Timber!!

As promised, I am afraid that I am now going to bore you rigid with a detailed account of the tree works that took place in the garden yesterday. They do not really look that dramatic but – they do mark the start of the works on Hampstead Lane, which is quite exciting as far as I am concerned. So, here are the first bits of gear, ready to leap into action…

And first up, the two self seeded holm oaks – the evergreeny looking ones on the right. In fact I was almost too late – as you can see they had already taken off a few branches by the time I got out with my phone.

But I was just in time to see number one come down.

(If you want to see the video you will need to click onto the blog as the email notification does not include the video.)

And here is that corner this evening…

Then, to the back of the garden and the very overgrown viburnum. (I spent many years trying to tame a rampant viburnum by the front steps at Lawn Road so I now have a rooted objection to them.) The azalea is in a pot and came with me from lawn Road – just about to burst into glorious flame coloured blossom.

And here it is in front of virginal wall. Well, not exactly virginal as of course we still have to deal with the ivy, but a definite step in the right direction.

And finally to the holly tree which was certainly intruding into my garden but was also blocking most of the afternoon sun from the gardens of two neighbours on that side of the garden.

In fact, when I took this picture it had already lost 2 meters plus out of its crown so you can imagine how big it had been. And here are the guys taming it with a scarily long hedge trimmer.

And success! This afternoon – tamed, finely shaped and outlined against the sky.

Sadly, that is now it as far as the garden is concerned for about 18 months. In mid May we start work renewing the roof which involves all-over scaffolding – certainly not good for gardens. And if all goes to plan we the have another 9 months of work to do on the lower half of the house – and only after that can I really start work on the garden. Well, plenty of time to plan…

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