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

And just to attest that this isn't just a California problem, here is what the US Forestry Service has to say about it: "OTHER STATUS: Giant reed is listed as a noxious weed in Texas, an exotic plant pest in California, an invasive weed in Hawaii, and as an invasive, exotic pest in Tennessee. See the Invaders or Plants databases for more information. Though accounts in the literature vary, a review by Bell [11] indicates giant reed is thought to be native in eastern Asia, and it has been cultivated throughout Asia, southern Europe, northern Africa and the Middle East for thousands of years. In North America, it was intentionally introduced from the Mediterranean to the Los Angeles area in California in the early 1800s (Robbins and others 1951, as cited in [49])[28], and has been widely planted throughout the warmer states as an ornamental and for erosion control along drainage canals [49,74]. It has escaped cultivation as far north as Virginia and Missouri, and abundant wild populations occur along the Rio Grande River [74] and along ditches, streams, and seeps in arid and cis montane regions of California (Robbins and others 1951, as cited in [49]). According to Bell [11], giant reed is invasive throughout the warmer coastal freshwaters of the United States from Maryland westward to northern California. Wunderlin [107] recognizes the variety versicolor as occurring in Florida, and Jones and others [53] describe that variety as a cultivar. The literature contains specific references to the occurrence of giant reed in the 4 provinces of Mexico listed below [2,61,82,98]. Giant reed is likely present in other areas of Mexico. Plants database provides a state distribution map of giant reed in the United States. The following lists include North American ecosystems, habitat types, and forest and range cover types in which giant reed is known or thought to be invasive, as well as some that may be invaded by giant reed following disturbances in which vegetation is killed and/or removed and/or soil is disturbed (e.g. cultivation, fire, grazing, herbicide application, flooding). Giant reed is a hydrophyte and riparian areas or wetlands within these habitats could be subject to invasion by giant reed even if the habitat itself is not considered a wetland. For example, Nixon and Willett [71] list giant reed as a plant found within the Trinity River Basin in Texas. Habitats within the basin include cross timbers and prairies, blackland prairies, post oak (Quercus stellata) savannah, pineywoods, and Gulf prairies and marshes. These lists are not necessarily exhaustive. More information is needed regarding incidents and examples of particular ecosystems and plant communities where giant reed is invasive." Here is a link that might be useful: Forestry Service on Arundo Donax

How do you best handle red thread? I have several spots in my lawn that have red thread. Last year I did a couple of treatments on the whole lawn using a Scott lawn disease treatment....but that is expensive because it's a big lawn. This year I have been treating the areas of greatest impact;I also use a thatcher several times a year. My lawn looks a lot better this year, but I can still see patches of red thread. Personally, I'm thinking my best bet is re-seed with a grass that is more resistant to red thread. I was thinking of trying Jonathan Green Black Beauty. What do you think is the best course of action?

The problem with the Los Angeles plant is that it wasn't in perfect healthy going into winter. It didn't have many leaves to start with. If the experiment fails..you will still wonder if a healthy plant would survive since we have had a extremely mild winter for lows so far. El Nino has bumped up night temps.