Brad planted a holly plant in our back yard years and years ago. It was nice, but pointy and hurty when you touched it. Some years after that they dug up the pipe from our house to the city sewer line, and the holly was right in the path. We plopped it back down, but it was pretty damaged.
It was completely bare for the first two feet, then leaves started. Brad thought it looked cool, so we left it. Lately it’s just been an ever expanding bush, and needed to be trimmed back or dug up or something. But during this winter the old chiminea fell on it.
I thought that was a good look, so I decided to go with a new “ancient ruins” theme.
If you’ve had anything to do with Holly, you know how painful this was for both me and the plant.
But eventually I got the whole thing wired up just about right. In a few years this will look really cool or really dead. I think I’m okay with either outcome.
Have you noticed that as you get older, your event horizon gets longer? “This ought to look nice in half a decade” is not a thought that Lloyd of the past would have had.
You could just have killed it if you wanted. When I saw it in your movie, I was thinking that its usefulness has probably come to an end. There are less prickly things that could be planted right next to a walking path.
Oh, no – let’s let this experiment proceed. I laughed the whole time he was tying up the branches. “You’re doing something crazy! This is so great!”
He used wire but we bought some nylons to use instead. That’s better, right?
Nylons are better than wire, yes. Wire can cut through the cambium layer of woody stems and kill the plant. If you would rather leave the wire on, find some way to cushion it. People sometimes cut old rubber tubes or hoses into segments for such use.
Or if you want to just leave the wire and see what happens, you certainly could do that. Some plants do just fine with wire by growing around it.
Oh, and I forgot to say how impressed I was that you had a picture of the chimnea in snow. And that you could find it.
Thank you, thank you. I had to go digging in the Photo Trash for that. It was a ‘new camera’ photo.
Peggy – Ha!
Mark – they are the monster fingers of the hostas! (Insert scary laugh here.)
Kristi – help me. Bring clippers.
We have a clippers that we purchased to cut Max’s hair. Perhaps I should bring that one. It has several attachments. When is Lloyd’s appointment?
Dang, you guys are becoming gardeners! What will Brad have to do this summer?
I laughed at your title. I sure hope Lloyd is better then these guys:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aLZnCjD8vQ
Man, you think the Holly has some sharp pointy things, just look at those spikey things poking up out of the ground in the second picture! I’d hate to step or fall on those!
Wow – Lloyd has a full beard. It’s been some time since we’ve seen his face.
I was going to say something about his beard too, but I didn’t know if it was really different or if I was just not remembering the last time I saw him.
I haven’t trimmed the beard since before Christmas. I still shave parts of my face, the the beard is out of control.
Do you need some pruning, too?
Are you holding off because Lauren has said something about it too many times?
Because I have refrained from comment…in the event that it would harm Lauren’s efforts… 😀
I’m not sure what’s going on.
When I asked him about it, he said, “I’m trying something new.” I replied, “It’s your face, so do what you want, but I just want you to know that this is not new. You’ve done this many times before.” He seemed genuinely surpised.