Lamenting the need to get rid of a good looking plant doesn't equal a suggestion to keep it. The Ficus could be hard-trimmed ruthlessly, but a human would resent that a plant had turned them into a slave ... when it's supposed to be the other way around. I agree with catkim that a different tree would be a better choice, all things considered. "I assume that a walkway the visually greets guests from the sidewalk would appear more welcoming than one that leads from the driveway... Do you think that I'm incorrect in this assumption?" edit: Oops ... I meant, in a word YES! (to the question about the assumption.) You should create a walk that looks like it makes the best sense for the overall property ... and a walk directly to the city sidewalk is not necessarily more welcoming. You might not want to duplicate what exists a mere few feet away. Much of it depends on the geometry of how a walk would be laid out, it's width, materials and/or finishes. I'm not saying a separate walk directly to the city walk would look bad, but that it might not be an improvement over one that ties to the drive. It depends on all the factors involved. You might explore similar houses in the neighborhood to see if others have come up with successful variations. This post was edited by Yardvaark on Sun, Oct 27, 13 at 12:25

I've always called it the 'mouse faced' cuphea. Cute little thing, isn't it? I grow one in a container some years and the hummingbirds love it.

WELCOME!!! You've come to the right place to save yourself a whole lot of heartache in the rose dept. I used to think that roses didn't do well for me in L.A. Airport adjacent because I didn't spray for fungus regularly enough. After all, what I bought locally should all do well for me, right??? So, so wrong. I learned here, that I just needed to buy roses that are resistant to fungus (we have a VERY heavy mildew burden here). ***I didn't need to spray*** Who knew??? While I honestly don't like to spray for environmental reasons, if I'm going to be honest, I'm not structured enough to do it on the strict schedule required. Something to think about - once the leaves get mildew, you can't 'fix' them. But guess what? There are lots of choices anyway! And, I'm afraid, it's just another area of one's life where one should be a careful consumer at the local store. Of the modern roses, I think you may learn to appreciate florabundas. Very pretty landscape plants, often in your size range. I'd like to suggest Walking On Sunshine. I got it in spring of last year on Jeri's advice and it has been just amazing. About 3' round in our garden and always in bloom. Lovely saturated yellow, but fading to a still lovely creamy yellow that doesn't look faded. Also a nice scent. Wouldn't be without it now. Armstrong's should have it when they get roses in next year. If you have the room (depending on soil), I'd heartily recommend Golden Celebration as well. I call the blooms 'happy blooms' and I really like the smell as well. Your mileage may vary. Depending on your soil, size may vary. When I was LAX adjacent, it never got more than 4' in sandy loam and half day sun. Three miles inland in amended clay, it wants to be 6' tall (or better when the DH fertilizes the adjacent lawn ;-) It's not great in all parts of the country, but here it really shines, imho (and if Jeri agrees, enough said ;-) Lemme see... Our Julia Child was an experiment and I'd get it again. It is tall as the other poster said. It also fades well, not a common trait among yellows. Reminds me of Julia cutting into her favorite food, butter, new ones are like the outside of a stick of butter and older ones are like the inside. There are lots of others we can explore here. The only other advice I'd say is that roses aren't hard if they're the right roses in the right place. In fact, roses are a great hobby/passion and have wonderful history. Just don't get the ones labeled 'red' or 'white' or 'yellow' ;-) Oh, one other thing to think about. I would bet, if you got America late season, that it didn't have mildew because it was sprayed at the producer. Just a thought.

I have two sides going so far--lots of seedlings going in the areas that look bare. side 1 (this was the 1st side I did back in March): And this is side 2 (I had a bunch of herbs and potatoes but decided to go above ground with those (I just threw together the wood planters from scraps we had laying around-now ISO soil): I have corn, greens, beans, and a few other sprouts coming up--I threw the straw down (from when I cleared our side yard in May) to give them a bit of shade and extra water---this side gets like 6 hours of INTENSE sun this time of year (especially this year). I have some raspberries to plant in the back corner on side 2--I'd love to have a little berry patch. But through research I've found very few varieties grow in a 10a zone (this part is all new to me) Those retaining wall planters are my next big project but the dirt is so compacted I can't even dig---but I'm thinking of just top filling it after I pull everything...just can bring myself to get rid of all my aloe and succulents that grow up in the shade. I'd love to do something vertical... (Side 1) (Side 2) This is the first year I'm doing this---I pulled the existing shrubs (2 10 year old hibiscus, a 10 year old rosemary, among others) all by hand and turned the soil myself---my husband's around to help but it's mostly a project I've taken on myself. I'd like to get a bit more organized as far as what grows where and when, more vertical growth, etc...one thing at a time I suppose. I've shown you mine--who's showing theirs? (I apologize for any typos, I didn't proofread this)