Oh no! You simply MUST find the right spot in your own yard! I have been coveting this guy but so far have resisted. I'm sure he'll follow me home too one of these days, you know how those bad boys are.

Oh, and I just wanted to add - at least it was only a large shrub that followed you home, I was followed this spring by ANOTHER larch tree! It is still wondering where it is going to reside.

Melanie,
Good luck with finding the right spot for the new plant! You know that you are in good company with this obsession, don't you? I have allowed my own obsession with not passing up a new purchase to have morphed into turning my front yard and driveway into a plant nursery, instead of a garden and a place to park the pickup truck. I think it has been at least 3 years since I even had sight of a clear driveway in front of my house.

Just a partial list of "had to have them" plants would read like a complete plant list for a major new installation. My excuse is always that, 'I can use it in a new garden project'... Someone help me before I completely run out of space and can't even walk up to the front door without a machete!

I had to look it up; wow! Interesting plant. Wonderful color and form. I understand the plant obsession thing. What I mean is, I understand that you and I and other people suffer from it, not that I understand why, or how to control it...

My husband casually alluded to some mild annoyance at being crowded out of his barbecue area of the patio by my swelling bromeliad collection. The largest plant, a vriesia cross, has a 'wing-span' of 5 feet. And they reproduce, you know...several at a time... But later he admitted he likes them, too, far more hospitable than bare concrete.

But the palm thing! the palm thing really has to stop. Soon. I planted an innocuous little one-gallon fishtail Caryota gigas a couple of weeks ago (aka Thai Mountain Giant Palm). I need a little height in my garden plan, see, so it does fulfill a specific purpose. Mind you, I have a small garden, and this fairly speedy species would eventually reach 60 ft. or more in habitat in Thailand, with a spread of maybe 35 ft. Oh, and did I mention it's monocarpic and will have to be plucked from the back terrace by a crane after it blooms?? None is known to have bloomed yet in California, but I have to start a special savings fund for that, just in case I live long enough.
Kim, living dangerously

Here is a link that might be useful: Mel's Gawjus Plant

Thanks for the support and understanding. I'll post some pictures of possible placements as soon as I can--right now we are having thunderstorms. YAY! We need the rain.

I wonder just how little direct sun my rhus can tolerate? The google, she is being less than informative. Anyone have personal experience with this critter? Also--I'm seeing rather alarming accounts of suckering. (Even though it's billed as "suckering less.") Perhaps my newest acquisition should live in a pot...

The hazards of buying first and planning second!

melanie

Have you thought about growing it as a specimen in a container?

Have you thought about growing it as a specimen in a container?
That's what I meant by "perhaps my newest acquisition should just live in a pot..." I already have on cool plant in a pot--my Harry Lauder's Walking Stick. Oh, and my acer palmatum 'Yuri Hime.' I suppose another could be interesting.

Still doing the "sturm und drang" thang here. Perhaps pictures tomorrow.

melanie

melanie, that link I posted says the ''common form'' suckers, but (toward the bottom of the page) your ''special Tiger Eyes'' is better behaved. But of course, I've never grown it myself...

Yeah--I know. It SAYS it's better behaved. However...while I was googling to find out about sun needs I read some stuff that makes me think it might not be as "better behaved" as advertised.

I dunno, I may take a chance and just PLANT the darn thing. Pics of possibilities tomorrow!

(I have two days off in a row...it's a miracle!)

melanie

Let's try to dredge a principle out of this... :-)

Landscape needs to perform several functions - whether to prevent erosion, to provide walking or driving access, to enable leisure or entertainment or pleasant views or screening or tool storage or garden work... and one important function for plantaholics is to accommodate new plant purchases!

To me that is an important reason to have beds that do not have a real "landscaping" function. In particular, people who have foundation planting rely on those beds to be fairly static. They aspire to keep plants and beds looking the same all the time. Part of the charm of gardening beds, on the other hand, is the fact that they are constantly changing, whether due to seasonal progression or a changing selection of plants.

All that said, a potentially invasive plant always strikes me as an excellent opportunity to shop for a container. The question of where to put a new container often necessitates a few other changes in both the landscape and the plant selection. Fortunately mine is all still in an evolving state and there is some wiggle room. Once it is all done, as yours mostly is, you might have to part with something you've become disenchanted with (if nothing has conveniently died) or ... widen some beds?

Good luck!

KarinL

Lol - I'd been thinking about how everyone here keeps saying that plant selection should come closer to the end of the design process, but for a lot of people, a large part of the design process is how to find places for the plants we want to include!

IMO, for a lot of gardeners, when putting together the initial list of things that are wanted in a garden, it is entirely fair to include specific plants to design around, as well as more purely functional things like "a place to eat with shade in the evening hours". When I was working on my wish list for the new house, I actually wrote down 5 or 6 different color schemes/garden feels that I wanted to include somewhere on the site. I also included lists of plant ideas for each area.

Iirc, they were:
- blues/whites/purples with a romantic feel
- Rose garden with peonies and other romantic plants in pink/red/white
- bright cheerful colors, with hollyhocks along a fence
- prairie feel with purples and yellows
- white and lavender in the front, to set off and coordinate with the Norway Maple and red brick / siding.

And in fact, I think I have places for all of them. The first bit is the border I planted this year, which will border the back corner secluded area. It will extend toward the house, transitioning to the pink/red/white rose garden. That border will also enclose the veggie garden area. The veggie garden will also be the transition area for colors, as well - the fence side is where I want my hollyhocks, and I will probably put my daffodils there, too. (My dd was born when daffodils bloom, and I have a picture of her coming home from the hospital in front of our old house, with daffodils and grape hyacinths in full bloom. I decided they were her flower, so I must have daffodils forevermore!)

The yellow/purple prairie feel will probably go to the front on the side of the house, opposite the side with the Norway maple.

(I think there was another color scheme that I didn't manage to fit in - maybe yellow & red?)

Otoh, we are still sorting out what else we want to do with the whole site! We've been talking about adding onto the house, but as the summer progresses, I'm finding I really like eating out on the existing patio, which would turn into enclosed space in our current addition scheme. But, we are consciously trying to include both interior and exterior spaces as we continue the design...

Irene

I think Karin and Irene have just underscored the truth that a garden is never really finished. Ink has pointed out again and again that even a garden that is intended to be maintained 'as is' isn't static. The trick is to continue to observe design principles as we continue to stuff in plants, er, uh, make that, as the *garden evolves*. ; )

I love you people. I purely do. Enabling at it's finest. So now I have an excuse to by yet another wicked cool pot, eh? Hmmmm.....I DO have lots of space on the patio...and some of it is in the sun...

Perhaps I should find a honking big pot and give This guy some company!
{{gwi:34666}}

melanie

I may be an enabler, but you won't catch me actually PUSHING you to spend money (I do have some morals). Although the container you envision is quite a striking image in a "mop and moppette" kind of a way. Or would you need something spiky with that?

And I may be able to use that idea of flagstone as a table top somewhere...

KarinL

Karin--

That's a cool piece of rock. It's actually a piece of ordovician ocean bed...a cool trace fossil. (Something was digging for dinner...I've always imagined a large trilobite.)

The guy who made the car stopping fence atop the pictured wall made the table base as a surprise for me.

melanie

Melanie- Love that table! I'd so much love to have something like that! I'm wondering- if you keep trees/shrubs in pots how do you overwinter them? I guess I should do a search and find the answer...just wondering. Neat idea though.

Irene- I really like your idea of making a list for each garden area. I should keep that list in my purse so that the next time I go shopping I'll know what types of plants or colors to get.

I'm making new beds like crazy to accomodate all the plants I want. Now I just need to keep up with weeding my existing ones!
Astrid

bristling acres...

I live in zone 7b--it's not difficult to keep most colder zoned trees/shrubs in pots. They don't mind in the least. If we are to have an exceptional cold snap (say, colder that 10 F)I wrap the pots in bubble wrap. Insulates 'em and protects the roots from extreme cold. I don't know if it's necessary, but I'd rather be safe than sorry!

melanie

Astrid - Now there's an idea! Of course, what I *haven't* done is actually update those notes with what was actually planted in those areas. But then, I don't do a whole lot of nursery shopping, and most of it is new enough that I pretty much remember what I've got (so far). I have (mostly) updated my CAD drawing of the garden with actual approximate plant locations. Well, not the veggies, lol.

I did recently start carrying around a tiny notepad in my purse for ongoing lists and notes, like the kids' gift wish lists, appliance comparison shopping, etc. I have written down a few plant ideas in there, too - as well as one sketch for this year's bed that I did while ds was playing at a playground! Of course, it was rather out of scale, but it helped organize some ideas...

I've been lusting after one for several years. I saw a knock out planting of one last summer in PA paired with Persicaria...