Pruning Before the Daily Rain

♪ ♪ Well, It rained forty days and it rained forty nights
and it rained on the Allegheny Mountains.
It rained 40 horses and a Dominecker mule... ♫

It hasn't rained 40 days yet but we're well doused. The pond has water again. Before the rain came today we accomplished a fairly big cleanup. The rain came just before He-who-mows and cuts trees could change from the tree cutter to the forks to move everything.

We started with Sassafras limbs that threatened the greenhouse.

Using a hydraulic tree cutter is much faster than a chain saw.

 

Here's a glimpse of a pecan tree trunk leaving the area.

He said I would not have to move anything out of the way. I was doubtful but the cutter went right down in there and nipped out a sapling pecan that grew in the wrong place.

 

Then we moved around to the old Nandina line under the other Cedar. Catbrier, pecan saplings, a little oak too close to the building, Beautyberry volunteers.

My camera card filled and there wasn't time to fix it when we moved to the Upper Garden and bigger limbs. A 6 inch in diameter in my azaleas under an oak tree mostly fell between plants. It may have broken some limbs but I don't think anything is crushed. The tractor wheel took off an azalea limb when I wasn't watching closely enough to stop him.

Some trees in the front at the driveway came down along with trumpet creeper vines that looked like ropes. 

Then the rains came down. Again.

Love looking out the windows at newly open spaces.

A Growed-Up Mess

"A growed-up mess" was my mother's term when plants got out of hand.  My overgrown azalea bed is worse than out of hand. Three springs ago I had pneumonia and skipped a year cutting out various vines. The past two springs were full of good intentions until the weather got unbearably hot. 

An ancient rambling rose scrambles through other vegetation seeking light.

 

Among the unwanted vegetation is trumpet creeper, smilax vine, euonymous which has gone from shrub to vine, cherry laurel seedlings, and a privet bush I thought I had killed. The other day a blooming sprout peeked out. There is a nice boxwood under there somewhere.

A few late blooms linger on spiraea which competes with cherry laurel seedlings and smilax vines.

Seven sisters rose. Much thorny canes, short bloom.

An old-time sentimental thing. I didn't plant it.

When I pass by with pruners in hand, I give a few things a swipe or two. It will be a big project to get to the bottom and allow the desirables to grow while keeping the thugs at bay.