Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Even Better

More dead hemlocks came down and my new view got even better. It would be nice if this was looking west, but it is pretty much due north. A western view would require truly senseless brutal destruction. I'm not willing to do that. I even left a living cherry tree smack dab in the middle of my new view. I might could get a wild hair about this single tree one day. Of course now that it is so exposed it wouldn't surprise me if the next big wind snapped it in half.



Now the cleanup begins. Most important is to get the driveway and parking area cleaned of debris and raked smooth again. I think there will be another rubbish fire when the proper day and time presents itself.



In the big picture I see the cleanup as a multi-year effort. I plan to maximize the use of decomposition.



Just as important if I want to keep this new view is I cant let the trees grow back. They won't hesitate for a moment to try and reconquer this very steep slope. I'll need to get a working path down through here again and think of what to plant to slow the germination of trees long term. Maybe this slope could be covered in rhododendrons

2 comments:

lh said...

It’s looking really good. Great view. I’m curious -- in the third photo, on the steep slope, what are the plants that are still green? Are they evergreen, or is that new growth? Did they manage to survive in the shade of the trees? Hope they’re not some nasty invasive weeds.
Lois

Christopher C. NC said...

Lois those green things in the last pic are native Rhododendron maximum and yes they will grow -slowly- in that deep shade. At some point I'll go through them and unmangle them all.