Wonderful Small Spaces

New Young Plants - What a Future

Indian Hawthorns - On Their Way Out; Couldn't Have Been Sooner

This customer contacted us frustrated with the failing Indian Hawthorns (See Tumbling Tumbleweeds.) which were dying of entomosporium, which many are. Indian Hawthorns, to me, are attractive, only if they are living in the 75% happy range; forget a species-wide fungal issue. They are nice little blobs of small leaves and the occasional berries. The previous property owner or someone opted for planting these, for some reason - probably due to a lack of imagination. Indian Hawthorns fill voids along foundations and have been used extensively in commercial landscapes. Ooh, let's get excited about that.

The new bed features young plants which will require a season or two to show some size, but sooner with colors such as purple, yellow, green, pink and cream. The plants installed were the Sunshine Ligustrum (center), two Crimson Fire Loropetalums (flanking the Sunshine Ligustrum), a Variegated Ligustrum which will become a tree-like shrub over time and provide a screen for the neighboring door, and a First Frost Hosta. I transplanted the Nandina (far forward right corner) to the back yard in a corner where the wall meets the fence.

The Not-so Wonderful Void Filler - Indian Hawthorns

The small bed along the left fence was previously well-thought (ahem) to include, yet another row of Indian Hawthorns. "Let's crowd a small space with a bunch of squatty wide-spreading plants that we may have to trim so often, keeping them woody as can be - forget any disease."

Ignore the size and format of this situation - these constraints apply to most any home unless you have an English manor with twelve-foot ceilings, six to eight-foot foundations and a wine cellar and a basement.

The Left Line - Liberated

Trees and large tree-like shrubs (even smaller) don't belong or work alongside one's home's foundation. But, the developers, contractors and even so-called landscape architects have been burdening homeowners with such pains-in-the-ass for decades.

If you are not proud of your home's look, appeal or architecture, or you are hiding from someone (the IRS, ex-spouse, ICE), build an 8-foot fence so no-one else must see the mess if you plant 14-foot hollies in front of your living room window - the ones you mangle to keep at a height of four feet.

For the small bed off of the front walk we centered it with a Cordyline Fruticosa 'Red Sister', flanked by a pair of Coleus - 'Gay's Delight' and 'Heartbreaker'. Both the latter are questionable tender perennials and may make it through our next winter. If not, they are inexpensive, can be planted easily and take off quite quickly, reaching impressive size during their first few weeks.

In a pot, left of the stoop, we placed a Pink Muhly. She will be showing off this fall with a near-translucent pinkish hue and inflorescence.

It's not the space you have, but what you do (or don't) with the space you have.

I thank this customer. I performed some basic property housekeeping (so-to-speak) before this project and I hope to be assisting her with other areas and aspects.

Thank you, "L".