I am still trying to give away those huge azaleas that have possibly turned into kudzu out in front of the house. They were huge stumps when they came on the pick-up truck from south GA about twenty-five years ago, and despite complete and thorough neglect have survived remarkably well - so much that if I cannot find someone who wants to come and dig to haul away, they face the fate of being 'rounded-up'. I hate to kill 'em, but don't know what else to do...
I have tried Craig's List, bargain column in the classfieds of the newspaper, Plants and Oddities column in Ga. Dept of Agriculture's state-wide publication Farmer's Market Bulletin. Reading that eye-catching first word 'Free' is so tempting... but when people come and look at the size of the digging project, most say....'uhhh - I will come back' while looking me straight in the eye and telling a bald-faced lie. My goodness, people: they are free! The only equirement is that they would come prepared to clean up after theirselves: not unreasonable for adults, is it? Clean up your own mess? Backfill your own holes? Put your own dirty dishes in the washer? Pick up your own dirty sox? I might have given away three in all this time.
Part of the problem is all the tree roots that have grown up, intertwined with azalea bushes to make them so difficult to get up, even though the actual roots from the azaleas are very shallow. And I know they are seriously entangled - but honestly people: Free does not = easy. If you need to go talk to your friend the plumber or construction guy to find a little back-hoe/Bobcat, just let me know. But don't even start with that business about 'uhhh - I will be here next week....'
I have actually dug up several of the smaller ones myself, and put out by the street with limbs, tree-trimmings for the city trash truck to haul off. And do not want to be the cause of all those bushes demise - but don't know what else to do - so I am cutting them down and painting brush killer on the fresh stumps to try to prevent them from regrowth. They get so big, and then the branches flop over and take root, get covered up with falling leaves and spread. The new 'babies' come up from below ground, under many years accumulated leaf mulch - sneaking around getting away from their mother. Even killing them with Round-up is a slow process...that I will get started on as soon as I get motivated.
I've had a teenager from church who is willing to do yard work to raise money for summer beach retreat come a couple of afternoons to help. But she is such a light-weight she is even more amusing than I when she tries to dig a hole in the rock-hard red clay that is all around the house. She gives it her best shot, but jumping up and down on that shovel on the impenetrable dry clay is very frustrating, as well as hot, hard work. We put out some Japanese Holly ferns in a very shady place by the bedroom windows this week. I have mulched (and gotten thoroughly chewed up by fire ants that were nesting in the mulch pile) and will try to keep watered to insure success.
Part of the relocation project involves moving some smaller pixie-sized azaleas away from the house, extending the new bed across the front. So that requires new holes in the concrete-like clay. I have to laugh at myself every afternoon when I go out with my hose to water all the transplants in the new bed - and soak the bricks I have placed where the azaleas will be. Hope no one is out in the shrubbery observing me watering my bricks: even though the goal is to soak the clay well enough to be able to dig it out and replace with good (expensive) imported dirt to give the transplants a good start. I am sure it would be hilarious to passers-by to notice me trying to grow a crop of bricks!
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