A Home, Now with a View

After

Okay, I have seen and worked with much worse when it comes to foundation plants overtaking a home...much worse.

I met this customer as she lives next door to a property I am restoring over time - the property where I highlighted our Every Little Step We Take theory, uh, practice. There will be an update on that property soon.

Well, this customer works for one of my favorite food retailers and would bring items to her neighbor and myself on occasions during the first few months of Covid-19. Of course, we paid her for the items and my other customer returned the favor when possible - true neighbors.

Before

I offered to prune this wonderful dwarf Japanese Maple she has in the left foundation bed, as my thanks.

She then hired me to address all the plants along the front foundation. Most of this dealt with pruning all plants and reworking the beds and re-doing their borders - something I love doing, which makes such a huge difference aesthetically. I also installed a Big Boy Hydrangea to fill this void under her picture window.
He will be prominent in about two more seasons, but right now, he's a little boy.

Most of the work was business as usual, pruning for health reasons, shaping and pruning for future growth, except for when this rather large and fit, totally white cat, showed up from nowhere and wanted to bat at me and my pruners while I was working on the Abelias. Both the owner and a nextdoor neighbor said they had never seen he or she before. I often seem lucky when it comes to critters, of many sorts. It was a wonderful break in the day - playful, handsome guy.

After

The Loropetalums in the right bed were my major concern. I love working on most lorpetalums and have pruned many - I also love trimming and shaping them. This home faces almost southwest, but it receives mostly filtered sunlight, a few hours at best.

Loropetalums which experience adequate sunlight will get quite dense and grow in a more mounding shape, and usually produce more of the little pinkish flowers (inflorescence) for which the plant is named.

If not, the branches tend to splay and have more of an open structure, not able to be admired so much for the collective colors and contrasts. Yet, they are still attractive.

After

I reduced the height of the loropetalums while also pruning to promote more lateral growth. I cannot control vertical growth entirely, but these plants should now be more prone to spread horizontally. They will need to be maintained, never sheered or trimmed, but pruned properly.

The interesting or difficult aspect will be keeping some of the loropetalums out of the Windmill Palm which will be a wonderful center piece as it grows taller and wider between the windows - easy to maintain.

The remainder of the project dealt with grading the beds and re-establishing borders for better mulch retention. I prefer pine bark mulch unless the surrounding trees or environment tell me otherwise, or the customer.

I usually prefer more elongated curves when drawing border lines. On the right bed I used more frequent curves, mostly slight. Yet, I did move the lighting into the bed to allow her lawn service easier mowing along the bed and to keep the edges neat.

Before

This customer would stop briefly during her daily routine of coming and going and we may have chatted about something unrelated as I felt obligated to convey what I was doing. She did not care - the trust was there. My respect was there, as always.

I have customers with various concerns, preferences, guidance and the occasional oversight. But, I must say: "Me, we, them or us are usually on the same page. Or else, I am just damn lucky.

Plants are my customers, owned by my customers. Both deserved, for the good of the landscape.

I wake up for such, daily - those relationships and opportunities.

Thank you, VP!