For those who might remember this question from last year, I thought I'd post an update. First, a photo of said fence shortly after it was constructed. Sorry, I didn't realize the photo would be quite so humongous. I will use restraint in the number of photos posted. Did I solve the problem? Uh, yes and no. By yes, I mean the fence doesn't feel like it's "in my face" anymore. One reason is because in getting to know the very nice neighbors better, they mentioned the fence is only to restrain their dogs, and once the plantings on their side fill in, (planted more than 2 years ago and growing rapidly) they plan to take the fence down. Yes, I did plant 7 Cyrtostachys renda along the fence. They were fairly good size, but it will be 3 to 4 years before they accomplish much in the way of screening. Another 10 much smaller C. renda have been added to the original 7, allowing for the desired undulating shape along the fence -- the first 7 are in a rather soldierly line. It will be 8-10 years before the bed fully achieves the intended look. (That's the "no" part of my answer.) Using an old magician's trick, I've opted for distraction by developing the "middle garden" in this area. The original 3 palms I planted have grown tremendously in one year, and we've planted a pool of grass around them. (Planted -- it's not growing yet.) Beyond the grass is the beginning of a curving red cinder path, an allee of Areca vestiaria. The path leads to a clearing at the rear of the lot where we hope to construct a simple open platform with a roof on it. We started referring to it as a "tea house", but you might call it a pavilion, or a gazebo, a yoga studio, a tiki cocktail hut, a meditation room, or beer garden, depending on how we make use of it from one day to the next. Getting back to the garden, I wanted to post 'before and after' pix, but that would be too many photos. Consider the above as a 'before' photo, even though that was AFTER the heavy equipment came in to remove the trash trees and the jungle tangle, leaving bare, broken lava which immediately sprouted rampant weeds. I don't have a moon gate yet, but I have a boulder -- together with the palms around a 10,000 gallon water tank to the left, they "frame" an entry to the middle garden. If you walk across the left side of the lawn -- which appears here as a smooth dirt area -- toward the first boulder on the left, you arrive at the Areca vestiaria path. In the end, screening the white fence has become "small stuff" and we're not going to sweat the small stuff. Sometimes the best solution is an attitude adjustment. As a complete amateur, visualizing, planning, and implementing a garden in phases on what for me is a huge scale has been an enormous challenge, but also very satisfying. We've done tons more work in the garden and on the house interior than shown here, and have tons more to go. It's a labor of love, and we take time off to play, too, so things are moving forward a little at a time. Most recent acquisition for the house: a couple of cheap but very comfortable chairs to rest our weary bones in when day is done.

It's an old argument, between those that don't see the point of bringing up old threads and those who don't have a problem with it. I am in the camp of not having a problem with it. Also I'd like to point out, that Houzz often places links to these old threads next to current threads and people click on them without realizing how old they are. That being said, I have to agree with GGal on the subject of natives. I was an organic garden 40 years ago, when few people knew what organic gardening was all about. Protecting, supporting and nurturing the ecology of your little garden corner of the world. And going along those lines, I also became very interested in growing native and started to buy a lot of them. 20 years Later, I still have many natives in my garden that have performed well, but I also have replaced or lost many others. Including two types of native trees that were expensive to lose. So my own personal experience supports each point that GGal made. It must be exciting to discover all the benefits that native plantings have in the wild and quite a project to devote yourself to replace everything in your garden with all natives. I would find it interesting to follow along with your progress and see how it all works out, so I hope you share your experiences in the forums. But… these statements that you made, provoke conflict. “…there is way better beneficial native shrubs that will offer pollen, nectar, sometimes fruits or seeds and can be a host plant for moths and butterflies which will feed baby birds.” Implying that non-native plants do not? “I could suggest some species but I need your state, it’s always better to plant for your region.” “Our pollinators and wildlife needs us, better add beneficial plants.” You sound like you are ready to set up your own seminar on natives right here in the forums and you are all ready to help us uninformed gardeners to get on board. Evidently you believe that you are doing the right thing for pollinators and wildlife and if we are not doing what you are doing then we are not. To say that ‘natives will ALWAYS be more beneficial in general’ That statement has been proven to be untrue by a number of people in these forum including myself. That’s a fact, not an opinion. We all want to support pollinators, but a native plant that won’t grow in your garden, does nothing for anyone. And there are many non native plants that provide what pollinators need. I’m always interested to hear about a new plant that someone is in love with and why. So any time you want to share how happy a plant is making you….do that. If you would just leave out the rest, it would be appreciated.

On the subject of companion plants, my conifers actually started off as companion plants to the rest of my garden, which was a mess of perennials and deciduous shrubbery as well as a pretty big collection of hostas and ferns (note to Steve: try ferns!). For me, moving to conifers has been part of a move in my gardening to a more controlled, formal look as my gardening to that point seemed to be having the effect of uglifying, rather than beautifying, our yard. My experience of mixing conifers with other plants is that (a) anything deciduous or herbaceous messes up the look, and (b) my preference for intertwining/layered foliage doesn't always result in the healthiest conifers. A tall hosta or ligularia for example will shade out a conifer behind it and then, in fall, smother it by plastering it with wet dead leaves. I'm still determined to somehow grow conifers and other plants, but I'm finding it takes a good understanding of plant shapes, and some careful plant training, separation/grooming, and pruning depending on plant size at time of planting. And some things just DON'T work in my tight space, for example arching ferns just don't work next to certain types of conifers because planted as close together as they need to be on my little property, they try to occupy the same airspace. And a word for Firefighter about Rhodos: "boring?" You're looking at the wrong rhodos! If you really start looking at rhodos for foliage, you'll go weak in the knees and forget that they ever flower. I have a couple of plants on which I don't even like the flowers and grow them solely because of the beguiling foliage. I look forward to the emergence of new leaves way more than I do to the flowers, with very few exceptions. I'll try to get out and snap some photos, once it's gotten less cold and the leaves are looking good again. My ideal combo: conifers, rhodos, and Japanese maples. KarinL

Since Ian Barclay occasionally reads/posts to this forum and runs a nursery in WA that specializes in water-wise gardening in the PNW, I think that his perspective is important. He sells Ribes speciosum (http://desertnorthwest.com/catalog/plants_western.html), and here is his take: "Hardy to about 10 F" "It is one of the few drought-deciduous shrubs we can grow in the Northwest." "Although native to central California, IT DOES FINE IN MILDER NORTHWEST GARDENS, occasional leaf drop notwithstanding." (my emphasis) If you have a problem with me SUGGESTING Ribes speciosum for a relatively mild climate like Portland, I can't image what you think of Ian for SELLING the plant to PNW customers. Be sure to express your displeasure the next time that he posts here.