Holly

In our front yard we have a GIANT holly bush. It grows like crazy, it's gigantic, and it hurts to touch. Not to mention, it's not pretty:

Yesterday I had the clippers out cutting weeds and unwanted trees that had grown up in our other bushes and decided to clean up the holly some too.

And then I decided "why not cut it all off" and I basically did that and left the stump. The stump will be removed this summer (or next week if I want to pay a local landscaping company) and then our front yard will be ready for a new tree.

After I took this photo, a big wind gust came in and removed most of the oak leaves. They're from my neighbor's tree and cover our entire yard every year. They were hidden underneath all the new holly growth. It took three extra large trash bags fille dup to remove all the cut off limbs. I swear it was close to four feet tall!

Our yard previously had a large tree (maybe oak, probably elm) in the front yard and we've been left with the giant hole since we bought the house. We filled some of it with dirt but need to do more. I'd like to plant a new tree between the hole and the holly, centered on our front porch. It'll help block the view from our porch to our neighbor's house (a complete eyesore!) and be a nice touch in our front yard.

The other side of our front yard will remain untouched until we are ready to pour a new concrete sidewalk from the street to the house and possibly from there to the driveway. Then the two hedges will be removed and we'll work on the crappy walkway that's there. It's definitely a work in progress!!!!