"JA, JA, CHOLLY, VE GET SO SOON OLDT UND SO LATE SCHMART"

THE ARBORVITAE HEDGE WAS BADLY BROKEN AND DAMAGED BY SNOW LOAD

BUT WITH JUDICIOUS PRUNING ...

...OF DEAD AND BROKEN BRANCHES...

...AND SHEARING...

...AND SUPPORT...

...I DID A PRETTY GOOD JOB

Monday, 8:00 AM.  37 degrees F, wind NE, strong and blustery.  The sky is overcast and it is still raining and misting.  We got .8" of rain last night.  The humidity is 94% and the barometer is trending down,  now at 29.88".  It was cold enough to see my breath walking Buddy, and my hands got cold with no gloves.  A few Forsythia are starting to bloom, braving the elements.

   The first hummingbird of spring, a male, showed up right on time yesterday, looking for the feeder.  I immediately got busy and prepared the solution and got the feeders out.  I haven't seen him since but I think I heard his teeth chattering this morning (that's a figure of speach, of course).

   I saved the worst of the winter's damage repair for  last.  The white cedar, AKA arborvitae, hedge in the back yard was virtually bent bent to the ground by snow load, and it looked like a complete loss after the snow melted.  I was tempted to just cut it down, but decided to wait to see if it straightened up some on its own, and it did to a degree.  So, I decided to try to save it with some creative pruning and staking.

   In a way the whole problem was my fault.  To begin with, I planted the straight species, Thuja occidentals, because it was cheaper than buying cultivars such as 'Techny' or 'Nigra' which have stronger branching structures and therefore make better hedges.  Then, I let the plants grow too tall and narrow, because I wanted maximum height for privacy.  I should have trimmed them at least once a year to keep them from developing week, multiple stems, even if it slowed their growth in height.  As they used to say in the Milwaukee of my youth, "Ja, Ja, Cholly (Charlie) ve get so soon oldt und so late schmart!"  

   So I finally brought out the pruning tools and cut out the dead and broken branches, pruned everything back to a more stable height, and tied weak branches to stronger ones and put in a few support stakes as well.  I cut an old green T-shirt into strips for tying, the material being soft and not as likely to damage the bark as twine. Finally, I gave the whole  hedge a cosmetic shearing.

   The end result is pretty good, and I hope it will look fine after a season of new growth and another  shearing or two.  If not, I will have to take the hedge out and start over.