gutting my landscape and starting over(pics added)

[FroggyinArk]

I'm tired of fighting with pecan limbs, and all the trash from the magnolias, so this year we are going to remove the magnolias , we have apair anchoring front landscapibng, about 30 ft tall, we are going to replace them with apple trees and cedars, spaced differentlky to give more veiw of the house. we are going to completely re work the water feature, rose bed, azaleas and color beds. we still have to fill some low spots under deck and in back yard too. so hopefully by next fall we will have a completely relandscaped yard:) will post a few as is pics soon, and then progress pics as we go:)

[Snowwark]

Sounds like a pretty major undertaking, Froggy! :) Looking forward to the progress pics.

[Crankyshank]

Wow! I'm glad to know I'm not the only one with an ambitious yard project ahead of me :goodvibes
That sounds like a great plan!

[DixieDreamer]

Sometimes just wiping the palette clean and starting over is the only way to go. I have done that a few times with various portions of my gardens. I have never regretted doing it because each time it resulted in a vastly improved area. Once you see what is NOT working, designing something that overcomes those deficiencies becomes much easier.

I almost prefer to redo or rework a garden area than to start with a completely blank slate and no sense of where to go with it. Reworking or redoing at least gives you compass points of where NOT to go!

Good luck with your project. Will be looking for your progress reports.

[FroggyinArk]

ok, took pics this morning and am in process of cutting down the magnolias and pecans, i've got one magnolia almost limbed up and ready to drop, and have the plating removed from the other to start limbing it down shortly. several people have told me to stay off thel;adder with the chain saws till they get here:) so far i've been good:) i'll tyake more pics late this afternoon and get them posted tonight:)

[DebºoºS]

Wow, you're taking on a major project. Sounds good. Always nice to start fresh if you can instead of working around problems. Looking forward to your pics.

I cut back some beach grass, cleaned up leaves as my first big day in the yard and boy did I feel it after.

[FroggyinArk]

finnally here are the pictures,,,,

friday morning from across street at grannys...
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y22/froggyinark/yard%20photos/houseasis2.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y22/froggyinark/yard%20photos/houseasis.jpg

veiw out front door friday morning
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y22/froggyinark/yard%20photos/magnolias.jpg

veiw from front door friday after noon
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y22/froggyinark/yard%20photos/onedown.jpg

veiw from grannys friday after noon
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y22/froggyinark/yard%20photos/onedownfromgrannys.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y22/froggyinark/yard%20photos/dayonefromgrannys.jpg
havent taken anymore yet, will get some today of the trash piles i have out for city to get this week:) and the other magnolia trimmed to bare trunk,,, haveing to wait till i get a t aller ladder here to reach top oif secoind tree. telephone wire runs against the trunk,, on the wrong side :) puts the trunk between it and the elecctric wires

[Snowwark]

Couldn't wait to get that chainsaw running, eh? ;)

Froggy, I can see in your third pic, the wires which seem to run right through the tree branches. Those are your telephone wires, right? Do you need to talk with someone at the phone company, your town, municipality, etc., before you take the second tree down?

Be careful!!!!

[FroggyinArk]

yup, phone and electric run through those branches,, but now the branches are gone and if the wind stays down,, so will be the tree today:) after church anyway,


heres a few early bird shots of yesterdays prorgess


http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y22/froggyinark/yard%20photos/daythreemorningveiw2.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y22/froggyinark/yard%20photos/daythreemorningveiw.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y22/froggyinark/yard%20photos/anotherpileoflimbs.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y22/froggyinark/yard%20photos/afewlimbstohaulaway.jpg

and one of the front of the house with our gifts from flower fairy hanging on eaves
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y22/froggyinark/yard%20photos/frontofpotrchwithbasketshanging.jpg

[DixieDreamer]

Well that certainly opens the place up more. So what are your plans from here?

[FroggyinArk]

after both trees are gone,, we are going to enlargeg the planting beds and relocate the azaleas, relocate the water feature andstream bed, put in two granny smith apple trewes a bit closer to hoiuse in the enlarged beds as anchors then add more sun loving shrubs and plantings

[DebºoºS]

Looks so open now. You'll have so much more sun for your new beds without the trees.
I'm pooped just reading about what you have planned.:flower2:

[marydmjj]

Wow! Huge project Froggy. You've got to be exhausted. Taking those trees out will really brighten up the yard. You are going to have so much fun filling it in with new plants.

[amid chaos]

It really does open things up for you! Lots of work!

[FroggyinArk]

ok second tree comes out tommorrow:) will start posting pics again tommorrow night i have a few more buds pics i've taken this week, but havent had a chance to load them yet:) i'll get them up asap:)

[FroggyinArk]

ok after a several week long delay due to that darn wire,, the second tree came down last sunday, and is now awaiting the last few sections cut into firewood... the new fountain and pond ar elined and running, still have to add the rocks and plant the color areas around them, and finish removing the old stream bed, and the stumps... will probably be about 90 poercent by tommorrow after noon soo be looking for progress and semi completed pics by late sunday:) sorry i havent had much time to get any more pics up lately, the roses are beautiful.. and lo9ts of bedding plants are in,, will get the pics updated and online soon i promise:)

[amid chaos]

Can't wait to see the pictures!

[FroggyinArk]

ok all thats left is a few cuts to finish sawinbg up the second magnolia, and mulching a few areas we ran out before we got too.. also need to plant one more bed that we werent p[lanning on but seems to fit the landscape.... will try and get pics up tommorrow of what s done and in progress:)

[LindaBabe]

May I just interject here - before you put cedar trees in any kind of proximity to apple trees, you might want to check on 'rust' resistance. Cedar Apple rust requires both species to be present and causes kinda ugly gelatinous orange colored "things" to form on cedar trees.

[FroggyinArk]

yeah i know about the rust,, nieghbors cedar alraedy experiences this each year, and our apples are going to be much closer to his cedars than ours, and he really is wanting to take out the cedar anyway:)

[Mamu]

I know the work that goes with removing trees and re-landscaping. I also know the rewards too. When we purchased our home 40 years ago we had 4 large pines in the front yard. For years I tried working around them. They grew to become massive and the pines always won. Two years ago we had them removed and the stumps ground out. I spent a year redoing the front, day after day, sunrise to sunset, actually dropped a clothing size (awesome)

In the fall planted hundreds of bulbs. All the bulbs are blooming and I love my pine-less front yard. Flowering shrubs are getting ready to bloom.

A few weeks ago the neighbor had 4 massive pines removed fron her front yard more sunshine on the way.

Good Luck re-doing your front I know you will be a very happy gardener without them. You can show off your gardening talents. It wonderful to have lots of sun, no roots and trees that don't absorb ever bit of moisture.