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This is the garden owner's backyard and its corner. And she reached out to me for some ideas. The first thing I would do is consult an arborist. I believe these are Leyland Cypress. Which Cisco says, if you have Horsetail in your yard, you should move. I have an arborist that I work with a lot and he said that removing Laurel and removing Leyland Cypress is about 60% of his income. I would never recommend having Cyprus unless you've lived on five acres or more because they grow super fast and they want to be like 40 feet tall and wide. The average lot just really can't accommodate them. But I see them all the time because they're inexpensive, they grow fast, they sell them as a nursery. You get a nice big one from Flower World for $69 and it's going to grow two feet in one year. Then in five years later, you're like, Oh my God. And then they're just bigger expenses for us. And this one looks like it's got something funky going on with it. I think I would recommend that an arborist come in and look at those. If they are on the neighbor's property, perhaps you could consult with them because it's just going to continue to be a problem. Do any of us really want to be like these things in our garden? Life is hard enough, right? If you have to constantly work to keep something in its place or behaving, it's just too hard, at least for me.
This is the garden owner's backyard and its corner. And she reached out to me for some ideas. The first thing I would do is consult an arborist. I believe these are Leyland Cypress. Which Cisco says, if you have Horsetail in your yard, you should move. I have an arborist that I work with a lot and he said that removing Laurel and removing Leyland Cypress is about 60% of his income. I would never recommend having Cyprus unless you've lived on five acres or more because they grow super fast and they want to be like 40 feet tall and wide. The average lot just really can't accommodate them. But I see them all the time because they're inexpensive, they grow fast, they sell them as a nursery. You get a nice big one from Flower World for $69 and it's going to grow two feet in one year. Then in five years later, you're like, Oh my God. And then they're just bigger expenses for us. And this one looks like it's got something funky going on with it. I think I would recommend that an arborist come in and look at those. If they are on the neighbor's property, perhaps you could consult with them because it's just going to continue to be a problem. Do any of us really want to be like these things in our garden? Life is hard enough, right? If you have to constantly work to keep something in its place or behaving, it's just too hard, at least for me.
And then these may be big leaf Maples? They are great out in the wild or within the woods but not in your backyard or a half an acre. Consult a certified arborist and see what they would recommend. You can find a list of them on plant university. This is really an opportunity to create something really beautiful here and your handy dandy rope. Bring in compost unless it's been added in the last six months to a year.
Obviously you move the sod first and then bring in some of these plants. For all intents and purposes, we're going to say that the trees are all staying. we just need to work with the trees and we need to hide that broken fence because that's on the neighbor's property.
And this would be a great choice to camouflage that and to hide. This evergreen. It's drought tolerant. It's going to get in that five by five space, so this could be a nice backdrop. It's got these beautiful red berries on it. That's a nice backdrop for you.
Then you need a focal point in that bed and something like this. Shirazz J Maple. I think they changed the name to Gwen's Delight. This variegated sort of pinky Japanese Maple would just be beautiful. And I like this because it's contrasting with all the green around. You're going to have a focal point, it needs to be strong. It needs to stand out from whatever else is around it.
You could bring in some color for this Choisya Sundance. I like using this in my installations. That'll do it well in a shady part or part shady location. It's a really good performer. It’s smelly when you touch it, but the flowers are actually very fragrant. Beautiful foliage and it'd be a really nice contrast to the backdrop.
Then bring in some of the perennials Bring in the Evergreen. One of my favorite Heucheras is Berry Smoothie. There's a handful of Heucheras that really outperform all the others that I've tried. This one of them brightens the area they are in. The last time I was at Snoqualmish garden center, they sold them for $9.99. They are one gallon and like this big. That was about three weeks ago. They have great prices, but it's kind of hit or miss on what they have.
And then this Pistachio Hydrangea. Look at how this color ties in with the maple and some of these other perennials. Also the Choisya provides that chartreuse edge around the flowers there. I'm not suggesting all of these plants. These are just to give you some ideas of different combinations.
Penny’s Pink Hellebore is another one to talk about. So colorful. This is a shaded area, so you can see it's a hellebore. Some of the newer varieties in the hellebore have these beautiful variegated leaves and I’m all about that foliage because the foliage is year round. The flowers are great too but they're only what, three months ish. But those silvery blue tongues and pink tie all of these together.
This is another type of Pulmonary or Lungwort called Shrimps on the Barbie. And this is a beautiful one. It's actually kind of pinky orange even though It doesn't look like that in the picture.
The texture of ferns is always a good idea, in my opinion, in a shady spot. This is the Japanese Tassel Fern. You've got all these beautiful combinations, lots of different textures, all the colors tie together, something going on year round. There is the Blue Fescue Grass right in shade but the rabbits might be interested. When you go to a nursery, if you buy plants like that and if you know that they are not rabbit resistant at this point. They won’t even bother because they'll be less likely to to mess with it. It's kind of the young and sort of inconsequential that they would go after.
This is Lonicera Twiggy Baggesen’s Gold. This Twiggy is evergreen. It actually does better in a partially shaded area than in the sun. What I find with a lot of the yellow foliage plants, they get kind of bleached out in the sun. If they're just blasting in the sun, they look kind of faded. I think they do better with partially shaded situations.
The Rozannie Aucuba is the straight one. There's five or six different varieties.
Suggested Plants:
And this would be a great choice to camouflage that and to hide. This evergreen. It's drought tolerant. It's going to get in that five by five space, so this could be a nice backdrop. It's got these beautiful red berries on it. That's a nice backdrop for you.
Then you need a focal point in that bed and something like this. Shirazz J Maple. I think they changed the name to Gwen's Delight. This variegated sort of pinky Japanese Maple would just be beautiful. And I like this because it's contrasting with all the green around. You're going to have a focal point, it needs to be strong. It needs to stand out from whatever else is around it.
You could bring in some color for this Choisya Sundance. I like using this in my installations. That'll do it well in a shady part or part shady location. It's a really good performer. It’s smelly when you touch it, but the flowers are actually very fragrant. Beautiful foliage and it'd be a really nice contrast to the backdrop.
Then bring in some of the perennials Bring in the Evergreen. One of my favorite Heucheras is Berry Smoothie. There's a handful of Heucheras that really outperform all the others that I've tried. This one of them brightens the area they are in. The last time I was at Snoqualmish garden center, they sold them for $9.99. They are one gallon and like this big. That was about three weeks ago. They have great prices, but it's kind of hit or miss on what they have.
And then this Pistachio Hydrangea. Look at how this color ties in with the maple and some of these other perennials. Also the Choisya provides that chartreuse edge around the flowers there. I'm not suggesting all of these plants. These are just to give you some ideas of different combinations.
Penny’s Pink Hellebore is another one to talk about. So colorful. This is a shaded area, so you can see it's a hellebore. Some of the newer varieties in the hellebore have these beautiful variegated leaves and I’m all about that foliage because the foliage is year round. The flowers are great too but they're only what, three months ish. But those silvery blue tongues and pink tie all of these together.
This is another type of Pulmonary or Lungwort called Shrimps on the Barbie. And this is a beautiful one. It's actually kind of pinky orange even though It doesn't look like that in the picture.
The texture of ferns is always a good idea, in my opinion, in a shady spot. This is the Japanese Tassel Fern. You've got all these beautiful combinations, lots of different textures, all the colors tie together, something going on year round. There is the Blue Fescue Grass right in shade but the rabbits might be interested. When you go to a nursery, if you buy plants like that and if you know that they are not rabbit resistant at this point. They won’t even bother because they'll be less likely to to mess with it. It's kind of the young and sort of inconsequential that they would go after.
This is Lonicera Twiggy Baggesen’s Gold. This Twiggy is evergreen. It actually does better in a partially shaded area than in the sun. What I find with a lot of the yellow foliage plants, they get kind of bleached out in the sun. If they're just blasting in the sun, they look kind of faded. I think they do better with partially shaded situations.
The Rozannie Aucuba is the straight one. There's five or six different varieties.
Suggested Plants:
- Gwen’s Delight or Shirazz J. Maple
- Aucuba Rozannie
- Fatsia Japonica
- Choisya Sundance
- Lonicera Twiggy
- Ilex Green Island
- Pistachio Hydrangea
- Hosta Elegans
- Blue Fescue
- Penny’s Pink Hellebore
- Pulmonaria Shrimps on the Barbie
- Heuchera Berry Smoothie
- Japanese Tassel Fern