The arborvitae hedge around the new croquet lawn was planted after receiving a lot of feedback from Striker members. Their main desire was to screen the lawn from golfers and traffic above. Several said it wasn't uncommon for golfers to stop and talk to players on the lawn, which in their opinion, could be and was, distracting. My vision for these trees, will be to maintain them in a very formal, defined hedge that will not exceed about five to six feet tall. It will not be left to grow tall. Also, the individual, "pencil--like look" you see now, will disappear over the next year or two. Today, we cut about 6" to 12" off the top of each tree to eliminate the apical dominance. This is what allows trees like these to grow tall, similar to a Christmas tree. But eliminating the apical meristem, the tree will grow wider and "bush out." This will fill in the gaps between each tree and get us on our way to the formal hedge I envision.
Also at the croquet lawns, our welder finally got the handrail installed on the steps as well as the railing on top of the wall by the pavillion as shown below. Getting these kinds on contractors on site these days is no easy task given how busy the construction industry is right now.
