Whack-O-Matic

Article by: Tammy Clayton

Copyright © 2005 Tammy Clayton Morning coffee with the internet , Hot Tub Parties has become a tradition of mine in recent years. The internet , Grandpa's Knife holds a much greater variety of information , Do You Really Want The Ceiling Fan Above The Bed? than the newspaper, as well as less depressing things to read at the beginning of the day. No one should have to wake up with murder and mayhem in their face. A more pleasant mindset is found in waking to check the weather, , Choosing roses for your landscape respond to a note from a friend, or reading about an exciting new plant. , Digging Out of Paper Clutter - Part 2 This morning I went to look for further information , Create Show-stopping Indoor Flower Displays on a particularly nifty new plant , Grandpa's Knife on one of my vendor's sites. Not finding that I clicked on another link that caught my attention in their Garden , The Many Uses of Fresh Herbs Writers section. "Meatballs, Soapboxes and Tuna Cans", to be precise. To a person who has never been employed within the landscape , Digging Out of Paper Clutter - Part 2 industry, that phrase would bring to mind food. , Rose Gardening Challenges To insiders it would have a far different meaning. Of course where I worked it was baseballs and cubes. So this morning's coffee was sipped between chuckles. The author (head of sales) I would venture to say is younger than 50. Those over 50 feel that these balls, cubes, footballs or tuna cans are a staple that is required in the landscape. , Sky Pencil Hollies Are Used in Easton Pa. For the life of me I have never understood why we must have them. What is so necessary about using a shrub , The Wild Spikenard far to large for its place , Duvet Covers Are Easy to Make Yourself ment and whacking off it's limbs to shape it into an unnatural form? Off with its head! It should wear a size 42 long jacket, but we will force it to fit comfortably into a 10 short. It is interesting to note that also helpless poodles have also fall , Arborvitae - A Mult-Use Plant en victim to this manner of unnatural shaping and they are not plants. , Arborvitae - A Mult-Use A month ago I witnessed a house , Japanese Garden Lights bring tranquillity to your garden and peace to your body and mind cat shorn in this manner. Mr. Woods, , 5 Steps To A Better Lawn And Garden who wrote the afore mentioned article, has developed the opinion that it is an inherent human instinct. That we humans have so little that we actually have complete control over that our psyche has tuned in to the helpless shrubs , Grandpa's Knife in our yard , Organic Gardening: 10 Practical Steps . While I giggled often while reading his words, it struck me that he has a good point. Why else would we so cruelly inhibit the wild beauty of a shrub? In my early years I had no reason to argue with my father, the professional landscaper as to why we must do this. Quite the contrary, originally I assisted him in his whacking while trying to mimic his methods. It wasn't until I started to design , Burning Bushes Do Well In Buckingham Township, PA plantings and began to see plant , Decorating, Where There's a Will There's a Way s for their own individual beauty that I began to question this barbaric practice. It has come to be a long standing argument between us over the years. He refuses to budge from his Pro Juniper stance, insisting we simply MUST have the prickly old things. Yews and Burning Bushes have their place , Fall Bird Feedings and are quite lovely if not placed where they can be gently shaped not beaten in submission twice a season. , Sky Pencil Hollies Are Used in Easton Pa. During my contracting days, I would arrive at a clients home , Are You Over Watering Your Garden? for a meeting about a landscape , Do You Really Want The Ceiling Fan Above The Bed? facelift to find the sad remains of Burning Bushes, Yews and Junipers that had resided along the walk or foundation for decades. All of them left much to be desired in the looks department after the last harsh whacking. Common sense told me that following decades of cruel treatment, the poor things have given up growing , Organic Gardening: 10 Practical Steps hair. Why should they continue to grow , A Guide to Commercial Awnings it if for the past 25 years every attempt was quickly lopped off? How much squelching of creativity can a being endure before throwing in the towel? In voicing this thought to successful lawyers and surgeons , I must admit I was rewarded with raised eyebrows. Why do we insist on planting a shrub , Are You Over Watering Your Garden? that will grow , The American Arborvitae s well in Furlong Pa. eight foot tall and 12 foot wide in a 30 inch wide space and insist it does not exceed those confines? I am in agreement with Mr. Woods, , Creating Wildflower Meadows it is one area to have complete control over in our lives. So there I stand with this super successful professional, a man of high learning, who wants to know how we can coax this spent row of 5 foot tall trunks and stems along his walk into growing , Which KitchenAid products are right for your Kitchen? more hair in the bottoms. He thinks that fertilizer cures all of man's cruelty. (Remember that you must see things through the eye of the plant?) How am I to explain this to this person! My professional self developed a cunning approach. "A landscape , Liven Up Your Walls With Decorative Plates has a life expectancy of about 20 years. Yours seems to be about 5 years overdue for replanting." If this was not enough to convince the customer, I would go on to ask how long the wall , Choosing roses for your landscape paper in their kitchen , 5 Steps To A Better Lawn And Garden had hung there. Explaining that redecorating outdoors , Accent lighting - Adding the right touch to your home lighti was just as necessary to variety in life than it was to keep up to date with their interior decor. , A Look at International Flower Delivery But they wanted back what they had before it turned into bare branches! The issue of certain control may very well be the answer. Now I am not against hedges. , A Few Gardens Built By The Moghuls I am not anti-evergreen. Pruning, , People in glass houses have greenhouses thinning and shaping is of definite necessity to full and lovely shrub , Pest Control for the Vegetable Garden s and even some trees. , Create Show-stopping Indoor Flower Displays Even every other aspect of life we look for the right thing to accomplish the task, but when it comes to the plants , Choosing a Hydroponic Grow Light we place , A Guide to Commercial Awnings in our yards , The Wild Spikenard we seem to fall , The Pollen-Trapping Power of a Lawn short in the search for the proper element. Proper planning should be the first consideration and whacking could become almost obsolete. It is good to know that plant , Looking For a High Quality Mixer? Try KitchenAid Mixer! breeders are busily developing new Arborvitaes and Yews that will stay in a nice little meatball shape without whacking. News that will lessen the maintenance you must forfeit your weekend to perform, alleviate the need to butcher the bushes and make all the hedge , The Many Uses of Fresh Herbs trimmer companies hold their breath over next year's third quarter earnings. As for the aspect of proper planning vs. constant replacement, if the space is 30 inches wide, then it would be best to consider installing only those shrubs , Do You Really Want The Ceiling Fan Above The Bed? that will never exceed 4 foot in width. Remember, a little shaping is good and a harsh whacking is lowering the life expectancy of the elements in your landscape , Which KitchenAid products are right for your Kitchen? . Proper planning is one of the best tools , Decorating, Where There's a Will There's a Way in creating a low maintenance planting. ------------------- Read more great Gardening , A Few Gardens Built By The Moghuls articles at: http://www.lostintheflowers.com

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