Removing is such sweet sorrow.

Well it isn't easy but there comes a point when it has to be faced...

hard decision. good luck, Stan.

Most of what I remove is pre internet days plants. My learning curve.
Maybe next month take that Magnolia tree down. If it was gone? You would see the palms planted behind my home..so something to look at. They were planted well after the Magnolia.Its leaf drop just isn't compatible with the slow growers under it. Smothers the small plants.
Then,get after the Podocarpus with more pruning. 40 years can go by so fast...

I am always having to cut back plants, Stan.
My current dilemma is whether to remove an old Cotoneaster. It is over fifty years old and has lost its shape.
My husband says I should wait until the winter. My problem is.....once I have made the decision I want to get on with it and replace it with something new.

Exactly Linda. Whatever it is that caught the eye to remove..doesn't change. Better to get it over with.
If its big..do in stages. Might look funny for days or weeks..but the day will come when it's gone and you wonder why you took so long to see it all.
I say that probably blind to a few other plants of mine I haven't mentioned!

I too have reached that stage Stan, had to accept I'm not getting any younger, in the last few years we've removed the weeping willow, apple tree, a massive conifer and various smaller but still too big for me shrubs, this past week my huge pampas grass has also gone,I did that one all on my own and only killed my fork not myself, lol, a smaller one is next on my list and then its two more tired and half dead conifers, the garden is loving the extra light and I'm pleased with the planting I've used in the gaps..

That's the way it has to be. Younger,you want to learn about all plants,its fun.
Later..decades,you've kept it all or related to it. Plus,you don't want to spend hours watering,bending over picking up hoses. The pruning gets off the charts hard.
No maintenance company can do what I do,so they are out.
That leaves,Lin,removing what's long in the tooth in a bad way-lol.