If you own a home and you are reading this post, you have some form of plant material in your yard that needs to be torn out and replaced. In unison, you all responded with, “yes, weeds”. And that is most likely true, but I’m talking about trees, shrubs, grasses, and flowers that you planted. Yes, you!
I’m not talking about the hostas or daylillies that need to be split. Though they probably do. I’m talking about the tree or shrub that turned from the pretty little thing that looked so nice up against the corner of the house, to the monster that now appears to have eaten that same corner and half of the garage as well!
Too much Willow!
A few years back I planted two Arctic Blue Willows on either side of the waterfall in my back yard. “What waterfall?” you may ask. That is precisely my point! The willows, which I was informed would only reach three feet in height turned into real monsters, six feet high and six feet across. Sure I trimmed them twice a year so I could see my water feature. But, then the willows didn’t look so good.
I try to create a “maintenance-free” garden, at least as much as possible. So, I decided to tear out the willows. initially the plan was to transplant them to the cabin. However, because the roots took such a pounding during removal from under the rocks, and the travel time to the cabin would make it difficult to keep the remaining roots moist, we decided to scrap them altogether. I was not happy about this but it had to be done.The result was nothing short of amazing
Clean palette
Now I can see the waterfall and have a chance to rebuild the planting beds the way they should be, You see, tearing it out isn’t such a bad thing after all.
Note to self: Have the Domestic CEO weed the walkway.
Tales From The Hare 
Charissa
August 25, 2015 at 1:11 pm
Willows love to take over, don’t they. I have a few scraggly bushes I need to take out this fall. They just drive me crazy and would probably make the yard look better (like yours did with your tear-outs) if I would just take the plunge and grab the shovel to start digging.
Dennis Langley
August 25, 2015 at 3:21 pm
I promise, it only hurts for a moment! 🙂
John Hric
August 26, 2015 at 11:16 am
ah the myth of a maintenance free garden… or maintenance free anything for the matter. nice post.
Dennis Langley
August 26, 2015 at 11:21 am
Ha ha! That hits the nail on the head. It is only maintenance free if I don’t bother to do anything…
Dennis Langley
August 26, 2015 at 11:22 am
Thank you for stopping by.
Kate Johnston
August 31, 2015 at 5:32 am
I am so far behind on maintenance of my gardens. I do try, I really do, but I can’t keep up. My butterfly garden took off — which is great; it means I didn’t kill anything — but it doesn’t look very tidy. The plants grew taller than I expected, and they’re in the front! Haha. Oh well. When the weather gets cooler, I’ll get out there and try to tone things down.
Your garden looks wonderful with the makeover!
Dennis Langley
September 1, 2015 at 10:04 am
Staying ahead is almost a full-time job. We normally set aside a few evenings a month to keep the weeds from over-taking the other plants.
Mary Strong-Spaid
September 11, 2015 at 3:17 pm
At my house, we had deer passing through almost every night. They landscaped the yard for us, sometimes eating things that we wished they would have left untouched. 🙂
Dennis Langley
September 11, 2015 at 7:37 pm
They do like a buffet!😀