Keep ‘em, kill ‘em, or kick the can down the road?
Posted on April 22nd, 2009 – 12:25 AMBy Jaime Chismar
Gardeners need to be tough, but when it comes to killing plants, I’m a big softy.
For six years — yes, SIX YEARS — I have put off some dirty, detestable work. And, for six years I have cursed my weak resolve.
Planted too close to the house and too close to each other, two shrubs suffer in my front yard. They get very little water. They have very little room to grow. They are right next to the faucet and get abused by the hose as I water other plants in the yard.
Every winter I vow to kill them. Every spring I have a change of heart. One year, I want to chop down the high-bush cranberry. The next year, it is the arborvitae that must go.
As you can see from the photo, both are obviously miserable. Neither are aesthetically pleasing.
What would you do with these poorly planted shrub? Keep ‘em, kill ‘em, or kick the can down the road?
Are you a softy, too? Or are you the type of gardener who gets tough with tough love?
30 Responses to "Keep ‘em, kill ‘em, or kick the can down the road?"
[…] Greengirls – […]
I too bought the house with the junipers and dedars that were too close to the house. I fought for years, trimming, shaping, trying valiantly to make them something they were not: planted correctly. We finally admitted defeat and hooked the truck to their stubby trunks and pulled them out.
The high bush cranberry however has a chance, dig it up while it is still dormant and giver it a chance to be happy elsewhere.
Admit defeat? Maybe that is the real reason I can’t chop them down. DebW, I can be very, very stubborn.
I used to be a softy, but I’ve gotten into tough plant love. If a plant is ailing, I try to do what I can to get it healthy. I’ll research its malady (bugs or wilted leaves) and try some Rx (insecticial soap more or less water, sun or food). But if it doesn’t come around, it’s outta there!
Not being a big fan of evergreens, I don’t believe in killing things off unless they are half way there to begin with.Looking at there area I would get an adpter to extend the hose away from shrubs and make a bird sanctuary. Set up bird baths and feeders.Just a thought.One womens garden is another birdies treasure.
I finally pulled out an old, misshapen juniper that I moved 4 years ago when we put on an addition. The move didn’t make the juniper any happier, so after 4 years I finally gave up. In its place between a magnolia and a lilac is now a little blueberry, and I’m so much happier when I look their direction.
I would move the cranberry.
As for the Arborvitae, wait until the snow flies and send a holiday invite to your local deer population. They gnaw my arborvitaes down to nothing and solve the problem. This should work for you.
I adore blueberry bushes. They have great flowers and great fall color. Maybe I need to fall in love with a new plant before I can dig these up. Perhaps some varigated dogwood? Lime green smokebush? Dwarf forsythia?
my rules of thumb for these decisions: 1. The bigger the plant, the more deliberation. (annuals, no problem -> shade trees, can’t be easily replaced) 2. Sooner is better (procrastination only makes a bigger plant & more work when the time comes) 3. Anything that threatens health & safety of building or occupants is OUTTA THERE! (shrubs & evergreens too close to foundations, tree branches that allow squirrels access to roof etc). So my vote is both need to go. It’s hard to tell from the pic., I think the highbush cranberry might be relocate-able. Evergreens don’t like that idea so I guess it’s destined to become mulch — might want to consider keeping the branches, but the trunk & roots are not so useful. Look at it this way, it’s a chance to amend that piece of soil and do something even better with that spot.
Jaime -
I suggest that you beat the bust like Genghis Khan to get it to go away! Good to “see” you around town!
~Osseo ‘94
I meant to say “bush”. Typing/spelling is still not my strong suit. ~J
My solution to pesky problems like this: Put an ad on craigslist under the free section. Tell people they can have it if they come dig it. Then it’s not only their problem, but you are saved the guilt of killing it yourself.
We have a hideous Japanese Yew in front of our house that I have been waiting three years to kill. It’s huge, which has been the deterrent so far, but I’m at my limit now — it’s just so ugly and no matter how my husband prunes it it never looks nice. It has to go. So this summer, I’m going to kill it and replace it with some nice, smaller shrubs. When we first bought the place, there was an arborvitae that had been allowed to grow as tall as the house and scratched the roof in the wind. That we sawed down right away. Yuck.
Debw got it right at the top. Move the cranberry, remove the arborvitae. I’d just saw it off flush with the ground & not bother digging.
Good points all.
It is true, the longer I ignore the problem the bigger they get.
Do you think that arborvitae are the evergreen equivalent of hosta? It seems like Minnesota gardeners either really love them or really hate them. There seems to be no inbetween.
Big softy here, too, and it’s the wrong way to go. Life is short, so is Minn. growing season. But I hate even thinning out “volunteers”….”Oh look at you, brave seedling, how can I pull you out?” If it’s not looking good, be ruthless.
Jaime, i’d try to dig out the arborvitae and give it a new home WAAAAY in the back yard. if it doesn’t make it, oh darn, you tried. fill it will birdseed and peanut butter in the fall/winter before you compost it.
if it doesn’t dig, chopping will have to do. but beware - i have a trunk/root like that in my front yard that hasn’t decomposed for 25 years! can’t plant much close to it, and now it seems to be petrified, so i can’t even chop it up!
two years ago i finally hacked down an old, overgrown, and falling down arborvitae that was as tall as my house. it looked sad when i first bought my house and it only got worse. the stump is still there though, i’m not certain what i’m going to do about that yet. i dislike arborvitae and juniper bushes because they make me break out in a rash if i touch them. unfortunately my house is landscaped with 8 of them still alive, plus four that met their death (two died, two cut down).
We had a 12-foot arborvitae too close to our front door. We cut it down and used it as our christmas tree.
It was GORGEOUS, and well appreciated. Your arb could be cut down to use as a small tree or as winter decorating greenery if you wait out this summer. It also smells great used inside the house as greenery.
boot the “evergreen” (and in this case, brown) Frankly, it is ugly in this location, and it is way to close to your house. We should all remember this when planting cute little plants. That way we can avoid the problem down the road. Jury is out on the cranberry. See how it handles the hose with a few hose guides. If it doesn’t work, at least you spread out your need for plant killing strength!
Chop the evergreen, move the shrub. The arborvitae is waaaaaaaay too close to the house. The bigger it gets, the worse it’s going to look, the worse it will be for your house (think mold, moisture and critters) and the harder it will be to pull out. With a couple of strong guys you might actually succeed in moving it. Maybe.
The shrub could be moved, but do it soon. You can find a new place where it will thrive and look wonderful.
One of the hardest gardening things I ever did was getting rid of very old lilacs which had stopped blooming. They were a major feature of the back yard, but the tree doc said there was no way to revive them. It was a good, if hard, lesson in impermanence and the cycle of a garden. I now have a charming, sunny garden complete with seating area where they used to be.
You don’t love these bushes, and gardening life is short. Ciao, baby, I’d say!
Very few plants are sacred to me … if it’s not doing much or doesn’t look good - I have no trouble yanking it out. The time we actually get to enjoy plants and shrubs is so short anyway, why waste your time with something that is not making you happy?
Thanks for the advice everyone! Time is too short to live with ugly plants. It looks like it’s time for a trip to the hardware store.
This post reminded me that I have unsuccessfully been trying to kill some lily of the valley in our backyard for the past three years because it is extremely poisonous to dogs.
It would be really great if you could do a post on this oft-ignored problem - a large number of common plants are very toxic to pets (and children, for that matter) and nobody seems to take that into consideration when gardening.
Check for any bird nests before you take it down. My partner took down a huge cottonwood, at least 40 feet, because it’s roots were growing on the surfact of our lawn and too close to the house. We replaced it with a red maple. Much smaller tree, it was hard to see all that green go, but we knew with time it would only be harder to take the cottonwood down. He had to chop at the stump roots for an entire weekend, almost admitted defeat and called professionals, but finally got it. Now we battle little “saplings” trying to come up from the old roots under the lawn. It just won’t die. We almost planted a hedge of arborvitaes, but decided on wichita blue junipers. love them so far. Why do so many people hate arborvitaes?
J.
That is a great idea for a post. We greengirls will do a little research and get back to you.
I have no heart, it’d be gone!
Speaking of moving, we inherited a cherry tree too close to our house. When is the best time to move it? It’s only about 5′ tall. Being edible, I can’t bring myself to just dig it up.
Angie… Do you want fruits this season or can you wait for next year?
If you want fruits this season, I’d transplant the tree in the fall.
If you don’t mind waiting until next year, I’d transplant now. Make sure to add lots of compost to the new location. That cherry tree will have a lot to new roots to make!
Pitch ‘em–they are not worth the wear on tear on your back and wallet to save these. Plus, in all probability they are stunted.
Greengirls Connie Nelson, Robyn Dochterman and Jaime Chismar are dishin' the dirt from the backyard garden and beyond. Whether you're a greenthumb or greenhorn, they're eager to learn from your misshaps, mistakes -- and most importantly, your sweet successes -- all growing season long.
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