Between the Fences on April 9, 2017

This is the view from near the eastern end looking west.The large tree is a Chinese tallow tree that is just on the neighbor's side of the property line.

This is the view from near the western end looking east. The tree in the back is a live oak, which is also just on the the neighbor's side.

This narrow space between the two fences has two invasive tree species: goldenrain tree and Chinese privet, along with the invasive ornamental vine star jasmine.

The main reason to go between the fences would be to remove as much star jasmine as I could and cut the trees down as low as I could conveniently do. The star jasmine is heaviest towards the eastern end, filling the space to the top of the 3-foot tall chain-link fence.  No matter how much I pull up the vines on my side of the wooden fence, the vines on this side work their way back through the gaps between the pickets.

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At the westernmost end of the fence grows a Chinese privet, much cut back. Note the chain-link fence at the center-right. That is the property line between the houses behind mine. The stump at the very bottom was from my trimming the day before.

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When I made that cut, that trunk fell into the yard to the west of the one behind mine. You can see it in the background of the photo below. Months ago, I cut through most of the privet trunk in the foreground, which is between the fences, but new branches kept growing vigorously above the cut.

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A little further east, I have cut back a goldenrain tree. It is a fragile tree when less than an inch across, and I can brake it with my bare hands, as I did with the broken one in the foreground.

The Chinese tallow tree is in my neighbor's lot, but it towers over the northern (back) part of my back yard and drops copious seeds, which sprout all over in the early spring. Even though it's not "mine", I cut it back now and then.

This photo shows the trunk of the live oak at the eastern end. You can see again how high the star jasmine bramble grows between the fences. The day before taking this picture, I yanked a lot of it off the oak and the top of the fence. You can see some of the pulled vine on the right side, below the muscadine vine. The two trunks in the foreground are crepe myrtles.