Changing Seasons : June 2018…

June has been the month of changing light in the garden. It has been BIG pruning time. The Cane Palms have been taken down to a quarter of their size (see here) letting in so much light and space. But as I said that was only the start.

Jack has the bit between his teeth and the extendable chainsaw in his hands. There is no stopping him, he prowls around. What’s next?

Then he sets his sights on the paperbark tree. I can almost see it cringing in anticipation of what is to come. It has had this treatment before.

Let me take you back to 2014…This photo was taken in October 2014. I am standing on the top deck to take this photo. Can you visualize how high this tree is? It is the height of a 2 story house. We inherited this tree when we moved in. Now this is a seriously big native tree in a very small section, but how beautiful it is when in full flower and the birds love its nectar rich flowers.I loved this tree too, but it had to be controlled. So the decision was made to prune it back, not just prune it, but pollard it. Enter Big Jim and his team of tree cutters. This tree was way too tall for us to tackle.

I wondered if we had killed it. Did you notice the other tall tree to the left of the paperbark? It came down also to this height. But native trees are real tough survivors and 18 months later this is that same tree.It is now manageable and Jack is able to keep it under control.

Back to this month. Jack decides it is hair-cut time for the paperbark. Unfortunately I did not take a before photo. But here is the finished job.We can now see into the neighbour’s garden. Jack is cleaning the fish pond. Look at the pile of branches.They all cut down to beautiful mulch material. Mission accomplished Jack can now put the chainsaw away.

So here you can see, on the left is 2014, on the right now. How much bigger the yard looks with the tree pruned back.

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Su Leslie of “Zimmerbitch” is hosting a monthly challenge “changing seasons” were she invites you to share the changing seasons in your part of the world, or something that means June. Pop over to see the rules of this monthly challenge.