It's why I cringed when our neighbor was wondering aloud if she should have that narrow stand of evergreens cut down to help sell the house. I hope I talked her out of the notion for the two bigger ones. We have a nice soft edged fringe of what I call "our woods" in the back, and the loss of just those evergreens you saw the bittersweet in would change a lot for our yard since they are smack dab on the property line so we'd lose the shade, the needles and the gentle green fence they make. Same would happen if the owner of the home next door suddenly cleared out all the plantings along the rock wall. I would be so sad, and maybe a little angry to see it go too. We have a lot of creatures living with us in this neighborhood. They'd lose a lot of homes and comfort zones.Manalto wrote:Remember conifers and broadleaf evergreens.
The front and east are the tricky bits for us picking out trees especially.
To the east, we have just a narrow strip of not asphalt after you cross the driveway before you hit the stockade fence of the property line. The driveway eats up the bulk of that space, which is why we want to convert it to a ribbon style.
As to the front, between the slope, how they laid the water and sewer lines, and the overhead wires, plus the potential for the town at any point saying "Ok, we're taking over the land bits reserved for sidewalk now", trees are tricky for the front. I don't want anything too big that close to the house. Especially because Sean is very reticent (and I don't really blame him) at the idea of "stepping" the slope to give us a bit more wiggle room.
A few of the trees in the back might hit the house if they just happened to come down our way, but the garage is more likely to take a hit distance wise (long rectangle lot). A bit ago I was trying to look into dwarf variants for the front, and we even toyed with the idea of just letting the hollies grow up, as it were, once they were moved further from the porch. It's something we'll be talking about a lot I'm sure the end of this year and most of next.
I think we did decide that for next year, we'd get a hazelnut bush and possibly another edible. We really like the idea of being able to eat out of our yard. Sean is particularly keen on eating berries before he even washes them--not that we use sprays or anything. We never did get even a melon planted this year--Shoobie was the only human food plant we managed to cross off our list. We lucked out with the bounty that was already here. Next year, I hope to revisit the short list we made for veggies/fruit/herbs to start our kitchen garden (plus companions for both predatory helpers and what food we grow for ourselves.)
I did talk to my neighbor about pinching a bit of her shrubs backing our garage to see if I can get them to make a new plant for me. I have had some success with that in the past, but I'd need to do some research since it's been a while and I don't know those plants well. I am already bracing myself for the possibility that whomever winds up with the house next door could want to clear out all the trees/shrubs for typical whatever backyard--so if they go, I'll have my clippings. It makes me sad to think that could happen, actually. There's a few we might be able to talk them into letting us take them, but not all of them by far due to size/logistics/risk, and it would drastically breakup the nice safety zone for creatures we have between our house and the ones on either side. The property to the west has less along the back of the property line and has very little to the west, but there are still quite a few plantings overall despite that. The property we back against did a huge clear out and brush burn in spring, then sprayed everywhere for ticks. Then they brought in what looks like pallets for a project that are still just sitting--I'm not being critical, our yard is a host of unfinished whatever--just saying their yard went from being fairly like that safety strip to cutting it back to just a barest minimum in the "back" of their property and now it's just all grass and a few property marker plants left.
Budget is both a blessing and a curse. I can't aim too big, but I'd like to do just a bit more.
Woo! It was potatoes. There's an author/illustrator who is a big fan of potatoes that I only know of due to their being friends with a webcomic/author I read tweets of sometimes. She can talk about them for a long time, and even has at places folks don't normally talk about them.Manalto wrote:The potato story is fascinating (to me, at least). Scientists go to South America, where the species was domesticated, and turn up all these unusual varieties of colors and textures (and flavors?) known only to a tiny village in the Andes. They bring them back, and before too long, chic restaurants in LA start offering them on the menu. Sometimes particularly appealing varieties find their way to the general population. Ultimately, the success of any plant, agricultural or ornamental, is whether it can be profitable to grow.
One thing I've been trying to do with the dirt I'm removing for the regrade is to move it to the front to try to build up anything higher than flush to the street level. I don't know if was taken out by plows in the past, or it was always just that low. If I get it up to the level our house selling neighbor has it, I think whatever we plant there will be safe. The plow guys actually filled in the slope area of our front lawn when they were plowing during Stella, and then proceeded to dump more on top. It wasn't until I spent a lot of time digging the stairs out to the street level that they stopped doing it.Manalto wrote:One of the beauties of perennials and low-growing plants (mosses included) is that they suffer tons of snow piled upon them with aplomb. Salt, as you say, is the kiss.
I've read that this is a constant landscaping problem with new build homes. They landscape so the house sells, not so the lot looks great in 5 years. So everything ends up in too small a space for itself. Of course, that's what happened with us and the hollies too--they planted way too close to both stairs and porch.Manalto wrote: That's always true, though. New plants always look pathetic for the first few years. If they don't, you're probably crowding them. I find propagating plants enjoyable and satisfying, in addition to being economical, but I realize it's not for everybody. Getting to know the horticultural community (most regions have a horticultural society) is a great resource for "pass-along plants" - someone has an abundance of a particular variety and would rather give them away than trash them. It's also insurance in case you lose your favorite plant, you've got a garden buddy with a back-up.
I have looked into such communities. I was shocked Gardner doesn't even have Lady's Gardening Club or something. The closest one I could find is not close, which means time and gas and possibly tolls/parking, depending. Luxuries I have to wait for right now.
I do have some of those spots bookmarked. Even though I've lived in MA before, both in Amherst and the Greater Boston area, I still really don't know a whole lot about what's here. I am learning when I can make time, though. So my notion of distances is skewed. I forget that Lowell isn't close anymore. (It was even closer when we lived in NH!)Manalto wrote: You seem to gravitate toward natives (for which I applaud you), so you probably know about Nasami Farm New England Wild Plant Nursery in Whately, Garden in the Woods in Framingham, and the non-profit, Grow Native Massachusetts in Waltham. I like Tower Hill in Shrewsbury, the broken record repeated...
I tend to have a more liberal attitude about natives, and include non-invasive exotics. I've noticed wildlife can benefit from them too. One example is Salvia 'Spanish Dancer' a big, airy plant with red blooms. The hummingbirds go nuts for it. It's an annual but reseeds freely.
Before, when I was allowed to plant things at rentals or property managing, I sort of did whatever I could afford at the time and wanted. Now that it's my home, in my mind I'd love to have a mostly native landscape that's a rainbow of fun to look at during all seasons. I'm still buying some stuff or using leftovers that aren't native or were likely grown in an environment where neonics were used (thinking about our future bees), but I am trying. Part of it is because I want lots of creatures happy as they pass through/live here that I can get a glimpse of at least maybe once.
Part is because I can already see how everyone in our neighborhood shops at the same garden centers or uses the same landscape designers. Everything is slightly different in its own way, but you see the same hostas, the same rhododendrons, same color batch of petunias, same punch visual with the solitary Emerald and Gold, et al. I know most folks don't have time/money/patience/desire to have a yard that more obviously reflects them other than their mailbox choice and door mat. But given how much I walk around, it's kinda sad to see how many homes have almost identical variants of anywhere from a half to a dozen plus plants (including trees), depending on how much boring old lawn they were willing to give up. Only one neighbor within what's likely a three block radius, for instance, has an elephant hosta along with the other usuals folks have (as we do--the "green" and the "variegated".)
So when you do see someone who really made an effort to do what they wanted instead of just buying what was available, it's like striking gold. There is one neighbor the next block down that has done some really amazing things. They have so many fruit trees, and the variety---wow. The only exception is the wall o' hosta on the side street slope of their house. We love walking by the house, because we always find something new to gawk at and think about.
I'm also ultimately a lazy gardener. Although I do like working in the garden and seeing all it has to offer, both vegetative and otherwise, if natives are easier, less chemicaly, and don't require powered this or that I have to maintain as well--I'm all for it.
Hoo boys...I went on and on again. I do love our yard, and we're in the thick of it.