Actually, this is the best "before" picture we have. I guess with how overgrown everything was, we didn't consider the palm a priority. However, as we've been tring to improve our 'curb appeal' the palm was looking more and more like a huge lollypop. (The big 12 inchers that you always hope no one gives your kids. ) -but I digress. Five feet from the bottom you can see where the old fronds had been sawed off, but the bases remained against the tree. Those old bases continued up the tree for another 7-10 feet under the dead hanging fronds. Then we had about 3 feet of dead palm fronds to remove before we hit the newer growth. FYI Palms grow pretty slow and only need to be trimmed every 3-5 years. Ours was due.
We borrowed a pruning saw (funnest tool ever, highly recommend one) and set to work.
Fortunately for us it rained very heavily the night before. (Now that I think about it, it hasn't rained since.) But what we found the next day was that the rain had softened the debris and fibers such that after we knocked off the old trimmed stuff with the back of the saw, we were able to PULL off all the fronds that we could reach! Which, though MUCH easier than sawing, was still quite a workout.
We actually did have to saw off the highest ones, 'cause we couldn't reach anymore, and after a couple days working on it, it was starting to dry out and get tough again.
-And now it really looks great. We have a much better view of the mountains.
...The onnly problem is that I couldn't just let the garbage man carry off such a novel resource as the dead fronds. We have a ton of them. We carted them into the back yard and have made an attempt or two at making a fort out of them. So far unsuccessful, but determined. Any design ideas are welcome. I think we are going to have to build a 2X4 frame of some kind and nail them on.
(Also, they make pretty good kindling.)
No comments:
Post a Comment