Mauled

The trees all along the four mile stretch of Betsy's Gap Rd are getting a major chop back from the scenic byway, straight up to the sky. I have about 600 feet of road frontage and lots of trees.

Suddenly, I am even more exposed.

Nobody knows if this is a precursor to repaving. There has been one lane stop and wait traffic for the tree trimming for a second week. It needs repaving big time.

I just happened to be home when huge limbs came crashing down on my planted slope below the scenic byway. Good thing. Cleanup was never going to be garden quality cleanup and it was looking markedly worse on the downhill side of the byway. The branch grabbing machine couldn't reach low enough. I went out there to help them get closer to garden quality cleanup. Good thing I was home. 

All the baby shrubberies planted below the road got a bit mauled. The good news is they used very sharp saws, nice clean cuts. After a short burst of horror, the gardener in me said, "Goody, more sun." I'll just have to wait and see what the mauled baby shrubberies do. One Cephalotaxus harringtonia went missing. It may reappear when I can see again.

Such is life along the scenic byway. Lord, it has been busy up here this winter. My hermitage is losing its force field.

All these years later and I have no winter greenery to show on a big chunk of slope below the byway. I need to fix that. One year a mower came by with a long hydraulic arm and reached way down the slope to mow. I have to keep that in mind. There is more sun now.

I have a bit more garden quality cleanup to do along another 400 feet of tree trimmed road frontage. It is also time to get started on the chop and drop of meadow remnants. Winter didn't do a very good job this year. We are having a sunny dry spell. It is time to get moving again.