The north forty

Here's the first of a short series of before-and-after (or after-and-before) photos of the landscaping work. This section of the yard is what I call the north forty because it's just north of the house. The huge juniper and the trio of birch trees grew in the middle, and I had lots of fun mowing around them for the past eighteen years, not to mention picking up fallen birch twigs and branches before mowing and trimming the sides of the juniper once a year or so.

After. Wide open space! You can see the shadow of the house on the ground; it's much shorter in summer.

Now all of that is over. Two of the birches died in the past two years and the third was on its way out. The tops fell out onto the fence in a wind storm last December. The juniper got way too unruly and was filled with wild blackberry brambles and their nasty thorns. Tree seeds took root inside the shrub and started to grow up through it. The whole thing was a mess. Ken used to do a good job of cutting and pulling out the invaders, but it got to be too much in recent years.

Before. Dead and dying birch trees and the monster juniper.

Mowing should be a lot easier in this section from now on. We're starting to talk about the possibility of getting a small riding mower in the next few years. With fewer obstacles to navigate, it makes more sense than it used to. And I ain't gettin' any younger.