I have been neglecting my grass cutting, as Shimizu-san reminded me when he stopped by 555 on Friday. He isn’t wrong. It’s been a couple of weeks and the weeds grow wildly fast. The sugina (pictured above) has taken over a lot of the spaces.
So today I made an effort to tidy things up, starting with the vine-choked hillside that is the most challenging. Here’s a before and after of the “Upper East Side.” It would be a good game to spot the differences.
There is lots more to do, I barely touched anything else but I wanted to save energy on this hot steamy morning for putting in some trees.
I planted a crepe myrtle in honor of my friend, Grampy, whose funeral is today in Adelaide. He was a memorable guy. A lineman for the electrical company, he had a collection of glass insulators in his shed and an equal collection of stories to tell. His garden was gorgeous and he was the only person I have ever seen consistently crack open walnuts without breaking the inside. His grandchildren, Jo and Ashley, are friends who feel like family so Grampy was like my grandfather, too.
And I finally planted the maple tree that I received as a birthday gift from Barbara and Scott. It took me a while to figure out where it should go and I asked Lawrence to do some adjustments to the shape. Now it is up on the Upper East Side (did you spot it in the After picture?) and we’ll see it daily. I also put in a rosemary to replace some of the overgrown annuals I planted in December for the jotoshiki. I have been testing rosemary around the property with varying success. Fingers crossed this one will thrive.
I hope Shimizu-san notices that I cut the grass when he drops bay later this week.
