Phew! That Job Is Done!

July means holly pruning time. 

We have stand alone pillars and a 100 plus foot holly hedge. Tom does the stand alones, like this one,  without me. They require a tall ladder, but on even ground. 

 The hedge is another matter. Tom got a good start on it before we left for Whidbey Island. But then to get the high parts, he needs a ladder holder. That's my job. Then there's the clean up. On our yard side, we stuff most of the trimmings back under the hedge. We got all of that done Thursday.

Today, knowing it was going to get hot in the coming days, we hurried home from our Friday morning breakfast to do the outside, neighbor's side, of the hedge.  Fortunately it is all along a driveway, so we have easy access. Again I am the ladder holder and the cleaner upper. 

We worked from about 10:15 to 1:30, and then we were finished! It is such a relief to have that job done. We have to remove most of the trimmings from that side. Here they are, all rolled up and waiting for transport to the dump.

Oh, I see Charlie photo bombed this one. Since I feed him now, he follows me around outside. 

While I was taking photos of the hedge, a few other things caught my eye, like the purple drumstick alliums in the euonymus bush with the purple glass flower.  

Or the purple clematis and the white hydrangia "Pinky Winky"

 Or how the deck looks from the hedge, through the bushes. 

 The self-sown poppies and the crocosmia.

 Or the first sunflowers rising above the sweet peas. 

 The day lilies on the west property line.

And here is part of my birthday gift from Jill and the kids.

By the time we got cleaned up, had lunch, and I went grocery shopping, then caught up on reading blogs, I was not interested in cooking. We went to Red Robin.

Let the pageant continue!