Bushes and the New Hedge Trimmer

I planted tiny bushes when we first moved in the house.

Tiny mostly because we are on almost solid rock so

digging down to allow for a large root ball was impossible.

Although many said that they would take forever to grow large,

it must be the magic spot for hostas and bushes because

they all grow like crazy with little or no maintenance.  

I rarely ever water them!

They go so tall that they blocked a great deal of

the view into the courtyard and left no room

between bushes and the porch to retrieve anything

that fell or rolled off the porch.

They filled out so well that they ended up a good deal

into the courtyard itself and became a worry in the 

heavy snow as the branches were weighted down.

I would have to occasionally brush off the snow

with a broom stick to keep the branches from breaking.

I mentioned to my Facebook friends that I think my husband it out to kill me.

I've been after him for years to fix up the porch and paint it again.

I think I'd have a heart attack if he ever finished it.

Every year I hear the same promise.

I've even gone so far as to ask friends!

Oh, is there anything I can do to help you?

Yes, paint my porch!

They look at me so oddly, I can't imagine why.

Although my neighbor said she WOULD come over and paint it!

Really, I'm just kidding, Tom can do this but if she wants 

to keep him company and bring over her famous

pineapple cookies, please do!!

As you can see, I can now reach all the little things that

fall behind the bushes and my husband has a huge space

for that ladder while he paints the columns!

It looks like it really might happen this year

(fingers crossed)

He has some boards to replace first which 

he is currently working on, until it unexpectedly

rained yesterday. So much for drying out the wood.

In the meantime, the burning bushes are all aflame!

I do need to trim these as well because the path to 

the hose bib is between two of them.  These seem

to do really well too and rarely ever get watered.

They get lots of sunlight and are against the white siding

so they stay warmer for awhile and really stand out 

in the fall when the leaves change.

When I walked out of the garage and saw the 

dead weed (wildflower) stalks, it really hit me that it's Fall.

We will have a frost this weekend and not much will be

left of coleus, hostas, garden stragglers or patio flowers.

I might just find another tiny pumpkin or two that trailed

out the woods though. I love a good pumpkin hunt!

The drawback is returning with those burrs that are like

little needles which pierce your clothing and poke at your skin.

My granddaughter decided to sled down the hill one year

and came back covered in hundreds of them which 

means I spent a lot of time picking, picking, and picking!

Inside it will still be summer while I babysit the orchid

which now has four open blooms.  There are two more

to go so I hope I can give it back while they are so pretty.

How's Fall treating you?

And Happy Halloween!