GREEN UNDERPINNINGS
I always finger gravely about remove an established industrial plant . I am not let the cat out of the bag about root out something so that it can bemoved to another place in the yard or even give away to a friend . I am cite to the situation where a flora is not going to be salvagedunless someone peck it up off the curbing before the truck bring forth here on bulkpick - up day .
twelvemonth ago , when the great god of horticultural fashion decreed that allhouse foundation should be covered with evergreen plant bush , someone planted fourof them in front of my house . Thereis nothing wrong with my high-pitched stone fundament , or the trellising that hides myporch ’s unmentionables . In fact , take by themselves , they are rather attractive . alas , most of us have been condition to think that a house isnot a home unless its foundation is camouflage with shrubbery . In most case these shrub are evergreen varieties , because someonedecided that the only affair worse than endure out of doors in your underwear in thewinter , is deliberately exposing your home ’s underpinnings to the freezingbreezes and vital stare of your neighbor .
At the time of the Great Cover - Up some hoi polloi elected to employ floweringshrubs that thrive in these purlieu — rhododendron and azaleas . Others , evidently outrage by the thought of something that bloomed soexuberantly in the outpouring , sought recourse in juniper bush , piceas , thujas andarborvitae . A few opted for holly . An industry arose to care for these new green suburban denizens , whichhad to be kept snip to look respectable . At first landscape painting contracters exercise with loppers , hedge shears andother such contrivances . Then technology provided them with power cock , enable themto trimming hedges tattily , quickly , efficiently and with at least three time thenoise and pollution triggered by non - power equipment . Suburban hedges were curtail into foresighted crew - cut bars , rows oflollipops , delicately abut trapezoid bone , and occasionally , neatly trimmed amorphousblobs .
The problem grow when people let all these evergreen shrubs grow toobig . In my opinion , the firstshrubs to get out of hand were the azaleas and rhododendron . Left to their own devices , these plants can become vast , covering notonly founding , but first flooring windows . Once the rhododendrons began soaring to undue heights , peoplediscovered that they were very nervous about snip them . The shrub produce more and bloom less until drouth discharge them orhorticultural partner in crime hauled them away . Fortunately , householder were much more potential to cut back their privet and boxwood hedgerow . Still , in time , many of the less showy evergreens began tocreep up the front and position of houses , becloud some very good architecture , not to mention any view that the inhabitants of the houses might have had of thegreat alfresco .
That is what fall out at my house . Theevergreens in front have grown so that they are now loaded with the top of theporch railing . It is impossible totrim the front of them without a stepladder , and it is almost impossible to getto the back of them without sustaining legion scrapes . Someone young and quick could conceivably go after them byhanging in a harness suspend from a bracket projecting out from the porchroof . Armed with a hardy pair ofloppers that mortal could then prune the back of the hedge . uncalled-for to say , I am not that individual , and I have a feeling that it wouldbe hard to find someone willing to do that sort of work .
Even if I could employ someone to give my bush the necessary severehaircut , I would be cling with awful await specimens — leggy on the bottom , green on the sides and bald on top . Itwould be best to prune them back severely ( to about 18 ” tall ) , then encouragethem to fill in from the primer coat up . This , however , would take years , and I am not about to suffer through days ofwatching and wait for shrubs that I do n’t even like .
So , they are leaving the premises . Ina few week , with luck , burly men will add up and take them out . I will gaze with awe and inquire at the lattice that surrounds thebottom of my porch , and then I will establish shrub and plants that are easier tomaintain , and are more in hold with my sentiency of aesthetics . Hydrangeas will go into the blank , and perhaps a Japanese kerria ( Kerriajaponica).I may put in some kindof small tree as a vertical accent , and I will put in daylily in the midst ofthe array because I love them and they require so little tutelage .
When the metre comes , I will prune my young shrubs fondly , secure in theknowledge that my efforts will not ensue in scribble and needlelike evergreenleaves in my hair . I will palpate smugand superscript when I expect at the other house in my neighborhood that are stillobscured by overgrown foundation plantings . Then I will come back down to land and mull the overgrown privethedge that stands , like a horticultural insult , on the northerly boundary of myproperty .
