That made quite a difference! Look at all the sun on the ground! How did you get everything looking so good after the tree removal, so quickly? The lawn doesn't even look disturbed at all and no sign of a root or a stump. I'd think it is exciting to have more light to work with. All the possibilities.

Woody, if I recall correctly, the ash tree was dying and had to go. Did you/do you like the shade, and do you miss it, or do you like the new sunny area? I'm still in mourning over the loss of a beautiful triple oak lol, so while I can grow more things I miss my shade. i also feel more exposed to the neighborhood without the tree. Just curious as to how you like it (or not lol!)

I'm glad you posted these photos. I've been so used to seeing your garden from the other angle and to see it not only from a different perspective but without the tree is really something!

:)

Dee

Dee - yes, the ash had EAB problems - we had it treated twice in the last few years but it was clear that it was likely to die at some point in the not-too-distant future. We had it taken down in March - which turned out to be good timing as there was a nasty wind/storm in May that took down a lot of trees in the neighbourhood, and likely would have resulted in some or all of the ash tree ending up on - or through - the roof! The ash trees on the properties on either side of us had been gone for quite a few years (one was removed and the other fell down) so we have long since been resigned to its loss. We will undoubtedly miss its shade for cooling the house in the heat of the summer and some plants might suffer but I think the majority will benefit.

Re ’exposed to the neighbourhood’ - that’s an odd issue here. If you look closely at some of the pictures of our backyard, you can see that most of the fences are ’see through’ chainlink. The houses were originally built in the 1960s. Quite a few of the originals have been torn down and replaced with new, much bigger houses - the people there now are more concerned with ’privacy’ and have replaced the old chainlink with wood 6’ fences. When we bought here in 1999 the neighbours, particularly the ones next to us on the north side, were worried abour what us folks from ’the big city’ were going to do here :-) They’re quite happy with us now and our gardens merge along the chainlink fence! All the lots here are ~1/4 acre and a lot of the trees are big 60-year-old ones that provide quite a lot of privacy. It’s a very friendly and social neighbourhood where ’exposed to the neighbourhood’ has not been a big concern. We all hope that as the original owners die or move on, that characteristic of the neighbourhood can be preserved!

That's great that you live in a neighborhood like that. I have a friend who lives across town in a neighborhood where the lots are much smaller, housing is denser, and people are very close in proximity to each other. But she has a great neighborhood. Every summer once a week each family hosts a party/picnic for the street, (I went once and they had an ice cream truck! Yum!) and neighbors bring food and drink and hang out. At Halloween they take turns decorating their houses (I mean REALLY decorating the host house) and they have a firepit and hang out at that house. It just seems really nice. Growing up in a row house and then living in two- and three-family houses and a condo, I wanted more space and privacy and thought I bought the entire world when I got my 9/10s of an acre lol. And while I still like that space, I do miss the closeness of a neighborhood like my friend's and like the one I grew up in. But I was and she is - and you are! - lucky. Not everyone has such great neighbors, even if you have acres of space!

:)

Dee

Dee - your friend sounds like she lives in a great neighbourhood - ours isn’t quite that ’neighbourly’ :-) I grew up on my maternal grandparents’ farm-going-back-to-bush (my grandfather was 80 when I was born…) and our nearest neighbout was 1/4 mile away! That place is my ’reference landscape’ for the garden though - think of the rectangular lawn in the backyard as a hayfield surrounded by ’bush’ (trees, shrubs, and shade-loving perennials…) Interesting that 10 years or so ago a childhood friend dropped by and said this garden felt like ’home’ (meaning the landscape of our youth…)!

You did a great job, Woody getting your yard back in order after the tree removal. I hope you have a lot of fun with the extra sun!

We have small lots too in a small neighborhood, and we do get to know a number of our neighbors. I garden in the front yard a lot where all my sun is and I see a lot of neighbors walking by that way. Lots of dog walkers too. It's pretty busy with walkers most days. But no - no block parties...lol Your neighbor is really fortunate to have such a connected neighborhood. Some people have awful relationships with their neighbors.

The sod took nicely! Now you can plan what sunny plants to plant :0)

mxk3 - Hopefully we can keep the sod looking as good in the future as it does now! We are both now in our mid-late 60s so rather than adding more plants we are mostly trying to figure out how to keep things still ornamental but with maintenance simplified as much as possible for us - or for a hired gardening service (or person) - because we want to stay here as long as possible and a boring or too-messy/weedy garden drives me nuts! :-) A somewhat surprising aspect of the aging we've done in the past couple of years is the way it has shifted our focus in the garden! My maternal grandfather is a role model in all this - I remember him still working in his large veggie garden (it provided veggies for three families - both summer and winter since he stored a lot of stuff in the cellar for the winter....) well into his 90s! I don't think I'll be able to match that, but one can hope...