What do you think of this house?
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Temps climbed to a sultry 51 degrees and I started cleaning up the yard at Kim’s house. A few highlights:
Hidden in some trees I found this yard art. Paint it? Let it rust?
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Cool beans! I could see painting it if you want a pop of color, but my gut reaction is to leave it as is.
A shade garden. I am in my element.
I don't think it necessarily needs to be removed, but best to keep an eye on the ivy and keep it in check with regular pruning so it doesn't overwhelm the trees.
She probably has everything she needs, but let me know if she wants any hostas next spring. I'm doing a major remodeling project in the yard and will be in digging mode. (aside: There is no shovel emoji that I could find....)
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Here’s the pond. It appears to include some sort of waterfall. Have yet to find a switch for it.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/03fQ5PrylNgvscqT8cI7EMQlg
Ivy is climbing all of the trees. I can get up high enough to remove it from some of the trees but not these. If I cut it off at the base it will die but will look like hell for years. Might rent a boom loft over the summer to strip it off.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0983BHRZt9JlcSUXDdF8mL_AA
Doesn’t look like much in the picture but it’s the crown jewel of the landscape. A camellia! My favorite shrub. I’ve been informed many times that they will not grow here but that’s obviously not true. Apparently there are cold hardy hybrids and this is one of them.
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Here’s the pond. It appears to include some sort of waterfall. Have yet to find a switch for it.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/03fQ5PrylNgvscqT8cI7EMQlg
Ivy is climbing all of the trees. I can get up high enough to remove it from some of the trees but not these. If I cut it off at the base it will die but will look like hell for years. Might rent a boom loft over the summer to strip it off.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0983BHRZt9JlcSUXDdF8mL_AA
Doesn’t look like much in the picture but it’s the crown jewel of the landscape. A camellia! My favorite shrub. I’ve been informed many times that they will not grow here but that’s obviously not true. Apparently there are cold hardy hybrids and this is one of them.
@Steve-Miller said in What do you think of this house?:
A camellia! My favorite shrub.
I'm not super familiar with camellias, but I looked them up and it appears there are cold hardy varieties. The leaves on that shrub look a bit like an azalea to me.
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Front yard trees. I think they are some sort of Maple. Reddit arborists say they are a hot mess and need to be either bolted together do they don’t split or be removed entirely.
They’re not coming out. Let’s see what bolting costs.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/092OPdV2wyUVpsR91uWslJ61Q
More yard art. Not sure what it is. Box on top is wood and there are hinges that appear to have attached a cover at one time.
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I’ve been told that ivy will eventually kill a tree. Might take a while and it’s kind of picturesque. Maybe I’ll keep it.
That may well be an azalea or a rhododendron. That would be disappointing but not heartbreaking. I like those too and they won’t grow in my very sunny yard.
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Front yard trees. I think they are some sort of Maple. Reddit arborists say they are a hot mess and need to be either bolted together do they don’t split or be removed entirely.
They’re not coming out. Let’s see what bolting costs.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/092OPdV2wyUVpsR91uWslJ61Q
More yard art. Not sure what it is. Box on top is wood and there are hinges that appear to have attached a cover at one time.
@Steve-Miller said in What do you think of this house?:
More yard art. Not sure what it is. Box on top is wood and there are hinges that appear to have attached a cover at one time.
My guess is a pole with hangers for bird feeders or suet, with a squirrel distraction on the top? People do hinged boxes that have peanuts in them. Like this:
Or deluxe accommodations:
The arms on the pole might also be a place to hang whole ears of corn from, like a chain with a screw eye hook on the end.
@Steve-Miller said in What do you think of this house?:
Here’s the pond. It appears to include some sort of waterfall. Have yet to find a switch for it.
I saw the pond in one of the photos of the listing. There was mention of a koi pond in the description of the property.
I love the idea of a pond but have shied away from the work, namely fall cleanout and pump removal, and then setting everything up again in the spring. And I would probably avoid stocking fish. Around here that ends up being a sushi buffet for herons, raccoons, and skunks.
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I’ve been told that ivy will eventually kill a tree. Might take a while and it’s kind of picturesque. Maybe I’ll keep it.
That may well be an azalea or a rhododendron. That would be disappointing but not heartbreaking. I like those too and they won’t grow in my very sunny yard.
@Steve-Miller said in What do you think of this house?:
I’ve been told that ivy will eventually kill a tree. Might take a while and it’s kind of picturesque. Maybe I’ll keep it.
I see mixed opinions on ivy. It probably does need to be kept in check which means it's one more gardening chore. I love the look but probably wouldn't plant it because of the extra work, especially since it could involve getting up into the tree to prune the stuff.
Kind of like ground cover. "Vigorous" can be a good thing or not, depending on how much work you want to put into keeping it in check.
From a distance, those trees look like they might be silver maples. My neighbors have a bunch of them in their yard, all cabled. And they've been cabled since we moved in here in 1980. One or two cables needed to be replaced a few years ago when they finally rusted through and snapped.
Silver maples aren't the best trees, but they are there and provide a lot of shade. I wouldn't take them out either.
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Temps climbed to a sultry 51 degrees and I started cleaning up the yard at Kim’s house. A few highlights:
Hidden in some trees I found this yard art. Paint it? Let it rust?
@Steve-Miller Very cool. I would leave it just the way it is.
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Wow @Steve-Miller that looks like a lot of work but with beautiful potential! We had winter camellias in our house in the south, they were beautiful! The leaves are waxier than rhododendrons, IIRC (we had those too).
And ivy, we had that too, in the back and sides. It looked nice but always made me nervous. I'm glad we don't have any here. (yet! knock on wood and all that)
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Ivy IMO is awful stuff, covers your brickwork and damages it, suffocates your nice planting.
Camellias on the other hand are beautiful evergreens. We were so fortunate in our previous house to have two, planted we guessed in 1952 when the house was built. About 15-20 ft high one flowered near pure white and the other a dark pink, they flowered either side of Christmas filling the garden with a mass of colour. Just fabulous when mature.
I would go out on Christmas day and fill a couple of vases with the flowers. They only last a couple of days once picked. -
Very nice!
20 ft. tall? Yikes! The tallest one I’ve ever seen might have been 6’ tall.
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Always remember, you can prune and bonsai anything(says my wife).
Just visited friends who'd removed their front garden hedge. Turns out it consisted mostly of a bay tree that had been espalier'd 5 feet left and right, rather than growing undisturbed 30feet up!
Who knew I'd be leaving with a trunk of wood for carving
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House update.
I’ve replaced all of the receptacles and switches. Happy to find that whoever wired this house did a decent job.
Installed board/batten wainscot in the living/ dining room. It will be painted kind of a dark sage green. Nice to use my tools again!
https://share.icloud.com/photos/031Bzi4lj4-5CODYyM5E1yc9w
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0e0hEagxf1AZ90YB-ctEQ4hQw
Board and batten detail in Jack’s room. Not sure what color it’s going to be. It’s a “Minecraft” room - not sure what that means. You can see some samples on n the wall.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0a6HC2Cd77AifJlCkIembdIgw
Kim painted her office walls herself. I call it the Pumpkin Room. The rest of the house will be painted by pros in about a week.
Carpet going in!
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@steve-miller wow, you all are making fast work of it! Looks great!
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House update.
I’ve replaced all of the receptacles and switches. Happy to find that whoever wired this house did a decent job.
Installed board/batten wainscot in the living/ dining room. It will be painted kind of a dark sage green. Nice to use my tools again!
https://share.icloud.com/photos/031Bzi4lj4-5CODYyM5E1yc9w
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0e0hEagxf1AZ90YB-ctEQ4hQw
Board and batten detail in Jack’s room. Not sure what color it’s going to be. It’s a “Minecraft” room - not sure what that means. You can see some samples on n the wall.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0a6HC2Cd77AifJlCkIembdIgw
Kim painted her office walls herself. I call it the Pumpkin Room. The rest of the house will be painted by pros in about a week.
Carpet going in!
@Steve-Miller Oooh I love the wainscoting. Very nice! I also love the pumpkin color paint. Looking good!
