The (former) privet-lands, now…

This week's blog posts have all featured small bits of what I will always think of as “the privet-lands,” so it's high time we look at the big picture right? Yes, I think it is…but first a reminder…

The photo above was taken right before the guys showed up to remove the privet, the one below right after they completed the fence.

And here is a series of three images showing what that area looks like now, under slightly stormy (yet sunny) skies...

Did you notice the loquat I moved (and posted about here) is gone? It just kept looking worse until I finally came to terms with the fact it wasn’t going to pull through without a trip to the intensive care unit. Here’s how it was looking the day I dug it out…

I potted it up in some rich potting soil, gave it a dose of fertilizer and adopted it out to my neighbor who is keeping it watered and in the shade until it grows some new feeder roots and can once again be planted out, in her garden. Then I planted this in its spot…

It’s a Daphniphyllum macropodum v. humile and was a gift from the kind Mr. Hogan at Cistus Nursery. He’s probably wincing looking at that photo because he’d encouraged me to give it a careful pruning, but I like its crazy Dr. Seuss look! What you can’t see (but I was trying to show you in the photo below) is how blue the undersides of the leaves are.

And look at all that growth at the base just ready to explode! This plant had been their propagation plant for years (producing lots of cuttings, hence its odd shape), I hope it will be happy living out the rest of its life here in my garden.

Speaking of gifts there’s another loquat! This one came from my friend Peter (the Outlaw). It had been kicking around his garden in a nursery pot for a while and he assured me it needed to find a happy place in the soil. Don’t worry it’s not quite as close to the fence(s) as it looks in this photo…

My long suffering Sambucus nigra 'Black Lace' finally has the light it wants (believe it or not it was planted under the privet in that top photo, not in this same spot though).

I couldn’t resist planting my new Acacia dealbata in front of it, the foliage combo was just too good. Its eventual size says I’m crazy but we’ll deal with that when/if it happens.

And while we’re talking crazy I planted a Paulownia tomentosa (Empress tree) too! Why? Because the words "FAST GROWER" Kept appearing when I looked it up, and after all I've got that view to hide.

How much do I love my pair of Azara microphylla? So very much...

As do I love the Ajuga reptans 'Black Scallop' shared with me by Alison, and now I understand why she kept telling me I'd have more in no time...

Persicaria 'Brushstrokes'

Astelia 'Red Devil' was in the speckled container next to Mr. Big but it didn't seem happy in the container so in the ground it went.

Check out the intense new foliage on my Rhododendron 'Ebony Pearl'...

And it just gets better!

Another Persicaria, this one P. runcinata 'Purple Majesty' via Scott.

Here are a couple of plants I've previously blogged about the variegated Daphniphyllum and Quercus dentata 'Pinnatifida' joined by a unknown hebe (big, green, bottom of photo).

Grevillea australis

Close-up

And a view new to me, I looked up after taking that last photo and liked what I saw.

Sean (Cistus) also made sure I had a couple of Pittosporum illicioides 'Strappy' to work in here and there. Behind the one below is an orange blooming crocosmia, from Scott. Are you getting the idea a lot of these plants came from my friends? Indeed! I am lucky to know so many generous gardeners and nursery owners.

Speaking of, a variegated ginkgo also from Peter, a gift when he first visited my garden years ago. This poor tree had been in a container on the patio, it's finally in the ground now!

The potted collection continues to evolve. L-R is Pseudopanax ferox, a new Puya coerulea var. coerulea and of course Mr. Big.

Close-up...

This is Maytenus boaria 'Green Showers'...

And this is what it will look like in a few years, with those long weeping green branches (photo taken at Cistus).

I'd threatened to put my Acacia baileyana 'Purpurea' in the ground but instead just planted it up into a larger pot and now it's hanging out behind the tank pond, leaning over and mingling with the water plants.

So all of those fabulous plants and even I can almost forget the nightmare above of the former privet-lands...the new view! I've planted the area with the goal of things growing up and hiding the view. Luckily some of the plants in the upper garden area are destined to provide screening as well.

The plant just to the right of the Yucca rostrata (Lil' Sanford) is Stachyurus salicifolius, which can reach 8ft tall...

And the other loquat (every garden needs two, right?) is just ready to explode with growth now that it's out from under the privet cover, eventual size could be 20ft tall and 15ft wide.

And besides all the new planting space there is another upside to the new view, more sky and a view of tall trees in the distance...

All material © 2009-2014 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.