May was a lot. Lots of stuff going on in our family including losing a young cousin who could have been an Olympic hopeful; he was that good. For therapy, I spent a lot of time in the garden which I’ll be sharing about here. First of all, the mother of all digs.
Behold the river birch which we had removed last fall. My husband has been working on removing the extensive roots. Fortunately, they are easy to access though they have spread extensively into the lawn.
My husband first tackled this lawn area, which is now the repository for dirt from more work. I used as much as possible to line beds in the back of the property.
The roots from the stump spread at least 7 to 8 feet away from the tree. They wrapped around the corner of the brick wall and ran along the side patio. My husband is trying to remove as much as possible without compromising the patio foundation.
Once the tree is gone, we’ll build a retaining wall of brick to match the house (HOA rules) and backfill with dirt to build up the bed.
This close-up shows how established the root is. I bet it’s growing under the patio and under the evergreens next to the patio.
Removing the river birch has changed the amount of sun in this yard area. The side patio is basically full sun as is the bed by the air conditioners. Behind the house also receives more sun without the birch to block it in the afternoon. In the fall, I’ll be moving plants to accommodate the changed light conditions.
2 dogs and a house 
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