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Professional Pruning

I rarely resort to hiring help in the garden but I'm learning that sometimes it is wise to do so and worth every penny. Case in point - some hideous out-of-control trees that were beyond my ability to deal with. If I were smarter, I would have tackled these issues from the beginning but I didn't know better. The first is a pear tree that was planted along the back fence line. I've worked on this for the past several years, every year with the intent of reducing the height or possibly removing it altogether. As you can see in the photo, I had cut back everything but three limbs and finally realized that it would be dangerous for me to try and bring them down. The limbs grow straight up into the air and the remaining three are about 20 feet tall.  After -- there is a hole in the sky view but the tree should fill in nicely for a good screen and I can keep it trimmed down from this point forward. Farther down along the fence line, and the view from the deck, are two massive pho

July doldrums

This is not exactly the most exciting time in the garden. Since we've finally received some rain (FINALLY!!), the weeds are taking off and the grass is greening up. The humidity is down and this was a pleasant weekend but still a tad hot. This morning I mowed, spread some mulch and did some minor weeding. I took these photos this afternoon.

The paniculata (PeeGee) hydrangeas are beginning to bloom. This one is called "Pee Wee."





Not many roses are blooming right now, but "Belinda's Dream" has several blooms.





I'm beginning to see frogs around the waterfall.





I think this is a rain lily but I don't remember the name of it. The color is fantastic.







Containers around the mailbox include coleus, million bells and ageratum.




Coleus are truly wonderful plants for containers. This one is called "Saturn."






This is becoming one of my favorite annuals - Begonia "Dragon Wing"




This is the first time I've grown this annual and I love it. It is called Dichondra 'Silver Falls' and is a trailing plant with silvery round leaves - they remind me of coins. I put it in a shallow concrete basket which has always been difficult to grow things in but this is doing quite well.



Text and photos by Phillip Oliver

Comments

  1. Great photos Phillip. I especially like the effect of the PeeGee looking through the "Gateway Of Light" between the trees. Not sure why but I was unable to view the first picture from July 22 as it would not download properly. DW

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you! Can you see all the photos now? - Phillip

    ReplyDelete
  3. I like the way you've used the Dichondra, like a silver waterfall. We call it silver ponyfoot around here, because of the round, cloven leaves.

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  4. Phillip,
    The top photo is still not coming through. DW

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh dear! When I click on the Photo Label, I get 2 posts. But this one has 'there was a picture here' all over it. No pics at all ;>((

    ReplyDelete

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