Over The Weekend ..
We had a lot of things planned out. We had a birthday party on Friday night, took a trip to the shore to see our new niece (my brothers second child), and a few errands. As for my agenda, I planned on taking full advantage of the beautiful weather on Sunday. I made plans earlier in the week to tackle a growing list of yard work items.
On that list were the following; Cut the lawn one last time, clean up the remainder of the leaves at the back of the yard, spray weed killer one final time around the garden and flower beds. Clean up the trash that blew in along the fence line, scatter a small pile of mulch out that has been sitting in my trailer for a few months, winterize the tractor, start up (de-weatherize) the snow blower, and trim up the mess of shrubs and ground cover plants out front. (that sentence was way too long)
I managed to get a lot knocked off that list, believe it or not. I wasn't able to get to the weatherization and de-weatherization of the equipment, or the spreading out of left over mulch, but why not save something for next weekend? hehe. It felt good to get a few things done.
In my serious approach to getting things done, I was also reminded of a few things. First of all, I am getting too old to be kneeling and bending over so much. My back, neck and legs were killing me Sunday night. Secondly, I remembered that it's okay to have a little fun while you work! Why not?!
SO.. I paused for a second and took a unique "Selfie" under our Acer palmatum dissectum 'Rubrum' .. aka Japanese Laceleaf Maple 'Crimson Queen' - Basically it's a Maple tree with red, dissected, palmate leaves. I was trimming a few over grown branches, growing in the wrong direction, when I decided to crawl under the canopy to check things out. A perfect opportunity to have some fun.
Yup.. So I look a little serious. I don't like selfies and the 'Leaves of Hair' look just wasn't my style.
We planted the tree a number of years ago. 10 years may have passed by now, and the tree gets prettier every year. It requires a bit of attention in the spring and fall (as far as pruning goes), but it's well worth the effort.
It's cascading branches flow like a waterfall of red, to the ground below. I suppose the look of the tree is not going to be delightful for everyone's tastes, but the wife and I approve. I could possibly prune it back a bit heavier than I do, but so far we are happy with the mound of red that welcomes all to our front door.
The leaves have a fairly soft appearance, mostly due to the highly dissected leaves. The deeper the dissection, the softer the look. The more sun these trees get during the growing season, the better chance you have of the leaves staying a beautiful red all summer long. Otherwise they may appear to be more on the greener side, but no worries, come fall they turn a more vibrant shade of red!
I prune away any branches trying to grow upward or backward into the canopy. I also prune anything that try to grow off the central trunk of the tree (I call them suckers). I consider our maple a decent specimen, considering the small area we chose to plant it in. I guess you can say I sort of treat it like a bonsai plant; Keep it fitting into the area we want it to grow in.
Here you can see the nice smooth bark. All of these trees are grafted to a root stock, typically a Japanese Maple base. You can just about see the location of the graft in the picture below. Just a few inches below the first branch, the texture of the bark changes and that is where the graft occurred.
So Back To The Cleaning Up ..
I trimmed the maple, trimmed the Juniper ground cover (below it) that was OUT OF CONTROL, and a few other annuals. With the Holidays coming to town soon, more and more people will be utilizing the front walk, so it's nice that that area is cleaned up and trimmed back for easy access. It makes it a heck of a lot easier to shovel the snow off as well.
Before and After shot..
Standing back a little, you can see the amount of trimming and clean up I did. Some of these tasks could have waited until spring, but I was on a roll.. why stop?
There are a few shrubs (Crimson Barberry) that I want to replace next year. We had a few harsh winters a few years ago, with heavy snowfall, and it took a toll on them. They are showing the injury now several years later. In short.. They are looking BAD.. very rough indeed. I'll put it on the Spring to do list!
Just around the corner, heading toward the back yard, we have a row of Euonymus alatus or Burning Bush, planted. The are nice and green all summer long, then turn an amazing fiery red in the fall. Eventually all the leaves will fall off and bright red berries will be all that remains. The berries will add a little winter interest to an otherwise boring plant. One huge downside to this shrub.. it grows like nuts and I need to trim it 3 times a year; spring, mid-summer and late summer.
A close up of those fantastic, bright red leaves..
Can you see the pea sized red berries in all of the red folliage?
Here is an area that hasn't quite fully turned red yet.
Hey, I Better End This Ramble ..
I could just go on forever talking about this and that around the outside of the house, so I am going to just end it here. As always, If you ever find yourself in Southern New Jersey and want to lend a hand with clean up or anything else on my to do, or 'Honey Do' list, I won't complain. There is always SOMETHING needing done.
As for Molly, she is content taking up residence in the fresh pile of warm sheets that just came out of the laundry. I may call it quits with the yard work, pay the kid down the street to finish it, take a shower and lay with Molly for a while.. sounds good to me!
Thank you for swinging by my blog and checking out the post. Have a great day!
“There's a sorrow and pain in everyone's life, but every now and then there's a ray of light that melts the loneliness in your heart and brings comfort like hot soup and a soft bed.”
― Hubert Selby Jr., Requiem for a Dream
All words, pictures and art pieces are the sole property of B D Miller Gallery, unless otherwise noted and credited, and are not to be reproduced or copied without the prior written consent of B D Miller Gallery.
About Me ~ The Artist
My art work incorporates a wide variety of subject matter, including landscape, seascape, cityscape, and still life images. My works are the product of a continuing process of exploration through which I seek to portray personal and visionary interpretations of my surroundings. My paintings are impressions of places and events from everyday life, an interpretation of my imagination, and personal responses to what I see and feel on a daily basis. More recently I have invested generous amounts of time into my landscape painting. I am surrounded by natural and man made beauty, which inherently presents itself in the tri-state area, and almost demands that I paint it.
Not everything is art. Art is not everything, but it comes close. Art is everywhere and all the time. Art makes you experience the beauty of the world, the people in it, and the places we call home. Art itself is so influential that it can tell stories, show feelings, and express passion or fury. Art exists in addition to language; expression of sensations and thoughts, revealing a way of thinking too subtle and delicate for words.
For me art requires love, honesty and perseverance. In return, it reveals some personal, non-analyzable, and creative untamed passion. For the public, art with its magnificent beauty, improves mood and health and builds better human beings and communities. It engages the intellect, softens the heart, strengthens the soul and frees the spirit.
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I like that Viburnum bush/plant, a little bit of work with three times a year trimming, but that just means it goes though a little bit of change, from wild to manicured. The mix of color season I would guess is the best time for the plant, followed by just the red berries for the birds. Do the birds like the berries?
Who doesn't love a nice warm sheet or blanket fresh from the drier, especially in the fall or winter.
Yes, the Burning Bush against the house needs the trimming, but planted away and in a grouping, the wild look is sort of round and neat. Oh yeah.. those birds love the tiny red berries and then poop them out. Then I have new plants sprouting up all over the place.. hehe.
As for your rhetorical question about the fresh warm dry sheets .. Molly says anyone who doesn't is a fool! haha.
In a week or two I'm taking advantage of my neighbours chainsaw and removing a great number of bushes and a tree. I don't know what I'm going to do with all the branches right away, but I'm definitely looking forward to the carnage!
Your own little front yard chainsaw massacre! Sweet 😆
Does your town have curbside pick up for that stuff?
We have a weekly 'yard waste' pickup, but it'll take several weekly pickups to go through all what I'm about to give them. At least several. Maybe more. I'm tempted to decorate it all for Christmas and then haul it to the curb on the grounds of being a "Christmas Tree pickup" 😂
That is a pretty cool looking tree. I love the color. We have a maple tree in our front yard that stays read pretty much all year. It is more of a traditional maple though. We also have a couple of grafted trees in the front of our house too. It is They hang really weird, but they are grafted onto I think citrus trunks or something like that. I don't even know what to call it to find a picture of it!
Maybe the Weeping Blue Atlas Cedar??
There are also a few weeping cherries that are grafted.
Nope, check out my post from today if you want, I have a picture of them in there. The one is in the background so it is kind of hard to see.
Yes, those are weeping cherries.. they come in sooooo many varieties but they graft them to either the Mazzard or Mahaleb cherry. They are a less than attractive tree in the wild, but are nice and sturdy, so they use it as the root stock.
Now I am heading back to read the post! I think I saw a whiskey bottle.. hehe
If I am ever in the neighbourhood I will for sure come and help out
Sure you will. Why don't I believe you? I think after I would offer you a glass of wine or beer or whatever, and you hung out with Molly and my wife.. I would be left doing it all alone :(
Good stuff Brad, I'll come back in a bit to look more closely, about to make an important phone call.
Upvoted and reblogged anyway @bdmillergallery
I love important calls 😁 hehe
Thanks for the support Jerry! I did catch that and changed it. Maybe not before you left the comment though. Dangit auto correct!! lol
I edited my comment, to save you some embarrassment 🤣
Oh no!! I hope you didn't. I was cracking up over that. I like not being perfect. Less of an expectation from everyone. Hehe
We have a lot of Japanese Maples here in Vancouver. They are wonderful. I appreciate the color they give long after most other trees have shed their leaves.
Your garden is lovely.
Does your juniper produce berries for you?
Really? In Canada?? hehehehe... They are a wonderful tree. Thank you for the compliments. The Juniper is called Blue Pacific Juniper. Junipers are conifers (Gymnosperms) so instead of berries they produce cones.. like a pine tree would. Mine have produced them in the past, but not for the last few years, most likely due to when and how often I am pruning them. Below is a picture I grabbed off the web. It shows the tiny cones that are no bigger than a pea or chick pea.
Sure ... I live on the West Coast. We have a climate quite similar to Japan without the extremes. We even have some palm trees kicking around. They just don't grow as tall.
The red leaves are gorgeous! A ray of colour, they really pop!
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