Tree Removal Day!

May 18, 2022

Today was a big day in the garden at Casale Giulietta. We finally have permesso to remove the leaning tree blocking the view from the balcony, as well as thin and clean up the other two trees, one by the pergola and one near the shed. I don’t want to lose them but they haven’t been trimmed or cut in at least a decade, but I suspect more. Time for Adriano and crew to get to work.

Grammie, Jess and I sat outside to watch the days event unfoil. Adriano per il Verde (Adriano for the Green) is my gardener and his crew consists of his brother Daniel and a few other guys. I suspect there are are more but I generally only see the usual suspects.

Daniel is the worker bee, he works so hard doing all of the hard labor jobs, it’s really impressive, especially when it’s hot. He is also a chain smoker, which I realized today watching him up in the trees. He was the guy who got strapped into the harness and went up in the lift to get high into the trees. As he ascended up, he had a cigarette in his mouth and a chainsaw dangling from his safey harness. Not once did I see him without a cigarette in his mouth, regardless of how perilous his job was at times.

They started with the two trees we were keeping, raising the height of the lower branches and thinning out years and years of old branches. It was a lot of work but you could immediately appreciate how important this was, both for the health of the tree, as well as letting light into the house and garden.

They then began to remove branches and secitions of the center tree we were removing. Part of what allowed us to remove this tree was the fact that it was not native to the region. Similar to the stupid palm trees in the garden, but that’s for another story.

I love watching experts take down a tree. There is clearly a method to the puzzle in getting it just right and keeping everyone safe. When it got down to what looked like a giant poker, Adriano hooked a rope around it from the lower yard and began to pull. There is a reason I refer to him as Thor!

As the guys cut up the wood for easier removal, Adriano cut 3 giant chunks out of the removed tree and set them up as a bench for me. The inside of the wood was a beautiful red, I loved it. You couldn’t keep the wood for burning, as it would send out too many sparks and flying pieces. Trust me, when Adriano says no, I generally listen. (Well, except once, but again, that’s for another story).