I want to thank everyone who took the time to post such detailed and wonderful advice here! My renovation is finally done and I am getting ready to plant. At last! I have been closely reviewing all the suggestions and advice and have come up with what I hope is a good plan. I had 6" of sand removed, added an equal amount of compost and have irrigation going in as soon as I finalize my planting scheme. I have been using Pinterest to gather images of all the plants you recommended and narrow down selections. The San Marcos Growers site as well as some of the other links posted have been invaluable as a resource for what is available in my area and in helping select appropriate plants. I am attaching my plan. The house faces the ocean but there is a parking lot & a lot of tourist foot traffic in between so we put up a 4' wall with another 2' of semi-open wood fence on top. Also, just to the south west of the house is a large lifeguard station / maintenance area that isn't pretty to look at so the tree is placed to soften the view of that. Finally, the sides of the house remain sand in this plan. On the north side, there is only 16" to our property line and on the south side, the same plus another 3' that belongs to our neighbor. That area is needed for access and I'm not sure what else to do with it. I am imagining gravel would just get mixed in and covered with sand soon anyway? I guess we could pour concrete?) I am also including a link to my Pinterest page with the plant selection. There are a couple extras as I can't quite decide which Leucadendron & which Protea I prefer. I would love to hear any thoughts or comments before I start buying plants! Thanks again!

"6 to 8 feet" isn't really a tree. Here's a few medium to large shrubs that you can "limb up" to create a multi-trunked tree look; although they'll want to get taller than 8 feet, you can keep them at 8 with creative pruning: Acca (Feijoa) sellowiana PINEAPPLE GUAVA Arbutus unedo 'Compacta' STRAWBERRY TREE Arctostaphylos ÂAustin Griffiths AUSTIN GRIFFITHS MANZANITA Arctostaphylos densiflora ÂHarmony HARMONY MANZANITA Arctostaphylos manzanita ÂDr. Hurd DR. HURD MANZANITA Arctostaphylos pajaroensis ÂParadise PAJARO MANZANITA Banksia ashbyi ASHBYÂS BANKSIA Banksia brownii FEATHER-LEAD BANKSIA Banksia coccinea SCARLET BANKSIA Banksia menziesii RASPBERRY FROST Callistemon citrinus ÂMauve Mist M. M. BOTTLEBRUSH Callistemon citrinus LEMON BOTTLEBRUSH Callistemon phoeniceus LESSER BOTTLEBRUSH Callistemon rigidus STIFF BOTTLEBRUSH Callistemon salignus WHITE BOTTLEBRUSH Cercis occidentalis WESTERN REDBUD Comarostaphylis diversifolia SUMMER HOLLY Cotinus coggygria SMOKETREE Escallonia laevis PINK ESCALLONIA Escallonia x exoniensis ÂBalfouriÂ, ÂFrades HYBRID ESCALLONIA Grevillea asplenifolia FERN-LEAF GREVILLEA Grevillea ÂHoneygemÂ, ÂIvanhoeÂ, ÂLong JohnÂ, ÂPoorinda BlondieÂ, ÂRed HooksÂ, HYBRID GREVILLEA Grevillea hookeriana TOOTHBRUSH GREVILLEA Grevillea olivacea OLIVE-LEAF GREVILLEA Grevillea victoriae ÂMurray Valley Queen M. V. Q. GREVILLEA Hakea arachaeoides SPIDER HAKEA Hakea bucculenta HOT POKERS Hakea francisiana PINK SPIKE HAKEA Hakea laurina SEA URCHIN, PINCUSHION TREE Leptospermum lanigerum WOOLY TEA TREE Leptospermum polygalifolium ÂYarra River RED SPIRE TEA TREE Leptospermum scoparium ÂHelene StrybingÂ, ÂKeatleyiÂ, ÂPink DamaskÂ, ÂPink PearlÂ, NEW ZEALAND TEA TREE Leucospermum reflexum RED ROCKET Melaleuca armillaris FEATHERY MELALEUCA Melaleuca bracteata WHITE CLOUD TREE Melaleuca decussata LILAC MELALEUCA Melaleuca elliptica GRANITE BOTTLEBRUSH Melaleuca ericifolia HEATH BOTTLEBRUSH Melaleuca hypericifolia HILLOCK BUSH Melaleuca nesophila PINK MELALEUCA Pinus contorta contorta SHORE PINE Pittosporum crassifolium KARO Pittosporum eugenioides TARATA Pittosporum tenuifolium KOHUHU, TAWHIWI Prunus illicifolia HOLLYLEAF CHERRY Psidium cattleianum STRAWBERRY GUAVA Regelia velutina BARRENS REGELIA Rhaphiolepis ÂMajestic Beauty (multi) M. B. INDIAN HAWTHORNE Viburnum suspensum SANDANKWA Xylosma congestum SHINY XYLOSMA Joe

LOL Gee, I never thought of myself as a 'Japie' before! In fact now that you ask, I never really knew the meaning of the word! We used to call people from the farms 'Plaas Japies' so I suppose it means people who are from a certain place ie farms. Would this mean that people from the city wondering around in the rural communities are 'Dorp Japies'? There must be a place to get earthworms in SA without having to import them from North America. We used to sink a fork into damp ground just about anywhere but especially along river banks and wiggle the fork. The worms would come up to the surface on their own. - I miss fishing for mud tasting fish on the Vaal..... If there are no worms there naturally, then introducing them might not be a good idea because they might die in that soil type. Perhaps amending the soil, by adding organic matter might be the key. Chris - in beautiful but cold Canada. ps Japie is pronounced sort of 'yaapie'

Shax, perhaps it is you who is in the firing line. Proteas native to Australia make up more than half those found worldwide and along with the suggestions made by Nathan that are the more commonly cultivated genera of Banksia (73) and Grevillea (250), Shanna could grow Australian Telopeas (4), Stenocarpus sp.(6), Hakea (125), Persoonia (45), Isopogon (35), Adenanthos (32) which are readily accessible and grow in many types of conditions from sand to water bogged clays and could be groundcovers to shrubs and large trees. Credit to Shax's website link as it had some good info. Sorry Shanna, no good websites to link to from me but perhaps some original soil conditions would be helpful as well as what you are trying to achieve. Important info is aspect with respect to new soil conditions sun, wind and rain. I assume you want a fast draining sandy loam in a full sun position and you probably have a clay soil. If the plants that you have suit this then perhaps grade the soil to a low spot, put in some agricultural pipe and crushed rock and bring in atleast 300mm of your sandy loam. Be careful with fertiliser but you probably already know which to choose. I am basing this on the assumption of what people do in my area with the South African Varieties that like a fast draining soil compared to our clays. Having said that, in future you could choose proteas that are better suited to your soil type and hence limit the amount of raised garden beds that are needed. For a special feature in any garden a weeping grevillea is sensational. Some clever people graft a ground covering Grevillea on to a 6ft Grevillea robusta with stunning results as a feature plant. Not sure if you can get one in the states Shanna but they do look great. Here is a link to a page that show a couple of weeping Grevilleas amongst grafted grevilleas. You need to scrooll down and look at the pictures on the left. There are two shown http://www.australisplants.com.au/ornamentals/graftedgrevilleas.htm Danili Here is a link that might be useful: Grafted grevilleas