Fall of the Palm Trees | February 2004 |
We had a row of palm trees along the edge of our pool. Viewed from the appropriate angle they looked both beautiful and exotic.
In practice, however, they mostly looked grotty. More to the point, they occasionally dumped large fronds in the swimming pool (making one a bit nervous about swimming on windy days) and the noxious fruit (which none of the birds will eat) would fall down and trash Pamela's vegetable patch and sit there smelling horrible.
It was time for them to go.
We hired a heroic young man with a chainsaw who strapped on these crampon-like things and was up the trees like the proverbial rat up a drain pipe.
Down it goes.
Highly trained minions lugged the fronds into the nether chamber.
With the fronds gone, it becomes a matter of chopping off little column drums, looking a bit like the deconstruction of a Greek temple.
Finally the trees are gone. A little work with the stump grinder and the job is done.
This all happened a little over a week ago. We've had time to live with the consequences of our decision.
The funny thing is, you hardly realise they are gone. All the foliage was well above eye height so it was only the narrow trunks.
Cleaning all the sawdust and sundry bits and pieces out of the swimming pool is a painful job but it's nearly done. We'll have to do a lot of work on the vegetable garden to get it going again but at least now the squashes won't get squashed.
On the whole, a good job done.