Forever clean-up

One way we measure successful weekends is if we manage to fill our
dumpster with yard waste, and we succeeded very well this time. I told
husband we were going to finish cleaning up the area where I hacked out
that pyracantha  last weekend so out we went with loppers, rakes and the
trash can. The pyracantha is now down to a number of 6-inch tall stubs.
We also trimmed back the big juniper on the corner and husband cut down
the small black locust tree. I have been hacking on that locust for
years now but it's time to get serious and dig it out, it is much too
close to the house. I left it originally - this is silly I know -
because as a seedling it was sort of bushy and it attracted leafcutter
bees.  I liked the pattern of the oval leaves with the semi-circles cut
out of them, it was kind of art-deco looking. But it is not content
being a bush any more so it has to go.  We raked out bushels of dead
sycamore leaves too. It is now pretty clean (although there is a Bermuda
grass problem, and we did leave a small patch of dead leaves that is
sheltering a couple toads) and I need to decide if I'm going to let the
pyracantha grow back. My inclination is to dig it out but something else
will need to go there. Something that will tolerate shade all day and
not collect piles of dead leaves in it, something that will hide the big
bundle of sprinkler valves, but will stay low enough that I don't have
to continually prune it away from the roof or the windows. Oh and also
should start moving us in the direction of lower water usage.  So at the
moment I'm actually giving serious thought to boulders and gravel.  How
depressing...
But it was satisfying to get that cleaned up. Another 30 weekends like
it and we may have the front yard decent!

Cyndi

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