Extreme Pruning

Caring for a mature landscape is a learning experience for me. Eleven years ago I moved into my 100 year old house and started working on landscaping the yard. There wasn't anything exotic growing on the property, only a few trees and shrubs and grass. Over the years I've gotten rid of most of the lawn, the ungainly laurels, the sickly cherry tree, boxwood shrubs that smelled like cat pee, spider-mite infested arborvitae, and 2 topped blue Junipers. The 'original' plants that have been allowed to live on are the gangly but lovely lilacs, the old pear tree that when in bloom reminds me of a van Gogh painting, and the biggest Daphne odora I've ever seen. It was in full bloom the first time I walked into the back yard, and I swear it was the reason I bought the house.

Every spring my Daphne perfumes the neighborhood. And every year it has grown bigger and bigger. Most years I've trimmed it back a little here and there, but today I decided to get up close and personal and take care of needed business. It looks bedraggled now, but it will be a healthy bloomer next spring.

After the Daphne rejuvenation project, my afternoon was packed with pruning all over the backyard. As I worked on one patient my eye would find the next one that needed attention. All of the trees and shrubs that I added to the yard were small when they were planted. But they didn't stay that way. Leaves and branches had grown too close together, obstructing air circulation and potentially attracting fungi. Dead and diseased plant material had accumulated on the ground providing perfect habitats for insect pests. And some had gotten just too big, shading out other plants that needed more sunlight. This was major. This called for extreme pruning.

Onward I went, loppers in one hand, pruning saw in the other, and pruners ready in the holster. I thinned and shaped the Chinese Elm (Ulmus parvifolia), cut back the contorted mulberry (Unryu morus), and pruned off the water sprouts on the apple tree. My yard debris cans overflowed.

The day wasn't long enough to get it all done. The grape vine still needs to be thinned out and cut back before it takes over the old pear tree. In the front yard the Chinese Dogwood needs limbing up, the voraciously growing Black-leaf Elderberry (Sambucus nigra 'Black Beauty') must be hacked back, and it's time to deadhead the roses.