Wow pirl, that's a huge change. I guess you're getting a lot more sun as well. It's too bad but it looks like it had to be done. Any plans for large trees to replace the old ones?

Pirl,
How true! He was very kind to do that much.
That's true too! I do try to ''sit'' more by actually just walking the flower beds and sniffing the blooms.

Thanks, Jo Ann.

SSG - no room for more trees since we didn't have the dozen stumps removed.

Sally - I'll get out this afternoon to take photos of the stump with the slab on top. You can see I'd never be able to use it as a bench at the height it is now.

Here are some before and during collages. We'll see how it looks in May and June later this year.

Pirl,
What a mess, but your beds sure are pretty! I love your girl on the bench statue!

Major mess. I was out today surveying the damage. A butterfly bush has one central stem that was heavily damaged by falling branches and they are pieces the guys couldn't see as they finished in darkness. I'll tackle the areas one by one.

The little girl is now of voting age! Time flies.

Pirl,
There is just no way to avoid damage but I'm sure they tried.
Laughing! Voting age! I don't remember her but
i sure like her!

They did their best and I'm probably too picky!

We bought the little girl statue in '95.

My project, or my project for DH, is to rebuilt the rotted boards on raised beds. I need it done NOW but suddenly he started painting TV room. I know better than to complain because I no longer like the paint I picked out back then and we now are using a better color so if he'd been punctual I'd have a color I didn't like. Hah!
Chicken manure from friend is coming soon so I'll tell him it needs to be done before the poo arrives!

Judy,
Plans are everything. Good luck with raised beds.

I'm hoping to avoid any big projects this year. But I do have to move out the aluminum edging on the inner gardens. I'm planning to move it out about two feet only on the west side. However, to do it right I will most likely need to remove ALL the edging (south and north). It will be a bigger project than I have in mind if it turns out at all like my past projects!

First project for this year done! I had my shoulder surgery done Friday. Now it's just the long recovery. I must have waited too long to have it done because the pain isn't much worse than before the surgery. I'm sure I'll be ready to burn this sling before I'm done with it!

Good health to you!

Judy,
Manure, how lucky for you!!
I told my DH I wanted to try a raised bed. Now before we even have the lumber, I decided I want two, lol!
(I hate to paint!)

Jennifer,
But well worth it. I outlined my gardens with the black tubing. I used to measure, lay string and edge it every year. It looked fantastic, but had to be kept up. Black edging is my go to now and is around all my flower beds except one. It needs re-shaped and will be a little bigger before I edge it

Rosie,
Prayers for fast healing. It's hard to have something done right before spring, but better done than suffer.

A lot of impressive projects on this thread. February is my garden planning month and I realize I already need to prune my project list. We !ost a beautiful Japanese Maple last summer that accented our front door so replacement is priority 1 this year. And we removed some evergreen foundation shrubs too. There's a big dying fir that needs removal as well. I'd like to have these spaces prepped by April to coincide with opening dates for local nurseries.
Still don't know what to replace the Maple with...

I should be lining up some Spring cleanup help too...

Cathrine
I am thinking of mailing my garden helper to sign up for a clean up in March.
The earliest I have ever done this was April first week.

You can't lose by arranging for help when your garden help is available. If it happens to snow and he can't make it he will give you a call when it's possible. While lots of work can be done, it was impossible for me to dig through frozen ground to plant roses when J & P sent roses much too early. If you have anything to be dug out it could be a problem.

Catherine,
My neighbor planted a Japanese Maple where I can see it when I'm outside. It's in a fairly sheltered spot so I will enjoy watching it grow. Right now it's tiny. I don't have wind protection so I won't spend the money on one. I love them tho!
We had to tear out my Emerald Arborvitae last spring. They were so pretty and then started turning brown and dying out. I gained 4' x 8' of garden space so I won't replace them.

Pirl,
When I knew I was going to order apple trees I dug the holes and kept the dirt in the garage over the winter. But you are right. Frozen ground is impossible.

The radio gardening guy always recommended digging the hole and keeping the soil warmer than it would have been outside, by keeping it in the garage. I never expected (and didn't want) delivery in March and told them so!

yeah, March is early for us despite the prediction of an early Spring this year - zone 5a. Our beautiful maple got verticillium wilt and couldn't be saved - heartbreaking. I'm either going to replace it was 3 season dwarf tree/shrub or make an entry garden (sun). I've tried the fall hole digging with the soil on a tarp in the garage but by the time I'm planting the plant, it's warm enough to dig. I did that with lilies one year but ended up buying potting soil to fill the holes....

I think I may hire a garden center crew or landscape crew to do clean-up this year - it would give me a nice headstart.

Catherine

Carherine..

I think I may hire a garden center crew or landscape crew to do clean-up this year - it would give me a nice headstart.

Catherine[/quote]

If you have never hired a landscape crew to clean, be careful.
I did that one year, they came in with electric hedge trimmers and mowed everything down. Good thing the lavender had died but the Oriental Poppy winter crownes were shaved off.
In spite of rough treatment, everything came up and was fine.
Despite this I will hire a crew again and just "get over" the shock. My new person is a plant lover and will clean and leave the cleanings at the side of the garden where her helpers gather and bag. They also haul to the curb.