All is revealed

Dewey from Lee's General Landscaping and Yard Cleanup came by Thursday afternoon and gave me a quote of $1150 plus 9.5% tax to clear away the Rhododenron in back and the wisteria and ivy against the garage. He bargained down to $1200, tax included.

The garage is no longer being accosted by the wisteria. The brick veneer at the corner, and the green siding, had been completely hidden behind ivy.

On Friday, Nov 14, about 9am, 4 men showed up and started removing the plants (and trimming the wisteria or whatever it is at the SW corner of BR3). They worked until almost 1pm, with a short lunch break. I asked them to trim the wisteria at the entry steps some more, and they had left a Rhododenron branch skeleton at the south end of the bush which I asked them to take. Close to 2pm, Dewey showed up with a truck and it took the now smaller crew a full hour to load the debris onto the truck. Lots of chain saw action while standing in the back of the stake truck.

So, 16 man-hours in the morning, another 3 loading the truck, plus dump fees. If the dump fees were $200, with 9.5% sales tax, I paid about $900 for 19 man-hours. That's about $47. Seems like I could have had the work done for a lot less than $1200, but that's what I paid. I'll have to be more careful with my money in the future.

The cleanup revealed a very nice Norman brick entry monument from which the (still inoperable) post light emerges. It also revealed dark green siding that didn't get painted blue with the rest of the house. On the south side, it seems that the deck railing was once a rust red instead of bright white.

Charming 1947 site furniture that had been completely obscured

Site of the huge hedge that blocked the view of Carkeek Park

Dewey was certain that what Peggy called an English Laurel was actually a Rhododendron, which Peggy said would produce beautiful flowers in Spring. Turns out there are hundreds of varieties of "Rhodies," including the Azalea. This one had to go, however, so that we could see the trees of Carkeek from the entry breezeway. It worked, except now you can see the incongruous palm tree, which will likely have to be transplanted.

Before: Rhoda the Rhododendron hides everything

After: You can see clearly now