Alternate post title: Trees: 0. Sherry: 2.
You might not remember what our first house looked like when we bought it, so here’s a quick reminder:
And this is what it looked like about five hours after John left and I went a little crazy with a pair of clippers:
Three cheers for finally being able to see the house. We gained a view of the neighborhood from our front windows instead of a dense “tree fence.” It was free and gave me a bonus arm workout.
That house’s curb appeal was a steady four-and-a-half-year evolution (these things take time), and by the time we left it looked like this:
It’s amazing what removing a few things and bringing in a few others can do. We’re big fans of listing unwanted bushes and trees on Craigslist—“you dig ’em up and they’re yours for free”—and people come and do all the heavy work for us.
Back to this house and my personal “me vs. tree” tally. I decided to surprise John while he was out picking up some Craigslist chairs. While he was gone (about an hour and a half round trip) and Clara was napping, I realized I had time to tackle our giant magnolia that was completely blocking the view of the ranch.
Here’s the giant ranch-hiding magnolia:
At first we thought it might need to be removed entirely—the tree was simply too big in front of a small ranch and it blocked a lot of light. When my mom visited she suggested limbing it up first to see if we could keep it, so that’s what I set out to do. I was a little worried my tree tally might end up tied, since this magnolia was much more substantial than the trees I’d tackled at our first house.
What I used: a Corona branch clipper and a WoodZig hand saw, both bought at Lowe’s a few years ago.
Other supplies included a baby monitor, my cell phone, and the house phone. If Clara woke up I needed to be ready to drop the clippers and go inside, and if John called I wanted to be able to answer casually and not ruin the surprise. He did call a few times while I hurriedly dragged branches to the back of our property—one advantage of nearly an acre of land is there’s always a wooded spot for trimmings.
My method: use the long-handled branch clippers to remove thinner branches I could reach from the ground, then use the hand saw while standing on a sturdy wrought-iron lawn chair to cut the thicker limbs the clippers couldn’t handle. I probably should have used a ladder, but I was trying to keep this a quick solo mission.
The hand saw portion was the hardest part. Clipping the low-hanging branches took only about ten minutes, but each large limb took roughly 15 minutes of sawing. I tackled three of those, so that was about 45 minutes of arm-cramping effort. It was still a better choice than attempting a chainsaw. And yes, I joked to myself about suddenly having Arnold Schwarzenegger arms—just a funny mental image.
Dragging the trimmed mass to the back of the lot felt like hauling an entire tree, and I was worried John would arrive while I was mid-project or Clara would wake up screaming. Fortunately I finished hauling everything and snapped a few progress photos (not exactly “after” curb appeal shots, but honest):
I managed to toss my muddy clothes in the wash and take a quick shower before Clara woke up and John returned. In the shower I came up with the idea to videotape John’s arrival to capture his reaction. Here’s the clip I filmed:
He didn’t notice at first that the bottom of the magnolia had been removed—he was fixated on his strange wife standing in the carport with a Flip cam. When he finally walked around to see the front he was shocked and very pleased that I’d done the work solo. Mission accomplished. I’d been saying all I wanted for my birthday was to limb up the magnolia, and even if belated, I made it happen.
Our front yard will continue to evolve over the years, just like our first house did—we’ve still got a long way to go. But for a free 1.5-hour afternoon project, trimming the magnolia was completely worth it. The dining room now fills with light and we have a clear view of the neighborhood instead of a wall of leaves.
Point: me.
That said, I did earn a clipping-related blister:
So maybe the tree deserves half a point for putting up a good fight.
Psst—We announced this week’s giveaway winners (and included a discount for everyone else). Check it all out here.