Saying Goodbye to the Holly Bushes!

Hello friends!


I am generally a person who believes that "where there's life, there's hope", and that even applies to plants. But that does not hold true with unfriendly bushes, vines, and weeds.


One of the things that we hated about The Wren's Nest was that in back of our little garage (which is very small since it was built only to accommodate the former owner's Harley, or perhaps a future golf cart), there were four overgrown, ugly and very unfriendly holly bushes. The only place I want to see holly is in connection with Christmas decorating, and even that, very minimally. So imagine how anxious we were to rip them out and plant something less assuming. Of course, that didn't happen last year because flooring, bathroom, and painting were the priorities, but when we arrived up there two weeks ago, that was the first thing we tackled. I imagine it was really important to Mr. Perch as he was the one that got stuck in the butt by these things every time he walked out of the garage.

 Ugly old holly bushes

with sharp pointy leaves,

and never a red berry to be seen.

These things must have been planted

when this little old mobile home was young...

It took us a whole day to get rid of them,

Hubby first cutting them to pieces,

and then digging up the roots and cutting them

 apart underground with a reciprocating

saw...

Because the leaves were so pointy and sharp,

we used gloves and handled them very gently,

putting them into a large trash can until...

 

...we could bag them for the garbage pickup.

They will take branches only if they are bagged...

So the next day we went to Lowe's

to choose some replacements,

not to mention mulch and garden soil,

and while the Mister busied himself with

some other laborious but necessary task,

I planted a new garden in the semi-shady area

vacated by the murdered hollies.

The name of the game was perennial and 

no-fuss, since we are not there all the time

to take care of the gardens.

A beautiful deep pinkish-red and lime

hydrangea in the middle,

surrounded by three kinds of hostas

(one of which was divided from a clump

that I hijacked from Birdsong before 

we put her up for sale last year),

caladiums in the same colors as the hydrangea,

and some annual vinca just for some 

all-summer color...

I tried cleaning the foundation stones

with Clorox, but it was no match for 30

 or so years of accumulated mildew,

and I could only get some of it off...

I would like to add some ferns,

but will take some from our shade garden

here the next time we go up.

Isn't this hydrangea gorgeous?...

 

I hope that it stays this color, 

because it is so different from any that we

have at Plum Tree...

I can't wait until it all fills in.

And I can't wait until it covers the mildew!!

 ***********************************

Have a great day!