Don't Let the Door Hit Ya on the Way Out!!!

Ding-dong, the Barberry's dead -
The mean ole' Barberry,
The wicked Barberry!
Ding-dong, the wicked Barberry's dead!!!

We've had this barberry bush right next to where we get out of our car, and though it's pretty, it's nasty. It leaves horrible, invisible, impossible-to-get-out slivers. I've always hated barberries. Not worth all the pain they inflict.

My parents' neighbors were getting rid of their miniature lilac bushes, and we jumped at the chance to inherit them. Lilacs are my ultimate favorite flower. And we decided to put the lilacs where the barberry and forsythia bushes have been, in front of our kitchen, right by the door. Lilacs are made for smelling. That's my opinion on the matter. I wanted them right there by the door.

So we got rid of the barberry. Totally threw it into the dumpster in our alley. Here's Ben, digging it out. It was a toughie. Here he is, making a gun of his fingers and pretending to shoot himself in the head:

I didn't want to have to move my forsythia, because it's so bright and cheery in the spring, but I wanted it to have a chance to get nice and tall and big, which chance it never got in front of our kitchen window. So we moved it to the backyard:

I feel badly that it's back there - it's like hiding a candle under a bushel - but I really want it to get nice and big, and then I want to eventually have a few more forsythia friends back there to keep it company. It seems to be happy back there.

And here are our little lilacs:

Not much to look at yet. They really struggled out by my parents' house. My parents live in a newer development, and the lilacs were right in the line of fire with all of the wind, which seems more intense out in the country. They were just totally exposed, and I don't think they liked it very much. The soil they were in was incredibly rocky, as well. This soil in front of our kitchen is really lovely - nice and moist and happy. So I hope the lilacs do well. That skinny one on the right hasn't been getting green at all, but the other three have. We'll have to keep an eye on the skinny one.

So... goodbye, barberry. I'm not at all sad to have thrown you heartlessly into the dumpster. See ya. Wouldn't want to be ya.