Pittsford chainsaw massacre.

Ok, so I thought last weekend was productive but I think we officially blew that out of the water. I am still amazed every time I look out the back windows at the clearing that almost resembles a backyard. We (and by "we" I mean Dave and his dad, who were in charge of the chainsaw and its victims) cut down everything that was dead, half dead, or even just could be safely cut down without falling on the house. Above you can see a portion of the aftermath, and I do mean just a portion.

We also tackled a few hundred gallons of leaves. Funny thing to measure leaves by I know, but since we used 45 gallon trash bins to cart them down to the curb it's the best way to keep track. There is currently somewhere in the neighborhood of 800 gallons of leaves waiting to be picked up by the town. I'd say that's about 1/3 of the total in the yard. Many, many more to go.

After several trips to Home Depot and another huge nursery we managed to find some fun plants that will do well in all our shade. I even bought some Hostas, which I know is probably a cardinal sin, but at $2 each for some bright green pinstripe ones, I couldn't resist. I also went for some Bleeding Hearts, Coral Bells in a deep purple color, light pink Astilbe, a few Azalea and a white Lilac bush for the side of the house. Dave's mom helped me get a lot of these into the ground and hopefully I can get the rest into the front walk this week.



Above is a shot of a small bed under the family room window in the back of the house. There are a few steps from the deck down to the yard and this bed is on the landing a few steps down. There was a single Hyacinth, one bloom-less Daffodil, a small cluster of green and white striped Hosta and a few random Trillium and Jack in the Pulpit. We added some fuchsia Astilble and two of the bright green Hosta. I later split the striped Hosta to add some to the other end of the bed to even things out. It seems to have survived my surgery so far.

I also did some major pruning of a Creeping Juniper, violating I'm sure at least 50 bonsai rules. Oh well, if it survives great, if not then it's on to something new. Much like the rest of the yard, it looks better already.

I am still sore, and tired, but we've made more progress in the last two weekends than I ever could have imagined. A very special thank you to Dave's lovely parents, who worked so hard to help us out.