Pics?

Sorry, have not had time to take or post pics, The day the work I described above was being done, I spent the majority of the day taking out and killing the stumps on some weed shrubs, vines and a tree which were rooted beneath and growing through and back again amid that backyard, chainlength fence. The hole clean-up took me a while, because the chainsaw I was using had to be cleaned and adjusted quite freqently during, what should have been a simple Two, at the most, hour job.

The next day I spent resting from being out in the heat so long, but did manage to drive all the way into the west side of town at a nursery which had the 17 non-invasive, trees and shrubs I am going to plant for privacy along that now cleaned-out fenceline.

Then, today, I worked in the heat again digging holes for 7 of those items, and after taking a few hours to rest and recover from all that work. Now I am about to go over to that house again and dig holes for at least 4 more items, so that only 6 will remain needing to be dug early tomorrow morning.

Once I get a hole dug I put one of the potted trees or shrubs in the hole and water it well. I was hoping that digging the holes now would make my job of planting all 17 of those items on Saturday, more feasable.

I am planting 6 Thuja Green Giants in front of and along that fenceline, then I got 5 more of those to plant in a staggered fashion in a row in front of the first. Since the design I created presents a problem of 4 feet on each end of that second row looking too bare, it created the perfect opportunity to plant a Red blooming 'Dynamite' Crape Myrtle slightly in front of each end of that shorter front row of Green Giants. They are all 7 gallon potted size trees and shrubs. Small enough to make the job feasible for me, but still big enough to make it quite a massive undertaking for my current, strength and stamina levels.

Then to add more seasonal interest, I am planting 4 Itea 'Little Henry' shrubs, which leaf out in the spring, then bloom with white flowers that look like they might be found on a butterfy bush. After the blooms fade the leaves remain the same shade of green as seen on the GGs new growth. That is followed in the fall with the leaves turning a bright red at about the same time the 'Dynamite' crape myrtles' final bloom flush is going to seed and when those CMs are preparing to go dormant for the winter. These 4 shrubs to be planted in front of the shorter row of Green Giants will remain red then until the first of each late fall/early winter freeze, which is when those 4 shrubs drop their leaves.

Hopefully the, previously, nearly empty back yard of that house will become an enjoyable place instead of the ugly almost vacant look it had when it was nearly completely filled with only invasive, Bermuda grass and weeds.

Best stop this post now, so I can get 4 more holes dug this evening, as our triple digit heat should be just beginning to show the promise of breaking for the day.

I did forget to report that my plans to plant the seventeen items on Saturday, is because of that being the first day when the triple digit heat-up pattern has been forecast to break, and when we are supposed to begin getting days filed with the beginnings of our fall pattern lowering temp changes.

Congratulations on getting a long awaited task done. I know you must be pleased with the progress and rightly so.

I love the new plan and the picture you painted of how it will look is fabulous. Good luck on the planting ... we are also suffering from triple digits and it feels like it will never end!

Thanks esh ga,

Did manage to get the four holes dug after 7pm and before it got to dark last night. Now, there only remains 6 more holes that I hope to get finished before noon or the time today that the temps rise again to dangerous levels. The reason it takes so long for me is to dig those holes is that I have to rest in between removing the roots and grass, before I have the strenght to dig the hole. I found that using a big pick-axe helps cut the volunteer vine, shrub, and grass roots pretty well. It also helps me get through the hard soil which has not been cultivated since several or more decades ago. Without the axe to use, The job would have been much more difficult for me, but still my strengh and stamina is not good enough to keep up lifting that heavy axe for very long periods of time.

GA does seem to get hotter than we and for longer times in the summer, so when we get a week or more of that kind of heat, I certainly feel your pain.

Last I checked, there was a tropical storm in the Pacific going west, one in the Atlantic tracking west, and one along the Gulf coast, probably about ready to make landfall this morning. With so much churning of the weather currents, hopefully it will begin helping to dislodge the High pressure systems that have been so entrenched over both your and my part of the country, then maybe the fall weather pattern, which is just about to start, will settle in for a while.

What a welcome change that would be, especially for our landscapes and gardens.