The huge willow at our kitchen door (one of only two trees in the garden when we purchased this property) gets 'the chop' today. Ken has long worried that the roots of this very large tree would invade the ground under our foundation-less house. I do see his point, but I'm sorry to lose this 150 year-old arborial feature. The plan is to replace the willow with the red oak Quercus rubra that we bought last year. i also expect that Ken will find a few more apple trees to plant along the last stretch of bare brick wall!