Forsythia Looking Good

For many years, our property was surrounded by 27 Blue Spruce trees. When we first moved here in 1970, we had a huge garden. We had some tiny spruce tree seedlings that we planted in the garden. When they were big enough…took several years…we transplanted them around the property line. They gave us some wonderful privacy for 50 years.

2019

By 2019, we noticed several of the trees were unsteady in high winds and had to be removed. We didn’t want to be responsible for a large tree landing on our neighbor’s roof! Eventually, we determined it just wasn’t safe to have any of them. Plus, they weren’t looking too health. Looking at the trees was more like looking through lace; it was just too risky to leave them up.

2019

The process of taking them down by professionals was the only way to go. It was a pretty sad day.

2019

It did leave us with a huge pile of logs that Bert worked on for several weeks…a little at a time! The picture below was just a small portion of the pile of logs.

2019

This was just the beginning of the final wood pile!

2019

In 2022, we decided it was time to replace the trees with…something! Anything huge would not have time to grow big enough to enjoy. As much as Bert dislikes plants that seem to grow where ever they want, he agreed forsythia plants would define the property line and be pretty in the spring in a year or two. We invested in 65 plants and Bert, with a willing friend, managed in a few long hot days to get them all in the ground. Whew!

The first year they just looked like a bunch of sticks in the ground. In 2023, the plants tried their best, so we had a few yellow flowers.

2023

2023

2023

This year, 2024, we can really see the potential for pretty spring flowers.

2024

2024

2024

So, even though we still miss our Blue Spruce trees, we’ll now have pretty forsythia to look at each spring…and we won’t have to worry every time the wind blows! I don’t think the forsythia will ever get so big it will block our view of the mountains. Happy Spring!