A New Focal Point !
A few years ago I expanded the footprint of my driveway garden bed . Since then I've been tweaking and revising the contents but the changes made this spring are a pivot from the plan I had in mind last fall. Those of us on small suburban lots are often at the mercy of our neighbors choices and thus far neighbor planted (or removed) trees have been my biggest challenge. It seems like I'm always bouncing around between a shade garden and a sun garden along my back fence line. At least I'm always open to any opportunity to buy more plants.
After close to 25 years with the same neighbors next door, I have newbies and when one has had excellent long term neighbors there's always a bit of anxiety about the unknown. What I didn't expect was a new rather obtrusive focal point/borrowed view for my driveway garden.
Needless to say, screening plants are on the agenda. The first has already gone in Leucodendron galpinii 'Silver Cone' which was lucky to find at a nursery in Novato. It will top out at 6-8 ft tall by 4 to 6 wide and it's great to use in arrangements too.You can see it installed here in front of the second bin from the left.
If you point the camera just right you can almost pretend they aren't there !
I already have a Leucodendron 'More Silver' which will help when it fills out a bit more and I'm pondering what the 3rd shrub will be-preferably something with dark foliage to contrast with all the glaucus foliage in this bed. In the meantime , I've planted 18 of my seed grown Queen series Zinnias throughout this garden bed which should at least provide some distraction while I continue my search.
Ugh, trash cans! I don't even like seeing my own and I'd be very irritated having a neighbor's cans lining the property line like that. You strategy is a good one, however. In a couple of years I imagine the cans will be invisible.
ReplyDeleteI think maybe there are about two houses in my entire neighborhood where the bins are kept out front all the time.
DeleteGetting new neighbors causes anxiety especially in this day and age when most homeowners don't seem to care a bit about gardening or their landscapes. I hope yours are an exception!
ReplyDeleteMany neighbors here have mow-blow dudes and of course the inventory of fake lawns keeps growing. There's always a few poorly kept yards in every neighborhood it seems .
DeleteMost definately!
DeleteGRRR. Not the kind of view anybody would want.
ReplyDeleteAs for dark-leaved shrub, how about Leucadendron 'Ebony'? I think it would look great with the ones you already planted.
I already have an 'Ebony' in the back- but it did cross my mind, and they aren't all that hard to find anymore either.
DeleteNothing screams 'curb appeal' more than colourful trash bins. Hopefully those shrubs grow quickly. In the meantime anything that divers your eyes from the bins will be beneficial. Wonder if you could ask them to put them elsewhere where they are not so obtrusive?
ReplyDeleteI feel pretty confident that a request to move them would not be well received, and the screen option would have the extra benefit of hiding their cars. I'm also hoping that at some point they will no longer need 3 blue recycle bins .
DeleteAh, that's unfortunate about the view. Screening plants will help; I'll look forward to your choices. I agree regarding the neighbors' choices. Ours have planted some trees in the past that added more shade, and cut down several recently that have increased sunlight. With the latter, it was sad to see them go (including a huge, old Cottonwood), but plants on that side of the house are blooming more this year, so I can't complain too much. It's a trade-off, but frustrating when it's beyond our control.
ReplyDeleteI used to have 4 trees in my back yard but I'm down to one now- the neighbors trees are providing more shade than I need at this point. But gardeners adapt!
DeleteUgh. I feel your pain. One of our neighbors parks her green bin so that it's a prominent fixture in the view from our living room window. Another neighbor just leaves the bins on the street for DAYS after pickup. I've even seen them take stuff to the curb to put in the bins rather than just pulling the bins in. It doesn't help that the bins seem designed to stand out with their garish colors.
ReplyDeleteNapa has a 36 hour rule for the bins to be in the street -so we don't have any of that going on. They recently switched the yard waste bins from a dark brown to that in-your-face green.
DeleteUgh, Kathy, that's the worst. Have you considered a short stretch of screening fence, just the height of the bins? It would make a pretty backdrop for your plants too, if you're free of pesky HOA rules.
ReplyDeleteI definitely considered a fence Pam, and if this doesn't work out to my satisfaction that would be an option for sure. Also redwood is $$$ right now -not to mention paying a fence dude to build it.
DeleteNothing says home like "Welcome to my garbage bins!"
ReplyDeleteYou planted that bed up beautifully but the scenery provided by your new neighbor is not so good. I'd do a fence just to protect the plants from damage by the bins.
HOAs get a lot of criticism but our rule about storing bins out of sight of the street is a good one. We don't have many rules but that is a good one.
There's at least a brick curb along the property line so it wouldn't be possible to actually roll the bins into my garden-thank god !
DeleteI'm seriously surprised Napa doesn't have an ordinance against trash cans visible from the street -- jeez even in Long Beach it's just not done!
ReplyDeleteOur only ordinance concerns actually leaving them in the street beyond collection day.
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