February 19th, 2011 Going, Going, Gone!
Euonymus... going, going, gone!
We have bee enjoying some unusually warm weather this past week. The daytime temps have reached in the high forties – low fifties (Fahrenheit). Normal highs for this time of year are below freezing. The mounds of snow that have been blanketing the lawns and gardens are disappearing quickly, leaving pools of water in our drainage challenged yard.
Obviously it is far too early to begin any sort of spring clean up, but this week, we could not resist the temptation to do some yard work. What we settled on was removing the Manitoba maple that has been growing wild and clogging up the drainage ditch that runs along the north side of the property. Within half an hour, using just a hand saw and an axe, the multi-stemmed tree was gone. The next day, the ditch was running freely for the first time. And also for the first time, the ditch did not overflow its banks, sparing our already water logged lawn.
With the snow melting, we have a clearer picture of the damage winter and “critters” have done to some of our shrubs. As usual, the quince and roses have been pruned by rabbits. Not a big deal. Unfortunately, the rabbits have also trimmed our new Japanese maple!! That is a big deal. On the plus side, they didn’t chew the main trunk (because it is wrapped in chicken wire), just some of the more tender branches. Careful pruning and trimming will get in back into shape. But not yet – it’s far too early for trimming.
In December, we had a blizzard blow through this area. The wind, snow and ice managed to snap the trunk of a euonymus standard growing in one of the gardens. Thank you Mother Nature!!! I detest euonymus and have wanted that ugly abomination out of our yard for years. No more arguments between my partner-in-grime and me about that as now it has to go. As soon as the ground thaws enough to get shovel down to root level, it’s bye-bye euonymus. With any luck, this will be the last spring I have to weed out the dozens and dozens of tiny seedlings it produced every year. Talk about silver linings!
