Lazing Between
Friday, September 11, 2020 at 7:04PM 
As you will see in our gallery, the trumpet vine has lifted and damaged the eaves troughs so we called a placed referred to us. Here the dogs are lazing outdoors between their work.
We cringe around here when things have to be repaired especially when someone says they are cheap. Well, it turns out they do hedges, garden cleanup etc. They gave us a quote dirt cheap (half what we paid in the past) to even out our hedges and they threw in the eaves trough repair minus parts of the eaves troughs for free. He even shaped my Japanese maple. Then they surprised us with weeding our walkway for FREE. They are back tomorrow between puppy visits to top off the hedge and repair the eaves trough. He won't know the parts till he gets up there and as we have a walkout, they need an extra tall ladder. But we are mighty impressed and would refer them to anyone in a heartbeat.
Well, other than the dogs only being able to go out during their breaks and of course after they go home, we had running sessions indoors and the dogs managed to have great fun. They also enjoyed lazing outdoors. It was Nathan's day off.
Our pool heater is truly dead and Sunday is supposed to be 30c but it will have to wait till April to be repaired. Oh well. Gives us time to save up and maybe get an early spring deal. We won't talk about the dentist and we worry about little boarding due to covid but the dogs lighten your soul and water will no longer pour on our windows from the eaves troughs.
They will be pulling down the trumpet vines but they will grow again and we will have to cut them back when they start heading to where they create damage. You can't get rid of trumpet vines but we won't have flowers next year - oh well. I will miss the lovely trumpets this fall and next year but a small price to pay, I say. The work they did today was really wonderful. I wish I could afford them doing the entire garden but maybe next spring, covid will be over. People will be travelling and we will be boarding so these things can be considered. Here is hoping.
Dusty arrived today and so did Harlow. We so appreciate the visitors. Here's to the weekend, puppy visitors, lovely families getting time with their puppies, dog visits and all that it brings. Time to snuggle with the dogs.
Reader Comments (7)
I have to trim my Virginia creeper and the climbing hydrangea yearly I don't have that issue with evestroughs, my trumpet vine is on a fence, I tried to kill it years ago, no luck, it is impressive along with highly scented honeysuckle vine.
Keeps me busy but I wanted something to cover the sides of the house, vertical gardening.
That service sounds like the way things used to be done, 'we do EVERYTHING'.
I planted trumpet vine next to the house and a month later was digging down to get rid of it after I saw the stalk on a mature one. It took a few digs and roundup each time I saw a leap come up ... I was lucky to get it a rly enough that I got rid of it. When I moved here, there was ivy, periwinkle and tons of lily of the valley all around the foundation of the house ... not any more! :)
The lily of the valley will stay dormant but ALWAYS comes back. Even with glyphosate, it eventually comes back but you may not notice if you weed and weed before it gets larger. Tell me in a couple of more years that it is truly gone. LOL Stop weeding for a few weeks. Now on to trumpet vine - its is gorgeous - stunning and yes mature its very thick. It is magical on a trellis and can be controlled but not on a house. LOL Still, if it wasn't for the eaves troughs, it is truly stunning. My mistake was not cutting it back to 20cm from the root. The issue is it won't flower that year when you do, Flowers, control - hmm which should it be. I should have opted for control as the vines are now through the eaves troughs. You can get rid of an immature trumpet vine easily. Lily of the valley we delude ourselves into believing if it has been growing for years and have spread. If you dug down 3 feet and threw out the soil - YES! But just like the trumpet vine, it can be stunning looking.
Dorothy: Vertical gardening is the best. I even do it with my strawberries. Many people just do vertical with vines but you can do so much more with growing up vs horizontal. Less space, privacy and it expands your gardening space. I still have some metal that I used for my strawberries and no where to put. Tried giving them to my brother-in-law but his car wouldn't allow. Too big. :-)
Darlah, when you get a chance, can you give me the name of the gardening people you found please?
Angela: Sent in mail. They did our hedges and they are smooth. No other company did such a nice even job.
When I removed the lily of the valley, I dug down up to 2.5 feet and sifted through every grain of soil removing the root. I lifted all the plants and washed all the soil and pulled every piece of root out. I only plant annuals in this area and will continue that practice for 2 more years. I believe I can be rid of it if I keep 100% at it. :)
Christine, I pray for your sake it was enough. The stuff is gorgeous but evil. We dug down 4 feet in the front and years later it all came back and it was 4 feet due to the irrigation lines getting installed by my brother-in-law but figured would do both at the same time. Silly me for thinking I got it all. Mother nature does these things to say you can't control everything. Yes, I am laughing!