webbmeister
Gold Member
The tree folks just finished clearing the 3 acre property the we will build our home on in March. It is a magnificent hill, flowing down into a lake and surrounded on two sides by a small creek. It was owned for almost 50 years by the gentleman next door, who bought it along with his 5 acres, to be sure that no one would build in his backyard. After his wife passed on about 25 years ago, his brother moved in with him and they planted an apple orchard that served to both honor her memory and to keep him busy and his mind off his loss. Shortly after the orchard was planted, his brother passed away, and he did his best to keep up for as long as he could. Fifteen years ago, at the age of 70, he finally had to give up on the orchard and the rest of the property, and it became thickly overgrown with suckers, volunteers, buckthorn, sumac, and brush and bushes of all kinds.
We were lucky to find a wonderful tree service that came in and removed all but the healthy apple trees and specimen trees, and limbed and pruned the 60 or so remaining trees beautifully. It was something to see the tears glistening in the old man's eyes as he saw the property once again begin to resemble what it had been like in his younger days. He became lost in his descriptions of how his daughter "used to ride her horse and carriage here, she was quite an equestrian you know;" and how his wife "used to plant the vegtable garden there;" and how his brother had "helped him to plant trees all along here and over there." It was hard to control the catch in my own throat as I watched and listened to him. Man, what an intensely powerful experience. It was as if his memories had been frozen in all that overgrowth for all those years, and they were released in a flood when the clearing was done. He is a remarkable man, and I feel a great responsibility to be a good steward of the property. That brings me to my question (finally! - sorry this got long ...)
A lot of the property that was under the unpruned canopies of the apple and specimen trees did not have enough light for grass to grow. Ditto for areas that were thick with suckers, volunteers, and brush. Add to that the grass that was damaged by the tree service's heavy machinery (they tried *hard* to minimize the damage) and there are significant areas without grass. The grass in the undamaged areas is not lawn-type grass, but a rougher type that seems to grow naturally in this neck of the woods (N.E. IL). It is like the grass you'd find in a public park in very large spaces - definitely not the kind you'd find in a prize-winning lawn. It doesn't need any special care or watering, it just grows and tends to crowd out other growth (including weeds!) So, what kind of grass is this? Where might I get seed for the damaged and newly exposed areas? I want the place to look great not only for my wife and me, but so my neighbor can enjoy it again as it once was and go to his grave knowing that what meant so much to him during his lifetime will be well tended for another generation.
I'm happy for any information anyone can provide.
Thanks in advance,
Jim
We were lucky to find a wonderful tree service that came in and removed all but the healthy apple trees and specimen trees, and limbed and pruned the 60 or so remaining trees beautifully. It was something to see the tears glistening in the old man's eyes as he saw the property once again begin to resemble what it had been like in his younger days. He became lost in his descriptions of how his daughter "used to ride her horse and carriage here, she was quite an equestrian you know;" and how his wife "used to plant the vegtable garden there;" and how his brother had "helped him to plant trees all along here and over there." It was hard to control the catch in my own throat as I watched and listened to him. Man, what an intensely powerful experience. It was as if his memories had been frozen in all that overgrowth for all those years, and they were released in a flood when the clearing was done. He is a remarkable man, and I feel a great responsibility to be a good steward of the property. That brings me to my question (finally! - sorry this got long ...)
A lot of the property that was under the unpruned canopies of the apple and specimen trees did not have enough light for grass to grow. Ditto for areas that were thick with suckers, volunteers, and brush. Add to that the grass that was damaged by the tree service's heavy machinery (they tried *hard* to minimize the damage) and there are significant areas without grass. The grass in the undamaged areas is not lawn-type grass, but a rougher type that seems to grow naturally in this neck of the woods (N.E. IL). It is like the grass you'd find in a public park in very large spaces - definitely not the kind you'd find in a prize-winning lawn. It doesn't need any special care or watering, it just grows and tends to crowd out other growth (including weeds!) So, what kind of grass is this? Where might I get seed for the damaged and newly exposed areas? I want the place to look great not only for my wife and me, but so my neighbor can enjoy it again as it once was and go to his grave knowing that what meant so much to him during his lifetime will be well tended for another generation.
I'm happy for any information anyone can provide.
Thanks in advance,
Jim
