One of the GG superhero qualities is an almost OCD-esque propensity towards neatness. In the past, boyfriends and flatmates have been pushed to the limits of their patience as I wandered around picking things up and putting them away. I've just moved (again!) into my own place and, sweet Jesus, what a relief to not have to deal with other people's stuff.
That relief, however, was short lived when the 15-metre tall monster in my backyard declared war. And, baby, I'm gonna win.
Let me introduce Acer negundo, or the more commonly known Boxelder Maple:
The magic faraway tree
This photo was taken from the back door of my house. Note the tentacles leaves wending their way towards the house. It's such a beautiful tree, but all I see is a hell of a lot of leaves. All over the ground. All the time. It's killing me slowly.
A native to North America, the insidious seeds of this tree somehow managed to travel quite a way to invade my yard and annoy the fuck out of me. Known in Australia as a pest, weed, and invasive species, Acer is also resistant to drought which means the fecker will probably continue to thrive as long as our current drought lasts. We've been in drought for over ten years, so A negundo ain't goin nowhere.
The Boxelder Maple is fast-growing and invades bushland which is why it's not an ideal tree to have been introduced to Australia, but I just have an issue with the amount of leaves it drops. I can sweep (I have an aversion to leaf-blowers) then an hour later all my good work is undone. *Sigh* Can my life get any more mundane?
As I stood there with the camera, the branches moved eerily and came suffocatingly close. The war is on.
There has been talk of an arborist.
10 sputters back:
I had a beautiful old maple in my front garden until a couple of years ago, GG.
The thing was HUGE!
It finally got to the stage where the roots were wrecking the house foundations and cracks started appearing so I traded my previous, periodic tree surgery for complete annihilation.
It got executed by chainsaw a few inches above the ground, then the stump was drilled and nasty stuff injected into what was left.
Now it's rotting away nicely. I had intended grubbing up the roots after a couple of seasons but its been providing me with all sorts of nice crops of mushrooms and bracket fungus to eat so I'm happy for it to stay.
I do miss the leaves in autumn but I'd have missed the front wall of my house a whole lot more.
I planted a nice Japanese maple in its place which - even when fully grown - won't come anywhere near the house.
So …
Get in there with a big ol' chainsaw and have some fun!
Dive - you must have the greatest time management skills ever! I am in awe of your ability to comment on everyone's blogs - thoughtfully and at length - plus write wonderful posts on your own, such as your brilliant piece about Obama and the US (to which I wholeheartedly concur), as well as actually work full time and commute an extra 7-hours a day (on a good day). Phew, that was a long sentence.
I like the actions you took against your invasive critter. I don't remember seeing photos of the Japanese maple... hint, hint. Not so subtle, eh?
The problem with renting is that I don't have the freedom to wield a chainsaw or axe, which as a menopausal woman, is probably a boon for society at large. I will merely shake my broom at it in rage and continue to sweep the leaves. A negundo is to GG what the mountain/rock was to Sisyphus. So shall it be.
Thank you GG, but I am the world's biggest time-waster. The only reason I get the time to blog is through not sitting on my fat ass in front of the television. Instead I sit on trains getting angry and writing blog posts in a notebook.
I'l photograph the new maple in the spring as today it is just a bundle of bare sticks.
I'm lucky enough to have a neighbour who's a qualified tree surgeon so he wielded the chainsaw and loaded the remains on his truck.
Have you tried bleeding the thing for maple syrup? You can keep it weak and obedient while eating its blood on top of ice cream. Yay!
Confession time... It was me that shat out the original seed for that tree. It was revenge for all the cunting Aussie eucalyptus trees here in SoCal. You know, the ones that explode like dynamite sticks every time we have a fire, and throw long bark-y thingies at your windshield as you're driving down the freeway, and don't even provide shade, and aren't even a proper green color. Those ones.
You can thank me for your pretty green tree with the proper leaves later.
Weird how Australia's problems all seem to stem from things being introduced that weren't originally there. Good luck with the foreign tree.
"The problem with renting is that I don't have the freedom to wield a chainsaw or axe".
Au contraire!! Such occasions are exactly why the Creator blessed us with moonless nights & bucksaws. Used together, those two things will allow you to remove the woodsy offender and then tell the landlord how you awoke to a great noise and subsequently chased off a coupla 'lumber' thieves, thus leaving any financial gains from selling the deceased maple for the landlord:)
you must have the greatest time management skills ever! I am in awe of your ability to comment on everyone's blogs - thoughtfully and at length - plus write wonderful posts on your own
Gezus woman pull out that nose the man has no life since his sex doll dumped him and he stopped reading me.
Have the tree topped and with a bit of luck in 2 years it will die painfully of some disease.
Please don't complaint about invasive American trees -- the Acer looks quite nice, and North American is infested with Eucalyptus and Acacia trees from the Land of Wonder, the Land Down Under; thank you so very much, Oztreylia.
Yes this is very beautiful place. but when i visited china i enjoyed my journey on many places without worry
because i hired china car service with professional driver.
haha what are u gonna do to it? i also moved out of my parents house and back into it, within one week lol
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