Around here Black Friday is a retail extravaganza where stores surge into profitability and rabid consumerism launches the ship that is called holiday shopping. Personally I’m not much of a shopper. Instead of hitting the stores I stayed home to investigate the white lines and marks which have appeared on specific parts of the property.
A line comes in from the street. to the left is the front border, to the right is about ten feet until the edge of our property…
Staying home sounds peaceful. Black Friday sounds harmless. Unfortunately on this black Friday I was the grim reaper of plantings which needed to leave the path of construction to come.
Trucks will need to come up on this side of the yard. A hydrangea, witch hazel, and clematis still need to come out as I’d like to save them.
It happens. Someone here is very excited about this all and keeps talking about the joys of having a full countertop, walk in closet, room to sit in a bedroom… but someone else is less excited.
The writing says ‘Dig Area’. For years I’ve tried to empty out the dig area and avoid any ‘just for a few months’ plantings.
The lack of excitement is more for the bills to come rather than the plants to go. Only a few things will be really missed, and although it seems ruthless to slash and burn so viciously I just keep reminding myself of things like ‘it was just a free packet of seeds which sprouted’ or ‘I found it on clearance for five dollars, rather than ‘that was 13 years ago, 13 years is a lot of growing’.
The fothergilla is still hanging on to a few brilliant leaves, and the stewartia always has a beautiful hue to its trunk this time of year.
The stewartia had a bumper crop of seedlings this spring. I still have some time left. The new bathroom will be a nice change.
Enjoy your weekend.
sorta like suburbia 
Oh, dear, I would not be as calm as you are, Frank. I’d be crying in my soup! Your beautiful Stewartia? It’d kill me. They take ages to mature, but at least the others will recover more quickly. I guess I get really attached to my garden, eh? So when is the excavator coming?
I’m pretty attached to the garden but I am the reed who bends in the wind… or something like that lol. My theory on plants is that since I’m never getting old and will live forever, there’s plenty of time for another stewartia seedling to mature 😉
The excavator came. The garden looks worse than terrible, and I have to see if I can post some photos without causing too much trauma to myself and others!
Oh so sorry you have to go through this. Construction alone is bad enough without having to sacrifice your beloved plantings. But it is nice to know that eventually the plants will take over again, anywhere… 🙂
My thoughts as well. It was a blank space when I came, and over the years I’ve become very good at filling the place up… rather quickly!
I bet that after all is done you will be as happy as Someone. A full counter for a growing family and the bonus closet will no doubt be appreciated. Just think of the fun this spring when you can landscape around the new addition. It will be a blast. You can hide out in the bedroom to sit and think about what to do next. It is always sad to say goodbye to favorite plants but let us think about this as a great new opportunity being constructed.
I’m already imagining the new plantings… and the soil which I’ve always cursed has come up to expose a bunch of awesome stones which I’m hoarding to use in the garden. The stony excavations are uselesss for making raised beds, and terrible to dig, and horrible for soil, but at least we didn’t have to blast solid rock, and I am pleased about most of the new stones which I can wrestle around into new walls and paths.
Eventually i suppose I’ll enjoy the new rooms as much as everyone else 😉
So Construction chaos is about to begin. We remodeled the primary bathroom and closet in ’18-’19. Misery it was, but it’s been a daily joy ever since to have safe surfaces on the floor and an easy-to-keep-clean safe-to-step-into shower. The misery is pretty much forgotten. Just get through it.
Looks like you are losing some gardening space, but lawn is not really gardening space, is it?
Best wishes for construction success!
Thanks 🙂
I’m pretty easy-going even when there’s a construction disaster unfolding around me. I tend to see things as they’re going to be, and less-so what they are, so maybe that’s a blessing… unless it’s a curse!
But I still would rather be through it already. I’ll try to remember to focus on the future!
Construction work is something we dread too, hence no greenhouse yet. But hopefully it will not only provide more space, but perhaps mean some new planting when all is done! (Well, you have to look on the bright side. 😉)
Haha, I suspect my little addition is nothing compared to putting together a whole house! -actually when the digging became serious I remember saying to the contractor ‘Oh my gosh this is a disaster, I can’t imagine handling a whole house build!’ He of course just laughed at me.
Another funny story is someone called me about adding a greenhouse. I don’t have the room or the need, but if it’s a bargain who am I to say no?
Think of all those new views. Hope you are in charge of where the windows go and how many and how big. I never fail to look out to the garden from the bathroom window. Construction is no fun but the afterwards always is.
Funny you should mention the windows. Someone here likes to have the shades drawn, but when we were choosing windows wanted as many as possible. I of course quickly agreed.
Also there are a strangely large number of windows going into the basement…. to balance out the windows above of course, not because someone else want to have a lot of light in the new basement plant room… I mean ‘man cave’…
My condolences to you. I’ve been through more construction than I ever want to add up. New kitchen in coop apartment in NYC, new bathroom and family room remodel in Sleepy Hollow, new kitchen, family room, playroom, 3 new bathrooms, bedroom extension, bedroom addition in CT, wait I am not done….new bathroom, new siding, new floors, carpet in CT, and now here I am in retirement in Savannah GA. All those giant expenses could be making my retirement much nicer if I had just stopped all that remodelling ….but it’s what we do. 😂 truly sorry you have to do all that transplanting.but fall is a good time to do so! Enjoy!