Swimpy's Landscaping Thread

After searching, I'm doubting the wisdom of washinton hawthorn. (Crataegus) First of all, the leaves on mine were different, so I must have had some cultivar. Second.. different sites give different zones where it does well, and some skip 4. So, never mind on that.

Off to check on ginkgos..

I wish I could grow lilac here in southern California, but it's too hot here -
same with peonies: I love them, but they don't like our climate *sigh*

I've ever seen a lilac in a tree form either. Regarding your list, osso: I'll investigate the Strawberry Parfait crab apple. It seems to me that was the one the original (GD) landscaper recommended. The size is perfect. Dogwood is definitely still in the running. You mentioned Prunus. That's cherry, right? There is a tree that grows wild called a chokecherry. It is a compact tree with fruits that attract birds. I'm going to see what I can find about it.

from http://hort.ufl.edu/trees/GINBILA.pdf, the ginkgo can get to 70-80 feet, does grow zones 3A to 8

However, Sunset breaks them down into varieties with two I am used to seeing on nursery lists getting to about 40 feet on full maturity.

"Autumn Gold" - Upright to 40 feet, eventually rather broad and spreading to about 30 feet
and "Saratoga", as mentioned before, and the one I'd still pick because I like a distinct central leader, but look at photos, you might like NOT a central leader - Similar to Autumn Gold, with a distinct central leader.

Young growth may be brittle but Gingko wood becomes strong with age, (it goes on about) certain pruning when young and little when older, always pick male trees (the two varieties I named are male). In general, Ginkgos are not bothered by insects or diseases, tolerant to air polution, heat, acid and alkaline soils. Make sure nursery plant not root bound.. (mostly quoting Sunset)

There are zillions of Prunuses (pruni?), Japanese cherry and Japanese plum trees - they grow in a lot of zones, I'll have to do some looking.

A friend in our office in the Marina del Rey area had a lilac fixation and would go once a year, guessing April, to some place in southern california to pick as many lilacs as she could get in her car --- similar to how some places let you pick your own cherries.. both inland but I don't remember where.

Persimmons, fuggedaboutit.

Prunus - flowering cherry trees

Some I want to look up:

guessing these three take the most cold -
Prunus sargentii sounds good
Prunus serrula
Prunus serrulata 'tai haku'

Prunus campanulata (Taiwan Flowering Cherry) - looks like it prefers warmer winters

These might work (I can't tell by the sunset zones without a lot of double checking which zones are similar to yours - have to research rest of US hardiness zones)
Prunus serrulata 'beni hoshi' (Pink Star)
Prunus serrulata 'snow goose'
Prunus x subhirtella 'autumnalis' - blooms spring and fall, double white or pinkish white flowers (don't know about the form from the description)

This is a nice one but probably too big, Prunus x Yedoensis (gets to 40' x 30)
Same with Prunus xy Akebono

Prunus - flowering plum trees (at least mine didn't have fruit..)

Prunus x blireiana - that's the one I had
Prunus cerasifera atropurpurea, nifty, but fruit (purple leaf plum)

Here's one that looks like it takes serious cold, and bears only a little fruit, good size too (but I'm looking at all of these for size and shape) :
Prunus cerasifera 'newport'

This is striking, with dark dark leaves - but sometimes sets 'a good crop of fruit' -
Prunus cerasifera 'thundercloud'

OK, that's enough for now, except that I'll look up Laurus nobilis quickly.
(sweetbay)
Anyway, looks like it gets too cold there for it (varies from 12 to 40 feet. You can find it in very formal gardens pruned into geometric shapes..)

Yeah, I was thinking of cherry, too. Too bad redbud isn't sturdy. Still, stewartia and dogwoods have great year round appeal.

That's why I was looking for form and leaf color, even bark color, with the Prunus trees, some of them have all year interest, some don't. Stewartia grew in northern California but I never got to know it.. have to look it up. But that reminds me of some other things I barely knew that my business partner did know. No plant lists handy right this minute. But one of those begins with S... (I think).


Looked. I guess it doesn't start with S. 25 letters to go..

Anyway, manana,

OK, sorry to have disappeared for a few days. I had another guy come over and give me some ideas on the slope issue. Osso, you'll be interested because I think he's advocating the thing you mentioned before. He's suggesting putting in a short wall, maybe 2' but move it out some. I'm not sure how it will look but he's supposed to let me know the cost tomorrow. He thinks he can do it complete with plants and all for under $2,000. That I can afford. Anyway, we'll see.

That sounds right. (Hard to say with out being there and without paper and pencil.) Even with a two footer, have the wall waterproofed in back and either weeps or drainpipe gravel wrapped. Well, in my opinion.

I'll ask him about that next time we talk.

I waterproofed my own 20 inch high retaining wall, in the back, with two coats of Henry's, an asphalt type coating.

But there are other ways to do it now, far as I know.

Steel can matter as well, and filling all the block cells...
in that case not re some kind of mortar breakdown, but re water pressure behind the wall.

This matters more with tall walls - say, 10 to 12 foot tall walls.. re the build up of water behind the wall, and even in those cases, important to have the soil in front drain away from the wall... (picture a tennis court several feet below a very tall retaining wall of indecipherable age).

I don't know common practice in your area. Which is why I'm hoping you are talking with licensed contractors.


Adds --- a two foot wall is easy enough to rebuild, but as the wall gets higher, these kind of decisions can really matter.

Things are creeping ever so slowly forward. Should have movement within the next couple of weeks.

They're here to cut down trees and shrubs. Here's a before photo of the front of the house. http://s43.photobucket.com/albums/e383/swimpy12/Landscape/?action=view&current=DSC00056.jpg

The two spruces on either side of the front entry are coming out. This is an old photo. A lot of the other stuff is already gone. I'll post after photos later.

What am I doing wrong? I can't post an image to save my soul.

Hmmm. From memory (don't trust me), click on the last choice in the list under the photo in photobucket. That will copy it. It even tells you so, with a little "copied" word.

Go to the Reply page. Click on the Img box.

Go to the reply window which now has [img][/img] in it. Click inbetween those, paste the copied url-thing.

OK, that worked. Thank you, osso. I didn't get my camera charged in time to get a before picture. This shows one tree in mid-removal.

Monkey climbs tree, as seen from the front porch.