How to Remove Ivy from a Tree

When we bought this house, the backyard had a serious ivy problem.  The ivy had probably started out as a nice groundcover for the woods where nothing but weeds would grow.  It it is a lovely shade plant when tended.  Clearly this infestation was out of control!

The giant pillar of ivy in the center is a poplar tree trunk.  :)  As soon the contracts were signed, my unstoppable mother began Operation Kill Ivy on the fence.  It was basically a combination attack of pulling it, cutting it and spraying it with Roundup until victory was achieved.  But the thing I hated most about the backyard was the tree covered in ivy.  Ugly ugly!  Some people (who shall remain nameless) were concerned that killing it would only make it uglier… but I would not be deterred.  Our plan of attack was to cut the ivy at the base of the tree and hope it died.  Well, clearly that worked… it died.  It was now ugly and dead!

Eventually the dead ivy leaves fell off leaving dead ivy vines covering the tree trunk.

Fast forward through five years and one day I looked outside to find that the ivy was finally releasing the death grip on the tree trunk!  Imagine that!

Gravity was pulling it down in a huge sheet and it was literally falling away from the tree!  A few weeks later after a big storm I found the great wall of ivy laying on the ground beneath the tree.  More chunks continued to fall over the winter.  This is just a small piece:

Today there are a few vines left clinging at the top and some stubborn ones stuck to the back, but for the most part, our giant poplar is ivy-free! :)  Whoo-hoo!

I never imagined it would take five years for the ivy to fall off.  I’m not sure I imagined it ever falling off, actually!  But now I know that great improvements require great patience and that it is possible to remove ivy from a tree!

The Joy of Springtime!

It’s my favorite time of year… Spring!  Pink blossoms on cherry trees, purple creeping phlox, white azaleas, and all those tiny green sprouts are sprouting into hostas, irises and lilies all over the yard!  I’ve been spending so much time outside I haven’t had a chance to post our Spring blooms until now.  We have been raking leaves, spreading pine needles and planting shrubs.  And I finally bought and planted the ornamental cherry tree I have been wanting for years! :)  Things are shaping up around here just in time for nice weather!

Mama replanted all the hostas that the greedy voles ate up last year.  Hopefully we have eradicated the buggers and these hostas will have a nice long life here in the backyard.

It is such a thrill when the creeping jenny starts popping up everywhere!  And the purple phlox are still putting on their colorful show.

The phlox in front are joined by a periwinkle explosion. 

We got new camellias for the front bed, aren’t they lovely?  The two I planted last year in the back were damaged by the cold winter, but they still managed to bloom a few flowers.  Hopefully they will rebound for next year.

My bleeding heart is gorgeous, too… this thing is massive, but I just can’t bring myself to split it!

More pink phlox on the edge of the wall.  I love this!

And here’s a look at our beautiful green grass that we reseeded last fall.  It looks great!

My new “Kwanzan” cherry tree is in the spot where the butterfly bush used to live up by the mailbox.  I love these pink blooms!

Pretty pretty Spring!

I’ll be back with more updates from the English garden once the snowball bush gets going!  Until then you’ll find me in the hammock soaking up this delicious weather!

A Springtime wreath

Spring is only days away and I am ready to say sayonara to Winter!  To welcome my favorite season, I have whipped up a fancy new Springtime wreath for my living room.

My inspiration came from Karin Lidbeck-Brent and a bird’s nest wreath she designed in a basket:

I thought that was pretty cute and innovative, so I set out to create my own.  Since I didn’t have a cute basket and I did have a spare grapevine wreath I used that for my base.  A quick trip to Michael’s yielded a spray of pussy willow and a cute little bird.  Combined with some moss from my stash and a bird’s nest (thanks nature!) I was able to assemble the whole thing for less than $10!

Here is my version:

The tiny nest is filled with little blue eggs.  The blue bird is made from natural fibers and has a twig “feathered” tail!  I put a little branch across the bottom of the wreath so she would have somewhere to perch.

I thought the top was feeling a little empty and since I didn’t have any fun ribbon for a bow, I added this tiny banner welcoming Spring!

I accented mine with forsythia and hydrangea to complement the decor in the living room.  I think it turned out pretty cute! 

Happy Spring!

I’ll be back soon with more seasonal updates in the yard and the house! :)  Stay tuned!

Abby’s New Bedroom—Blue, Purple and Pink Ponies!

My neice Abby is turning six next weekend, and to celebrate, my mom and I decided to redecorate her room.  It was formerly decorated with shades of pink and green and ladybugs.  We bought a new bedding set as our jumping off point.  I know Abby loves horses and her favorite color is blue, so with that in mind I went trolling the internet for the perfect comforter.  And the internet delivered.  :)

After the bedding arrived, we picked a paint color that was a shade lighter than the blue in the comforter.  Then we went to work clearing out her room of all the furniture and toys, clothes, etc. and painted the walls a pale blue.  (I took a bunch of before and progress pictures, but they are all on my mother’s camera, and I haven’t been able to get them from her, yet.  You will just have to use your imagination… we all know the “afters” are what you are really here for!!)

Mama took all of Abby’s furniture home and primed and painted it glossy white.  It was formerly cream with a metallic gold trim.  The aged brass handles were spray painted hot pink!  Love!  After all the furniture was finished, we took it all back and rearranged the room, dressed the windows and put all the toys and books back.. that was the fun part! :)

Here is how it turned out:

We bought hot pink thermal drapes from Bed Bath & Beyond, and polka dot sheers from Walmart to dress her big window.  The bulletin board behind the bed is leftover from my old bedroom as a kid; I just painted the frame white and stapled fabric over the cork part.  I thought it would be a fun spot for Abby to showcase her artistic creations!

And the end of the bed, we put her old beanbag which was a perfect match to the bedding.  After a couple of years it was a bit flat, so we added two bags of shredded foam from Joann’s.  It’s as good as new, again! 

The bookcase is on the wall opposite the door.  I decorated it with books, toys and some photos.  More toys are stored in the drawers below. 

 

All of Abby’s smaller toys are organized in the bins on the other wall.  I later added some artwork over the organizer.  We also got two of these pink striped rugs (from Sam’s) for the room, one here and one by the bed.

These paintings were in Abby’s nursery, so I think it’s sweet that they found a spot in her new room!

And across from the window is Abby’s dresser and mirror.  She had this cute jewelry box which matched perfectly!  I just added a couple of wooden painted boxes to organizer her hair accessories.

We installed a hook rack (from Lowes) for all of Abby’s purses and what not.  I painted the heart and flower artwork hanging above.  We also added a lower set of hooks by the door so Abby can easily hang up her backpack and jacket each day.  The lamp is from my college days, I just painted the base pink, to match. 

It took a lot of work (mostly on my mother’s part!) but I am so happy with how this room turned out!  I hope Abby loves it as much as Mama and I do! :)

Happy 6th Birthday Abby!

Snow Birds Winter Mantel

Brrr! It’s cold outside!  Winter has officially arrived and in celebration of this wonderful cold, crisp, snowy season I have created a winter mantelscape! :)

I kept some elements from the Christmas mantel and layered around them: pinecone wreath followed by the white feather trees, plus the pinecone trees from upstairs, candlesticks and snowflakes, and front and center I put my new snow birds that I got for Christmas.  (Thanks Molly!)  And below I hung a pom pom garland.  Isn’t it cute?

I think the feather trees were clearly made for this arrangement.  They were crying out for some symmetry, so I provided. :)

And the little snow bird ornaments fit right in with the display with their furry white feathers and pinecone wings. :)  Cute cute!

Now if only we would get some snow! 

Hope you are enjoying this wintery weekend! 

Giftwrap Organization

It’s that time of year… time to clean and organize after the Christmas chaos!  I am trying to get back to a clean slate and put away all the decorations in an orderly manner.  So I thought to organize my giftwrap in a clever new way.

My closet under the stairs is where I keep all the gift boxes, bags, wrap and bows.  Last year I showed you how I had added shelves in the back and stashed all my paraphernalia in bins.  The giftwrap was stacked in a tall hamper. 

Well that was working fine, until I came across this on Pinterest:

My closet is super deep so I couldn’t mount shelves on the back wall, and I didn’t actually have any of those wire shelves, but I did have a bunch of tension rods!  So, I created my own version of this storage idea:

This is the simplest thing EVER!  I just snapped the tension rod in place against the wall and the edge of my shelf.  You just have to pull it out far enough from the wall for the fattest roll of paper to fit behind.  Then I organized all my wrapping paper standing up behind the rod.  It works for short, tall, thin and fat rolls equally. They are super easy to get in and out when you need one, plus you can easily see all your options.  Genius!  Now I have reclaimed all that floor space that I was using by standing a hamper in there. 

Now I’m on a roll!  (haha) Off to organize more things! :)