I just realized.... you must think the pictures with the boxwoods are of MY garden! I WISH! I put those in there to explain the look that I am drawn to... boxwoods surrounding a flowering shrub. I'm on the west side.... maybe SOME day my gardens will resemble those if I'm lucky (and win the lottery! lol) I wasn't planning on moving the hydrangeas till Spring, but after all of the comments---I think I just may leave them be for a year or two and see how they do! Thanks for all of your input----and my husband also appreciates it! lol----Just when he thought I was done with the patio, I turn it into another project (the fence) and have yet another blank slate to start with (which to him means dollar signs.) :)

Thanks for the responses. Ken. I did post previously about a single dwarf conifer specimen for the front yard. Im in the burbs north of Detroit. And yes, I have no plan to buy anything I don't see with my own eyes. Which is why I initially limited my selections for blue spruces to varieties such as bakeri or fat albert that are available at Bordines or any of the many nurseries in Romeo Plank area especially since I want to start with sizeable specimens. Dax, thanks for the suggestions. Will look for these in local nurseries. The reason I intially started with arborvitae was the small footprint which would allow planting in groupings of three. Somehow that sounded better than individual plants at intervals but I might be wrong. Do you feel I am being over-ambitious with the number of evergreens? The current trees belong to the neighbour and unfortunately I don't know what they are. In 5 years perhaps, they may provide the coverage I want now but considering they are without leaves half the year, don't feel thats enough. I work all day in a windowless office, would like to come home (esp in winter) and look at my slice of nature. The burning bush while on my property is maintained by the neighbour as per prior agreement (he was worried we would chop it down) so I have little control over its shape. Agree that lack of privacy is the price to pay for living in suburbia. One could argue that I should have thought of this when purchasing the property but other factors came into play, namely proximity to the in-laws for baby sitting support................. Right now I'm more focussed on picking the evergreens for the spine. Have some ideas for the plantings in between but that will come later. It will give me room to plant shrubs/conifers that I would not have had the space for otherwise, Deutzia, pinus strobus nana, hydrangeas, viburnums etc etc What I don't want is a solid wall of green which might be somewhat claustrophobic and somewhat dull. I also realize I need to worry about how big these may get 10 years from now which is why I would never plant a colorado blue spruce but rather one of the "dwarf" varieties

This thread got a second wind. This summer We put up our first fence after living in the house for 18 years. It is lattice and about 16 feet long and affords us some privacy on the patio. I'm still surprised to see it when I drive home. And I still find it has somewhat unfriendly feeeling, even though I chose to put it in! Without fully thinking it through at the time, the fence is part of a larger plan to make the patio usable. It is very very hot out there and inhospitable to lounging. The glassand iron table, iron cushioned chairs and large umbrella just don't meet my criteria for relaxing. Eating a meal, but not reading a book with a drink in my hand I would like to redesign the space and plant a tree for shade then I really could lounge out there...and appreciate my privacy For those who read the earlier posts, the horses across the street still get out. Last week I drove by neighbors (unfenced) yard and there was "Bella" (I think of her as Big Fella Bella) chomping on the lawn. When I couldn't find the owner's telephone number, I went back up the street, took her bridle and led her home. It was daytime and I was afraid if I told her to go home, she'd dawdle in the street and cause a car accident. Not bad for someone who 's only ridden horse at one birthday party back in the dark ages. People's answers were very interestingl. Here only one neighbor has a 'real fence. It is fancy iron and part of a plan for keeping up appearances (and surpassing the Joneses) It is the biggest butt ugly house and totally inappropriate to the neighborhood's age, history and style. Everyone who comes to the neighborhood for the first time asks about it, rolling their eyes. Yes, it needed a fence: an eight foot solid one to spare the neighbor from seeing this ostentatious eyesore. Next, finally getting around to screening our neigbor's white aluminium shed which is on an elevation, and right on the property line (totally illegal now) But he's such an old sweetheart I don't want to appear unneighborly. We often meet over the water faucet up there; he lets me hook up to his well water for summer irrigation. Love thy neighbor, love his shed. Marie

Nick in lower trunk will simply make a scar, not new growth. Possibly making sure the bare areas are exposed to sunlight may promote new growth--but with mature trees as they are--unlikely. I'm not so familiar with Ficus as to predict if they can resprout from a bare trunk or not. The thing to have done (too late now) was to keep the entire trunk exposed to sunlight via regular shearing to a narrow form so the original growth down at the base would have kept on growing. The plant--most plants--are likely to abandon growth that is heavily shaded since that growth is not going to be providing the same kind of energy to the plant as foliage in sunlight. Examine this tall Ficus hedge--it has been carefully and regularly sheared since planting many years ago, and it has maintained green growth right down to the base: Another issue to consider is climate--any plant is going to sacrifice growth it can do without (heavily shaded, for example) in extreme weather (heat!) to preserve itself overall--and in your desert conditions, the base growth may have been sacrificed by the plant long ago in order to get established, or during particularly extreme weather. Also, the sheared hedge in the above example might have struggled in your desert climate, whereas in its far more mild location (near the coast) the extreme shearing was, for the plants, manageable.