Just a bit Exposed...

Do you ever feel exposed? Like everything you do is out there for the world to see.  Thats how I feel about my front yard at times, its one reason I enjoy the sanctity of the backyard yard. Two years ago I was chatting with a customer at work and she asked who was living at my Grandparents old place. I told her it was me, and she told me she was glad I was still feeding the birds in the bird feeder in the front lawn. I guess the neighborhood likes to keep watch, it is even a bit comforting to know they care.

No matter how much work needs to be done on the house and the other out buildings I always believed the first improvements would come with landscaping (even the bird feeder is long overdue for a face lift). The proper use of trees and shrubs can soften any exterior of a house, or provide the necessary buffer or screen. Lets just say there is a bit of softening that can be done around my place. One wake up call was when my mother was talking with a new employee about where I live, and she proclaimed 'Oh the abandoned farm?' It was never abandoned, but hasn't been updated in decades. To tackle the plethora of projects and updates necessary with the buildings on the property will be a long journey, with budgetary and time scarcity concerns, this is a journey I wish travel but will be packing a lot of patience.
But I can do something about my feelings of overexposure, it does not take much time to plant a tree.  Or ten.  Or twenty.

I've always been a big fan of hedges, I've joked that if I ever get in an auto wreck it'd be because I got distracted by someone's hedge.  A well manicured hedge can be an amazing sight to see, it showcases a gardener's true patience and vision.  One of my favorite hedge related experiences was on the island of Oahu at the Dole Plantation, they've got a hedge maze made out of hibiscus.  Lets just say amazing.  

This glorious hedge was spotted in Oahu... one of the many inspiring botanical sights I've  seen.

The use of many plants grown as one to form a uniform object, a team. It could be said that Hedges are my favorite team sport and I've got aspirations to be Head Hedge Coach, perhaps someday we'll win the tree pennant.

I have had this dream for some time now; plant some Columnar Maple trees... let them grow to create a living wall.  I saw pictures of this hedge made out of trees, the hedge started four feet off the ground and then was a solid mass of foliage for twenty or thirty feet up.  I get giddy thinking of the potential of these trees growing alongside the county road.

The trees I ordered came bare root, without a root ball there is an urgency to plant them, but the process goes faster and the plants adapt quicker.  

The process took two evening plantings and one early morning digging. An extra pair of hands and a third set of eyes ensured the trees were planted in a row and upright.  Three perfectionist are better than one. Waking extra early one morning to plant a few trees was beautiful. There was a hint of fragrance from the blooming trees; a mix of pear, plum and crab apple blossoms in the air.  The air was still fresh this morning and was accompanied by a gentle breeze, if I every morning was like this one I could become a morning person.

The line of trees, spaced six feet on center.  The first batch planted a week before the others is already leafing out.

Along with the maples which will give me a lovely show of yellow fall color, I planted a cluster of five river birch along the west line of the square.  They'll provide additional screening from the east and some great winter interest with their exfoliating bark.  Its always a bit therapeutic to get something into the ground. The feel of the earth at your fingertips; it gives you a connection to the present and a vision for the future... now I wait.  And water... often.