Before and After

I always believe it's important to take before and after photographs if for no other reason, for posterity.

SisIg and I spent two days this week trimming... er pruning... er stripping the forsythia bush that's straddles the property line between us and our neighbor / landlord. He had told me way back in March it needed to be done and fortunately, his chain saw broke before he could do it.

We researched it and found it's best to trim after blooming and when the yellow flowers began disappearing last week (during the monsoon), said neighbor / landlord said he was itching to get his chainsaw out and do it himself if we didn't do it first.

Personally, I liked the bush as it was but truthfully, it did need a haircut -- but not a buzz cut. It hadn't been properly taken care of for at least five years and maybe even longer.

Here is what it looked like before we made a stab at it.

And here is the finished product:


















I must add I couldn't have done it without Sis' help. She handled the pruners while I used my reciprocating saw to cut the larger root stock. I also bundled the multitude of branches and hauled them away to neighbors' / landlords' brush pile.

We were sore Wednesday after finishing the task and even more sore this morning when we tried to get out of bed...