It wasn’t our top priority, but from day one, we knew we’d have to do something about some of the trees around the house.
As you can see, it was a bit of a jungle out front. That blue cedar is growing about a foot from the front porch and has the potential to get 60 feet tall or higher; the one that looks kinda muppet-ish on the right turns out to be a weeping cherry whose rootstock took over.
And the side yard wasn’t much better, what with the palm tree (!) somehow growing on the north side of the house. In addition to finding it pretty ugly, we were dismayed to discover it also housed a colony of ants, and provided a bridge for them to get into our house. It had to go!
So we hired Out on a Limb to take care of business, and they did a great job. Both our dining and living rooms get tons more light now.
And you can actually see the house from the street!
Not that long after, our neighbors arranged to take out the huge laurel hedge that ran the property line between our houses. While the roots were on “their side” of the line, the hedge paid no heed to such boundaries. It grew to 10 or 12 feet deep in some spots. We were pretty happy to hear that the neighbors wanted it gone. Here’s the view from the street before:
And from our back door:
The wood chipper got quite a workout! I think the crew filled two small dump trucks with the hedge alone, and then came back the next day to grind out the stumps.
The “after” shots:
We estimate we reclaimed 400-500 square feet of yard out of the deal. It’s a little jarring still, to see through to other houses, get light from streetlights, and so on. But overall, we’re quite happy with the extra space (did someone say chickens?), and we’ll be coordinating with the neighbors to build a privacy fence (did someone say trellis with wisteria?).
Up next is the garage roof. Never a dull moment!
