Sunday 20 April 2014

Balls!

As part of our ongoing desire to change our garden for the better we've long been planning to get rid of a large evergreen "ball" from the front garden. It blocks quite a lot of light to our living room and, if we're honest, it's just plain ugly! We're not sure on its original purpose but it's only redeeming feature is that it offers a little privacy. For this reason we've been waiting to take it out until we could replace it with something.

Our criteria for that replacement has been rather broad. We wanted something that would flower at some point in the year, would provide some greenery, would let light through and would reach a manageable final height. A couple of weeks ago we purchased a magnolia 'susan', which we felt meets all these requirements rather nicely (if pushing it a little on the height). What better than a bank holiday Friday to make the swap...

One big ugly green ball!
 
Cutting it out, one stem at a time.

Last one....

Just the stump to go


Digging it out, cutting through the roots and it's gone!


Deciding where the magnolia should go....

Planting the magnolia

And all done. The grassless area behind is where the old bush was.