And so it was. The last two Phillyrea latifolia on Mum’s lawn were given the chop. They were taking up too much space and light, and rather than pruning and shaping Mum decided to get rid of them completely - but rather than chopping them down, out came the trusty spade, and we dug ‘em up.
They were so big and heavy it seemed a good idea to cut them back it a bit, but this soon turned into full-on FUKINAOSHI (the Japanese term for reshaping a tree) before being planted down in my field.
This was two weeks ago, and I’m only writing now because it hasn’t rained since and they’ll be needing a good drink pretty soon...