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.

Limbed up trees with conical shapes that would otherwise branch to the ground appear to be floating or perched after the bottom is removed. With the comparative minority of specimens that are left with their visually anchoring basal skirts intact being far more elegant and impressive. And when disease and pest susceptible conifers like spruces and true firs have thin or partially browning lower branch areas what these often need is a spray program. Rather than scalping. There is a persisting shared characteristic called The Savannah Mentality based in the human species having arisen in African parklands that makes it so that there is a tendency to try and make private and public outdoor spaces consist to a large extent of lawns occupied by a scattering of trees with elevated crowns. With for some reason rose family flowering and fruit trees in particular being subjected to the emulation of the parasol acacias of the savannah to the extent that stripping, topping and salad bowl haircuts are commonplace with this group.

I've read it's best to move them when dormant. DJ, I like your JM there. Why do you want to move it? I'm lucky to live 2 hours away from Maplestone Ornamentals and only 6 miles from Dawes Arboretum that both have world class JM collections. I've managed to visit and buy more than a few times. MO sells in gallons so they're not too expensive and I get to watch them grow up. Dawes has really great prices on nice sized trees. My collection is now up to 22 different, but they are getting harder to place. I've got room for a couple more sun loving ones, perhaps this fall when Dawes has their sale. I managed to get a few more pics that show what I'm doing, but I'm far from an expert. Here's the Orange Dream from a better angle. I'd like to develop a strong central leader, but it seems like it wants multiple ones. I'll probably try staking one soon, but I'm done cutting on it this year - just once in the spring. I had no idea this was such a quick grower and might have planted it too close to the house, but it looks like it is growing away from it anyway. This is Smokie Rise Church and definitely planted too close to the house. I thought it would be more upright so I'm trying to train it that way and pruned some of the wide growing branches off already. I didn't have a place for it, so I just put it in the ground last fall (since I killed the last one over winter in a pot) and it's really taken off.It looked really cool this spring and you can see how much its grown this year. I took a branch growing toward the down spout and staked it up so the tree was balanced more forward. This is Emerald Mist just bought it a month ago. Its supposed to get big fast and take lots of sun. I love the way the leaves turn red in sunlight. I guess its a pretty green in the spring. (I can move the daylily later). I just staked it up for now, it was a bit too sprawling.

It would be a HUGE bummer to paint those cabinets. I agree pop out the wood valance over the window...if the finish wear is just around the handles--how easy to pop the door off and take them in to be refinished...IDK maple but back in the day we had a similar issue on our beautiful oak cabinets. I LIGHTLY sanded them all down, wiped them down with a light hit of stain them re-polyed them. It was an easy DIY. For sure you can't paint yourself and the cost will be HUGE, ya gotta love what's there to invest that money in them. You might find it costs what it did 30 years ago when you purchased the cabinets!!