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That’s Photinia Freakin Awesome!

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This is my friend’s house.  She lives in my neighborhood and I’ve always admired her landscaping.  She hates it.  It was there when she moved in.  Those giant bushes are Photinia, one of my all-time favorites because they are fast growing and evergreen.  She hates them.we-dug-up-these-giant-plants-and-moved-them-to-our-house-because-we-are-crazy

So what would you do if your friend told you you could have her 15 foot shrubs if you came to take them away?  Would you hire a landscaper to dig them up with a Bobcat and move them for you?  Would you tell your friend she’s crazy?  Well if you know me at all, you’d know that I was over there with the hubby in a heartbeat with two shovels and the loppers!  Damn right I’m going to jump at the chance to screen off my annoying neighbor!  And FREE… come on now, there was no stopping me!

First I dug up a Skip Laurel to make room.  Ha, ha, ha.  You’ll get it later.  digging-up-skip-laurel-to-make-room-to-transplant-photinia

Then we headed over to my friend’s house.  They weren’t home so it really felt like we were stealing the thing.  If giant shrubs go missing in your neighborhood let’s not start blaming me, okay?!  Hubs took all these pics of me.  But he was definitely there helping me out!  For once.  😉diggin-up-a-larger-photinia-plant-in-order-to-transplant-it

OMG hubs is always telling me “BEND AT THE KNEES!” I should listen!  That should be the take home message from today — Bend at the knees.i-look-terrible-but-i-couldnt-resist-showing-you-how-big-this-root-ball-is

I am 5’9″ tall.  How tall is that thing???digging-up-a-giant-photinia-plant

Hubby and I managed to get the photina into his pickup truck by ourselves, but once we got it home we realized there was no way we would be able to get it up over the fence by ourselves. Although, the thought did cross my mind.  It does’t look so big from this angle, huh?the-smaller-of-two-photina-plants-we-transplanted-that-day

How’s it looking from this angle???
transporting-photian-plants-in-the-back-of-a-small-pickup-truck

We had a good friend come over to help us get the tree (clearly shrub is not the right word) out of the truck, over the fence, and into place.  Yes, we heaved the darn thing over the fence.  Hubs and I figured we’d wait for nightfall so our friend wouldn’t realize how big the darn thing was.  No, actually we had to feed the kids and get them to bed before we could finish our mission.  No sleep for my trusty assistant (my 11 year old daughter) because she was the photographer.trying-to-figure-out-how-to-move-a-photina-plant-out-of-the-pickup-truck

Classic me…  staring at the massive tree wondering how in the world we’re going to get it over the fence. You can’t even see the two guys because the tree is blocking them.trying-to-figure-out-how-we-are-going-to-make-this-work
Where there’s a will there’s a way, people.  We did it!  Looking back it would have been awesome to video, but oh well.  You can see in the next picture that the first Photinia in place behind the fence.  I was freaking so excited!  Still am.  It wasn’t all sunshine and happiness though.  There was quite a bit of cursing on the second day.  I wasn’t born with much patients.
That’s hubby (and no he’s not Australian) digging a waaaay too deep hole for the next Photinia.hubby-digging-a-hole-for-the-next-photina
transplanting-photinia
Actually it was rainy and overcast all weekend, but it was perfect weather for transplanting.  Good thing because I dug up more plants than I can count.  No really.  And way less than half are back in the ground.  The rest are just hanging out waiting for a new home.  Why you ask?  Hmm, I didn’t have any “extra” room for two 10ft wide plants, so a lot of stuff had to be moved.  No worries, I’m just going to have to add another bed to the front yard to put them.  That’s a plus because it means less grass to maintain (oh wait, I don’t do anything with my grass).  But it’s a huge minus because I need to get dirt.  Yeah, I’m having a dirt shortage over here and might actually have to buy some.  Boo!  I will use as much compost as I can, but I think I’m going to have to have hubby fill up the truck with a load of dirt.  And soon, before the sun comes out and those plants start to dry out.  I already bought two bottles of this stuff.

how to transplant plants to make room

This is what is left to be planted

This is what it looks like now.  Still not finished replanting stuff, but I am LOVING the privacy.  FYI – the 3 reddish plants to the left of the giant Photinia area also Photinia and will get that big one day too.  On the right are 8 clumping bamboo.  Those grow 15-18ft.  I’ll be in super stealth mode then!! 😉after-transplanting-two-giant-photina-bushes

how-to-transfer-larger-planrs-with-success

Funny thing… I’ve been a little bummed lately thinking that all my crazy yard stories are in the past.  There isn’t much else I can do to the yard.  Ha!  Be careful what you wish for.  Oh, and you guys have a lot more crazy coming, so check back often.

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Comments

  1. Love it!! Looks great…is that why you missed my “curb alert”? lol

    p.s. I shall never tire of your yard stories!

    Reply

  2. Totally, I was in full on yard mode. But we got the trees right across the street from the curb alert. The locks might get changed if I bring one more unnecessary piece of furniture into the house. 😉

    Reply

    • Thanks. Yeah, if that’s the price I have to pay, I’m all for the water bill. We don’t have a sprinkler system so everything is watered by hand or mother nature. I love my 2 rain barrels and have to find a way to hook up a few more. These trees are up hill from the house, so they are going to have to stick with the hose. ;(

      Reply

  5. Just found your blog from House of Hepworth’s. Do you have photos of your yard? I would lke to see pics, especially of the ?slate patio (is that what it is made of?)
    Thank you.

    Reply

    • Hi Tammie! The patio is flagstone. I have tons of pics to share, thanks for asking. That was the first flagstone patio I put in, and I added 2 more last month. I even tried to make a video of me installing the last one, but it didn’t totally work out. Please check back tomorrow, I will have a new post up about the patios. You can also send me your email address at SmartGirlsDIY@gmail.com Thanks, Liz

      Reply

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