We absolutely love trees, and in our gardens, have many ornamental types as well as some that are quite ordinary, native species that we value.  Twenty years ago, when our gardens were first being established our green-thumb-knowledgeable daughter planted a standard caragena in our front gardens, along with another caragena placed elsewhere in the front, a pendulous type .  Both of these trees, also known more popular as flowering peas, have lovely bright yellow flowers in the spring.

Later, in the summer, the flowers develop into pea pods, and there is quite a surprising amount of detritus that results from the process.  The weeping caragena is attractive, its size controlled by the grafting which turned it into a weeping specimen, whereas the standard decreased in attractive presentation as the years went on.

Over the years the standard caragena has been cut back numerous times to control its reach toward the sky, becoming rangy and unattractive in the process and overgrowing the space allotted to it.  It presented as being out of place in the garden, unlike many other types of trees we have there that have grown large and larger yet, but still maintain their attractive presentation.

Finally, yesterday, we decided this was one tree that had outlived its usefulness in the garden.  Its foliage had become sparse, the branches unattractive and it took away rather than added to the look of the garden.  My husband brought upstairs a small reciprocating saw and set about cutting the tree into sections, preparing them for removal in the weekly garden compost collection our municipality provides for that purpose.