I know, it's a little tiller...but it's mine, and it is marvelous.(!)
;^)
Time to go move the sprinkler.
I heard it will rain tonight (maybe). "Widely scattered storms" they say. Pheh! Well scatter some of that here, please; as long as it doesn't wash away the grass seed, gimme some of dat liquid lovin'. I've won the war of the roses for the day, and the grand prize is a lightly soaking rain.
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