Jane: Pruning

Today it was a beautiful day, about 65 or so, sunny, with a light breeze. So late in the afternoon, we worked in the yard, pruning some scrubby trees out of a lilac hedge (or would-be hedge--it's being suffocated by scrubby trees) along the edge of the yard.

Robbie thought we needed to mark the trees with spray paint first. Hey, if you've got a can of spray paint . . . .
As you can see, he also marked the tree with his hatchet. He wants an axe, but I told him I would not buy him one! This tree ^ is too big for us to prune out with my pruning saw. I'm hoping my neighbor, Steve, will loan the use of his chain saw for it.
You can see the hedge here, after we cleared out lots of trees. That's my shadow!
Here are the piles of branches and mini-trees we cut out. After supper, we cut them up and tied them in bundles for the yard waste truck.

Robbie was great help with this chore. All I had to say was "Do you want to cut down a few trees?" and he was there! He's always loved chores that involve tools.

Eli also helped with the branch clean-up. He even found a few sturdy sticks to use for sword-fighting.

Anyway, I'm hoping that this clear-out will encourage the lilacs to come back; they've been shaded and crowded by scrub trees and didn't bloom much last year. They're lovely white lilacs, so worth the effort.