Friday, December 2, 2011

Landscaping by Elimination

Today I did a little yard work. My aunt says I shouldn't call it the yard, I should just call it woods, but those verbal habits are hard to break. It isn't really accurate to call my house a house either, but nothing else will stick. Cabin, studio, cottage, micro-dwelling -- it's just the house.

Yard work involves me indulging all my whims and prejudices regarding flora.  I built my house right in the middle of the woods and started mowing between the places I wanted to go. Then for the last 6 years I've been sort of tidying up between those paths. I never buy plants. I strictly practice landscaping by elimination. I hate briars. All briars. If it grows up trees and bushes and it has thorns it is my mission to cut it off at the ground and pull it down and burn it up. Blackberry really pisses me off. I hate blackberry briars. The thorns have some kind of toxin on them that makes them hurt more than they ought to when they stick you. I cut them down. I burn them up. I do this yard work when it's cold enough to wear a thick long sleeved shirt and leather gloves.

My favorite tree is sparkleberry. I have a lot of these growing in my yard. I pull the briars out of them and prune them into pleasing shapes. When I find a chinquapin coming up I cut the briars away from it and encourage it. I also encourage blueberries. They come up all over my yard. Wax myrtle, black gum, French mulberry, sassafrass, oak, cherry, elm, ironwood, dogwood -- I've got it. I have a lot of longleaf trees in all stages of development. When they are in the wiregrass stage they are like puppies to me. Cute as can be. I mow around all the wiregrass stage longleaf. When they start to shoot up there's always one that gets an early lead and its shade leaves the other ones at a disadvantage. Steps must be taken.

3 comments:

  1. You've employed a great method of cooperative landscaping that I wish I had the ability to do. You a a paragon of efficiency.

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  2. Love the video.
    We lived in SW Looseyanna for a time.. as I recall it wasn't that easy to get rid of a tree, but maybe times have changed?

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  3. Very precious thoughts and ideas you revealed on the term of landscaping. I like the way you brought all the related points and expressions. Anyway, if any readers here want to learn about installing decorative landscape mulch, may jump into the link here.

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