Shrubberies and Herrings

You must cut down the mightiest tree in the forest… WITH… A HERRING!

– Knights of NI!

Okay, so maybe we didn’t need a Herring today but we certainly cut down some tree-like shrubbery.  Behold, the front of my house.  The landscaping isn’t bad, in fact, you might call is Passable.

The big tree is a nice Blue Spruce Pine that stands about 50 feet or so tall.  Personally, I love evergreen type of trees and it’s nice.  This one, unfortunately, is infected with a fungus that is slowly killing it.  Any treatments just delay the inevitable so in the next 3 – 5 years, the Blue Spruce is going to come down.

Sad as it is, it does pose a problem for us.  See that tall telephone post?  At the top of it is a street light.  Only one on our block.  And it shines right into our bedroom window.  Losing the Blue Spruce means we’re going to have very bright nights.

Knowing that this is coming, we decided to make some landscaping adjustment.  And I give to you … Hughes on Spring Street, 2.0.

We dug up the big Yew bush in front of the house and tossed it out.  It wasn’t doing much and occupied prime real estate.

In its place, we dropped a couple of Emerald Arborvitaes and a smattering of flowers and wood chips (grass there was mostly dead anyway).

By the time the Emeralds are fully grown, they should be about 12′ – 14′ tall and maybe 3′ – 4′ wide.  That will be just enough to block any light trying to get into the bedroom window.

And, as luck would have it, the Emeralds will be fully grown right around the time the Blue Spruce has to come down.  (And I’m pretty certain they aren’t going to use a Herring to take it down, but I could be wrong.)

We do plan on putting up another large evergreen-like tree in that spot because it is the perfect place for a large tree.  It’ll take time to grow though, so the Emeralds will give us some privacy in the mean time.

King Arthur: O Knights of Ni, you are just and fair, and we will return with a shrubbery.
Leader of The Knights who say NI!: One that looks nice.
King Arthur: Of course.
Leader of The Knights who say NI!: And not too expensive.
King Arthur: Yes.