Fresh Slate

A lot has been happening at the Hesitant Gardener's house. In a desire to start with a fresh slate in the back yard which was overgrown with honeysuckle and ivy we hired someone to come in and clean out the entire space. They took down an old flowering crab apple tree which had been badly damaged in a previous ice storm. The tree gave a good last effort as it was blooming madly the day they came to take it down--sort of like your hair looking the best it ever did the day you are scheduled for a haircut. Now that the backyard is bare dirt I am having second thoughts about taking out all of the ground cover but Dwight says it is too invasive. He has been waging a personal battle against the ivy for years and the ivy has been winning. I guess he figured having hired guns on his side would finally do the job. Pictures of the bare dirt ready for landscaping and hardscaping will be posted. We had them "hill in" (a technical gardening term that the Hesitant Gardener just picked up) a beautiful hydrangea and all my hostas. Pray for my lovely hydrangea to make it through this!