It’s been another scorcher today, but I decided to work on the lilac row in the West yard.  It was shady, and I made sure to have a water bottle with me to stay hydrated.  By mid-afternoon, though, the sun had moved far enough that my shade was gone, and it was time to stop.

Most of the work was done around just one old lilac bush!

Here is the before picture, from when I first started working in this section.

Then after I’d cut away the false spirea (and the branch that fell on it after hitting the power line!).

Finally, here is how it looks now.

Lots of skinny little dead branches among the skinny little live branches! :-D  Several dead main trunks were cleaned away.  There was quite a lot of undergrowth behind the lilacs that needed to be cleared away, just to reach the lilacs themselves.  In one lilac bush towards the left in the photo, I didn’t even have to cut the trunks.  They just pulled out of the ground, or came out easily with a twist.

At some point, we’ll have to rake under there to clean up the many tiny dead twigs and branches in the leaves.  For now, I am focusing on just getting the big stuff cleaned and cleared out, while slowly working my way down the row.

It’s much slower work with the lilacs, since it involves removing so many little things, compared to working on the big trees, that’s for sure!

The Re-Farmer