This weekend I purposely made no plans. A couple people needed help and I could help them without worry because I had no plans. I worked on my yard. I thought I would focus on my driveway. When leaves enter the top of a low-slung Honda Fit, it's time to trim back the foliage. Past time, probably. Plus I found a Fisker's pruning saw that I forgot I asked for on my Amazon wish list. I found it. And wow, what a saw it was. I pruned and pruned and pruned. Now my Honda Fit can navigate down the driveway with a single leaf entering the moonroof and caressing my face. During this pruning session I realized I had made a bad decision. I have made many bad decisions and we don't have all night so we can't go into all that. But this decision I took special care to make right (or, in this case, wrong). I researched. This is PG (pre Google). I took a community ed class on landscaping. I asked the instructor, I asked at various gardening nurseries. I wanted to select the absolute best plant to make a privacy hedge. I ordered the dam bare-root plants from the Soil and Water Conservation District and you'd think they would know. I planted a hedge of amur maple. Bad Decision! I actually put more time and thought into this hedge decision than the college I attended, my major in college, my career path and my marriage. And yet I made a bad decision. Amur maple! Now on the list of plants to be avoided, I planted 25 bare-root amur maples. They all took and thrived. I pruned them so they'd be full and wholesome. I watered them and tended them. And now the Amur maples are full and wholesome, fifteen feet high and terrifically prolific. Time wasted there! They are spreading all over like crazy. Hundreds of helicopter seeds now top their branches. My city has decided Amur maple are on the list to be avoided. Criminey! I even went to the Minnesota Arboreteum in Chanhassen to look over the various hedges in order to make a good decision, I remember this because on my hike through the various hedges I dropped my car keys and had the double back. It is now time to face the facts. I made a bad decision. So with my new Fiskar's pruning saw (which was on my Amazon wish list but I forgot about) I pruned down the Amur Maple that dared to enter the sunroof of my Honda Fit. It was the one closest to my driveway. Like a wasp, this six legged creature was no match for my Fiskars pruning saw. One Amur maple down. 24 to go. Plus I got defined pipes. So what does this mean? Is detailed research and thoughtful planning a waste of time? I can't believe that. What I can believe is what we know as true could, with research, become known as false.
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| A pruned driveway does not enter the sunroof of a Honda Fit. |
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| This six legged creature was not match for my Fiskar's pruning saw. Amazing what a sharp edge and my amazingly strong biceps can do! |
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