On another thread recently, a regular poster here did a *:facepalm:* which perfectly expresses my feelings when I see "window boxes" in posts about landscaping. Honestly, spare yourself. How the heck would you water the things, and if you could they'd drip on your cars... Ditto for clematis up the posts. Very romantic - in summer - but have you ever seen clematis in winter? And they do grow INTO eaves; they do not naturally curve out and go over the roof. Ask me how I know. Blank slates, big or small, are daunting until you start fleshing out the parameters and constraints you face, which can be best done by looking really hard at function. In this case, these include preservation of sight lines, shade and sun preferences, and property lines, both on the ground and in the air. So for example, you want shade on your son's room - so put a tree in spot A. But choose a tree that does not make an overwhelming mess nor spread or seed excessively (hint to my neighbours: not a Norway Maple). You want some screening probably just at a certain spot when people are looking from a certain height to a certain height. A wall of green may not be necessary to block this - perhaps three columnar evergreens, either upright or droopy or some of each. The property line looks like it is a huge issue to me. It looks to me as if your neighbour will want to have walkable space next to that boat, and will step on your plants if they don't have it. Having had my fill of neighbour issues, I personally would either leave that area for them to do something with, or do it in flagstone with ground cover or in brick - end of story. Then it's space you can use to weed or prune your plants too. Legal issues aside, it just has to work on a day to day basis. Now, the next step is debatable depending on whether you DIY or are having this done for you. You see, a designer always has to do a plan in advance and then get approval and work to it, because the designer then goes away. If you are DIY, you have the luxury of feeling your way through this, because you're always going to be there. And plants can be moved. In other words, the designer has to get it right first time. In contrast, you get to make a few mistakes, and change your mind. Yes, it can cost an extra few dollars, but if you get it mostly right, not that much. First maybe you address a boulder(s). If your husband is a rock person, I'd go along with this, because I am one and I know that when you need rocks, you need rocks. If you don't get your rock, you suffer from rock envy, which can make a person grumpy. Go rock shopping together (or watch craigslist or your local construction sites for free ones). Next, you go plant shopping. You get a few plants. You may find tall slender evergreens among them - there are some great junipers in this category (also some great ground-hugging junipers for the front end of the driveway) and some amazing drooping spruces. You argue about where to put them, and then you go back to the nursery a few weeks later and get a few more (lots of new stock coming in through the season, don' t just go once). Then you plant and live with it. Move it around if something isn't right (in the fall, not in the summer). (It is already actually a little late to plant without being sure of watering adequately this first summer - be aware of that). You might find yourself picking up a few new plants as the weeks or months, or years, go by. In a way, though, all my advice is only going to lead you to one key realization: what you and your husband each want is not incompatible. There's plenty of room on that strip for both of you. KarinL

I vote for Hansa as well. Mine came from my grandparents' farm in rural western Mass, on land they bought and built on during WW I. Hansa was introduced in 1905; one of my aunts remembers my grandmother saying it was a special gift to her as a new neighbor. I also have Roseraie de l'haye, and I think it is a blowsier, more loosely extravagent bloom than Hansa. Is it very fragrant, with a clove=y edge? R de l'haye is fragrant, but sweeter.

Years ago, I purchased seeds that were identified as both W. filifera and W. robusta. Only the robustas survived and continued to the present day--pure filiferas all seemed to die out over time. Some of my current collection of Washingtonias were seed grown, one brought up from Miami, and a few supermarket bought locally (which was unusual because neither filifera, robusta, nor filibusta tend to be sold locally)--too prickly for the average house and not Winter hardy in zone 7 (without protection). All were labeled Mexican fans (W.robusta) but as I say, I suspect some may be filibusta, but I doubt I have any pure filifera. Filifera may well do fine for you in the Pacific NW (or Europe for that matter) where most areas are warm and relatively dry in the summer. I suspect that it's high temps combined with humidity that they might resent. (I would be interested in knowing if any healthy filiferas are grown in South Florida.) In any event, I have more than enough Washingtonias already as they just DON"T DIE--even after spear pull! :) By the way, another palm from an arid region has given me problems over the years. I've tried growing True Date (Phoenix dactylifera) a few times unsuccessfully. Have no problems with other Phoenix species. But I am giving this one another chance. Am growing the current one in a very coarse mix. Monsoon season has just started here so won't be able to post pics until Tuesday . But what I want to do, is to select my most robusta-like Washingtonia and the most filifera-like one in order to get better identifications from the experts out there.

Hi Peg, I received your email regarding this GW post. Sorry to her your plumeria is having some trouble! In terms of details on what I did, I took regular household H2O2 purchased at walgreens and poured it over the affected areas of the plant stalk. I let it sit for a minute or two and then took a green scrub pad from the kitchen (those thin green scotch pads) and scrubbed the affected area. I had to scrub reasonably hard, but you do have to be careful to avoid tearing the skin of the plumeria stalk (this probably depends to some extent on how old your plant is and how weathered)... Some of the spots came off right away... others were more stubborn. For those I used a 2nd round (and 3rd for a few spots) of peroxide and focused on those areas. Before putting the plant back I tried the stalk with a towl to make sure I removed any extra moisture and then put it by the window. Whole process took 15-20 minutes at most. Not at expert on plumeria fungus so this may not have been the absolute perfect approach, but does seem to have worked. It has been 2 full months and I have not seen any re-growth of the fungus (or whatever it was). My plant is still dormant but I see no signs that it is having any adverse affects as a result of the above treatment. Looks happy and healthy to me :) Good luck and hope this information helps! Let me know how it turns out for you! Rebecca