Monday

After our Toby walk this morning, I got to work on the bird of paradise plant. I was living under the delusion that it was maintenance free and since I didn’t know how to prune it anyway, I just ignored it. (This is the “after” picture.)

I did research and learned that the first thing to do is to cut out the dead leaves and blooms. I cut out 4 large bags of debris. It was sort of like wrapping Christmas tree limbs with lights, going all the way to the trunk. 

It looks better, but it’s still too big. The next thing to try is cutting the lower leaves since they are the oldest.

I did that a little bit on the side next to the garage. I think if I do that all the way around, I’ll shrink it to the appropriate size. If not, I can split it in the spring.

Toby got lots of attention since we didn’t walk the causeway this morning. John is recovering from his fern removal project, so he stayed inside most of the day. I escaped to the gym after lunch. Uncharacteristically, I worked in the yard until 11 and quit. I’m trying to break bad habits of trying to finish everything in one day.

Toby had a good evening. He wavered between being a jerk and settling down. With a little coaxing and lots of patience, he settled down.

13 bags and some stick bundles. (21 bags is the limit, per the city)

Miles walked: 5.8

Miles biked: 7.59