the remaking of a kitchen

several weeks ago we had a meeting with two of the city engineers, the head of parks and rec and the city forester. we were talking about our noise concerns as the path caused the removal of a large portion of the berm outside our fence. various solutions were mentioned, and the decision was to plant at least one tree, possibly three, and several shrubs to the former to fill in the area and the latter to delineate the path and to keep traffic off the former sidewalk area. we did serve donuts and coffee, but surely that was not an influence! :) they mentioned the possibility of bringing a catalog to us so we could choose what we wanted planted, but i thought that would not happen.
they re-shaped the berm so that the former sidewalk area was not as appealing as a walkway, and came down at a lesser angle toward our trees and fence. they also put in a rock retaining wall and an "eyebrow" to shape the area where a tree would go. AND they brought us a bachman's catalog from which to choose the shrubs. amazing. they had suggested burning bushes and i liked the idea til i realized they would grow to be 8X8! i called the company to see if they had smaller ones and they checked various locations to find 3 of them for us that will grow to 3X3. we also chose other shrubs that will turn color in the fall, but a gold/orange instead of the brilliant red. there is a grass planted between them.
they came and planted the tree and shrubs for us just prior to our leaving for the baylor game and colorado, so we weren't able to water them until today. don reconnected the hose and turned on the water and i stood outside and watered them all for 3 - 5 minutes so they got a good soaking. hopefully we will get some rain one of these days too!
oops, the picture on top to the far right is actually my little green japanese maple in her fall colors. (she lives inside the fence)

Labels: asphalt path, city engineers, city of e, shrubs, trees

yesterday at 10 in the morning we walked outside the fence to meet with a couple of city engineers regarding some landscaping on the berm. don had gotten some donuts and we brought coffee to go along with them. we were surprised when someone from the parks and rec department joined us and again when the city forester appeared. all this for don and my concerns about part of the berm disappearing during the path construction. we continue to be amazed by the services offered in this community! we talked about their ideas, our ideas etc. it sounds like we will end up getting about three 6 to 8 foot blue spruces in the area where the berm was shortened to allow for the path from the overpass, as well as some smaller globe arborvitae to mark the curve of the path behind our gate and to encourage the use of the path instead of walking (or riding dirt bikes) in the area where it was previously. the city will water for the planting and will also place mulch around the trees and shrubs, and we will water after that time to keep them healthy going into the winter. they plan to extend the rock retaining wall around the curve and into the removed berm area.
i think we got even more than we expected and the guys were all great and encouraged us to call with any questions. hurrah! they also liked the donuts! :)

Labels: asphalt path, berm, city engineers, donuts, trees