One of the things I love about this house and this neighborhood is the mature landscaping.  There are no scrawny saplings or yards covered only by a patchwork of newly-laid sod.  Everything is established and adds to the charm and beauty of this neighborhood.  For that reason, I was hesitant to start cutting down trees and ripping out bushes, but after being in the house for a few months, I needed to acknowledge that much of the landscaping would need to be removed or heavily cut back.  Bushes had grown together and several were way too close to the house.  The maple trees were in desperate need of thinning and a few of the small dogwoods were struggling in their shadow.  One dogwood had been completely choked out by a thick hedge of overgrown, woody bushes, leaving a tangled mess around a dead tree.  You could see that it was