Clearing the Jungle -- Part II

After I posted the blog last night, I settled down and took another look at the glass bowl that we resurrected from the back yard.  Years of being addicted to Antiques Roadshow has taught me to always look for some kind of identifying mark on any glasswork or pottery.  Much to my surprise, I actually found the number 36 and the words Arcoroc France molded into the glass.  An investigation online (whatever did we do before the Internet?) told me that we had found a bowl made by a very famous glass and dish maker in France.  We have the diamond and star pattern, and currently one auction at E-bay is starting the bidding at $14.00.  Other sites have the same bowl offered for between $9 - $12 dollars.  Who would have guessed?  I thought the bowl looked similar to the ones my mother told me she bought early in her marriage at Kresge's for 29 cents! I guess Gladys really did give us a nice gift.

The Holly tree coming down.

After a very restless night, we awoke this morning to the prayed-for good weather since Boen Tree Service was coming today to remove our trees. We had an almost dead Holly tree that Jeff from Boen told us last October should be removed "before the next hurricane season."  Since we are now IN the next hurricane season, we felt that removing the tree before it fell on something would be a responsible thing to do.

Before the tree people came this morning, I moved two small plants that were growing next to the patio.  I have  yet to find them in my garden books, so I am not sure what they are, but they seem happy in their new home behind the garage.

The back yard before

...and after.

Along with the Holly tree, we also contracted for the removal of seven Brazilian Pepper Trees and Wild Cherry trees.  As the pictures show, the crew of four did a fantastic job of removing the invasive or dead trees and transforming our back yard.  In the course of removing the contracted trees, we also ended up removing the palm tree next to the patio that was fighting with the Live Oak tree for space and sunlight. Additionally, we gave permission to take down a Queen palm that we did not even know we had (that was tangled in the electrical wires and would have been removed anyway by the power company) and a thorny, almost-dead orange or lemon --citrus for sure -- tree hidden in the middle of the "jungle" we called a back yard.

Now that the trees are gone, so is some of our privacy from the junky back yard of the house behind us; however, we now have a clean slate on which we can plant and build the backyard that we really want. Once the tree people were gone, Rick and I tackled what was left.  We want to eventually prune the remaining Cleyera shrubs down to about 6 feet so they are a manageable size while still giving us some privacy.  Rick spent over 2 hours digging up about 10 feet of  Sansevieria trifasciata (Mother-in-Law's Tongue) that has tried to take over the back yard.  We still have another 30 feet or so of that to remove.

Our latest gift from Gladys.

Gladys also gave us another buried treasure.  As I was working toward the fence line, I spotted the cement head of a deer looking up at me.  Both ears were missing, but the steel rods that once supported the ears were still present, giving the deer a rather horned, Satanic look.  When I tried to pull the head up from the dirt, I felt great resistance.  Further tugging revealed the statue in the picture, a reclining deer that was literally buried up to its neck.  While I should be grateful that Gladys keeps presenting me with gifts, I would have preferred more glassware to the cement statue that will go out with Thursday's trash. Hm-m-m.  Today is Steve and Chris' wedding anniversary.  Maybe Rick can be the cheapest little brother on the planet and leave them the statue as a 41st wedding anniversary gift.  (Just kidding... I promise the Dunedin landfill will be the final resting place of this dear little deer.)

Happily, tucked way back in the northeast corner of our property is a wonderful magnolia tree that we also did not know we owned. Now that all of the Pepper trees are gone, the magnoila might actually get enough sunlight to bloom!  We eventually would like to introduce some other flowering shrubs along with some other perennials to bring some color to the back gardens.

And speaking of blooming, I might actually get to see the giant cactus in the back yard bloom.  Each time I have been down here, the cactus had buds, but we always left before we had a chance to see the flowers actually open.  The cactus now has full sun, and Rick counted 9 buds on the cactus arms, so I will have to include pictures if I actually get to witness the cactus bloom.

Will the garden be done this year?  No way. We are trying to stretch the budget to include kitchen cabinets and a new fence  on the south side of the house this year.  We have no money left for frills like flowers and shrubs.  Those will come in time, but until we have some discretionary money to spend on such things, we will have to rely on God to fill in the greenery left in the back yard.