I planted my Poinciana tree a few months before the floods back in 2011. It was under water for more than two days and stood around one metre high. As soon the water receded, I hosed off all the debris from it and cleaned it up so that it could breathe. It survived and just kept getting bigger and stronger and it began growing at an alarming rate.

I planted in an area where I thought it would cause no problem to me or the neighbours, but I’ve had to trim it several times when it got to close to next doors fence line.

I went away for nearly five years and in that time the tree grew, stretched, and reached a height of around 10 meters. The canopy cover was impressive and it looked amazing, but unfortunately, it was getting too big for the back yard.

With great regret, I decide to trim it back over the weekend and it was quite the challenge. A few weeks ago I went to the local council garden centre and asked them for some advice on cutting back the tree and they told me that they are very resilient and don’t be too afraid in chopping it right back. I have done this but I am still racked with guilt, I hope it will thicken out and not grow quite so quickly as before.

I cut it all by hand using a sharp saw on the end of a metal pole. This ways a couple of kilo which is good in some regards because it makes it easier to get the weight on a branch when sawing but as the day progresses and energy levels drop that pole begins to feel like a dead weight in my hands and my arms begin to burn.

I was surprised at the weight of some of the branches. They may only be a metre or so long but they must be in excess of thirty kilo. I had a few near misses along the way, but I calculated each cut before I did one but now and again, the branch would split in a different way to what I had anticipated.

Some branches were just way to high and I really wanted to bring every one of them down to the same level but I was getting too tired. The two main branches that are left still have foliage on them and hopefully this will help the tree to recover and then when the lower branched begin to sprout new leaf then I will go back and trim the higher ones.

As I was in a slash and burn mentality I moved onto the other trees around the yard and brought them all back down to a lower level. It looks as if a bomb has gone off as there is debris everywhere.

All I have to do now is remove all the green waste, which will take quite a few trips to the dump. But I will let the cuttings lie for a few weeks until I have some time off and also to let it dry out a bit as it will be easier to shift and cut.

This morning my body is tired but has survived the ordeal almost intact apart from a large ugly looking scratch on my left leg, which looks worse than it actually is. My muscles are sore and tired but will recover after a few days I feel.

I slept like a log last night and by the look of the quilt this morn I didn’t move to much during the night. Today I would love just to stay home and relax but one has to go to work 😞