soaphouse's Blog
soaphouse's posts about: chainsaw
Jan 27, 2008 | 5:45 PM PST
Tags: creek , brush , acuba , mountain laurel , panoramic , chainsaw
Wow, I never thought I would be able to write this entry! Its finished! All of the brush, limbs, vines, and trees has been removed from the creek! Its the first time we have seen this 80+ foot area of creek line on our property since we bought this house. It has always been overgrown...and now, it is beautiful! Its will be even prettier when I start to plant it up! My husband brought his chainsaw out yesterday to help me get the last of it:
Looking at this pict gives a good idea of scale too! He took down 3 trees over 30 feet tall and 4 or 5 smaller trees! So nice to have his help. Here I am, doing the final pruning:
Then
, after a pass with the weedeater and moving all the limbs and brush over the fence, all done!
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Of course, I still have to get all of that brush to the curb, but that can wait until this next week. Here is a shot w/o the fence in it:
I also used my panoramic photo stitch utility on my computer to merge some shots together to give an overall picture of the area.
I can hardly believe its finally cleaned up and ready for plants! SO EXCITING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
After discussing the area with my mom (who is a landscape designer) I decided against the mountain laurels for the shrub screen on the far left. She said they tend to not do as well here in our climate and that they are more suited for mountainous regions (hence the name i suppose) and that they are fairly prone to disease and become spindly with age. She suggested Acubas which I think would be much better! I was hesitant to do those at first b/c they grow very slow here and larger sizes at the nursery tend to be on the pricier side. But, it really is a better choice and I want to do it right b/c I have put some much time and sweat into this project already. SO FUN to dream of all the possibilities.
Jan 25, 2008 | 1:48 PM PST
Tags: nandina , mahonia , willow , evergreen shade , shrub , bank , creek , gunnera , gunnerra , ideas , chainsaw
Today, I transplanted all the wax mahonias and nandinas that I found on the other side of the creek. Turns out there were more than I thought: about 27 mahonias and 2 nandinas!
Here is a picture of the area before:
And after:
I know out of the 27...a few are bound to grow in niceley :)
I put the two nandinas in a pot that lives in the front by the gate:
I think it looks pretty nice. Plus, can't beat free!!!
I am starting to think about what I might want to plant on the opposite side of the creek, where the bank is really high. Our property extends about 4 feet beyond that. I would like to just plant some dense, evergreen shade shrubs that will help ward off the privet. Any ideas would be great!
On the far right of this picture, I will plant a weeping willow. So I need some ideas for the area to the left of that. In the low part...near the creek, I will be putting my great Gunnera that I have on order. ITS STARTING TO COME TOGETHER!!!!
Tomorrow, hubby has promised to get back there with his chain saw and take down what I can't get with my loppers :)
Have a great gardening weekend everyone!
