I designed, planned & planted my shade bed knowing Dicentra s. 'Alba' wouldn't put on a season-long show. By the time it finishes blooming and the foliage begins to deteriorate, other shade lovers planted nearby block the dying foliage from my view. While it's blooming, however, IMO it holds its own in the perennial shade garden long enough to justify its presence. To each his/her own preference of course. It will have its place in my garden so long as it comes up every year, which (in my experience thus far) has been reliably, for more than a decade. What more can anyone ask?

I thought privets were impervious to pests and diseases. When the leaves get really old on my texas privets, they yellow and fall off. If there is yellowish veining in the new leaves, it may be a nutritional deficiency of some sort, but if the interior leaves are bright yellow, they are just old and will drop. Shear your privet if you want a narrow thick hedge. Make sure you shear the top as well so that the naturally long arching branches send out new little branchlets. Just shear it a bit higher each season. I am growing privets for privacy now, and once I get them dense and tall I will stop shearing and let them go wild. I like them best when they are allowed to grow into their natural shape. Fortunately, we do not have a problem with them reseeding in our dry climate. Renee

I agree that for the most part, what trees you like are a matter of taste. That said, there are some trees that, while having some nice ornamental properties are highly invasive. Chinaberry, Ligustrum and Chinese Tallow (another "evil" one) are extremely invasive around here, displacing native species. I think most of us can agree that's a bad thing. I also agree with Lou that over planting any variety of tree, native or not can be a bad thing. Ask anyone in the northern part of the country where American Elm was the dominant boulevard tree if a little more variety wouldn't have been nice when the majority of them succumbed to Dutch Elm disease in the 80's. Like the Live Oak around here, it was a quality, native tree that was just over-used. I hope our neighborhood never experiences Oak Wilt since the builder planted Live Oaks almost exclusively and they are mostly now 20' to 30' trees, along with some mature ones that were preserved. I'm seeing Monterrey Oaks planted more and more, which I find encouraging as they are supposed to be wilt resistant and are also evergreen or nearly so. Bug-the reason I dislike AZ Ash, above all else, is the root system. We have a neighbor that has one on the west side of their house that's about 25' tall, so it's giving off nice shade. The problem is the roots are on top of the ground everywhere, including large ones pushing up against their foundation. I can't see that situation getting any better... If in doubt, go over to Dave's Garden and check out some of the pictures and reviews of AZ Ash. I think if TX Ash was more widely available and it was more well known it would help. People are going to keep planting AZ Ash and its cultivars if nurseries and the big boxes keep selling them. After all, they wouldn't be selling it if it was a "trash" tree, would they? ;^)

Totally agree w/Tom and Dirtygardener. I have one that is green/yellow variegated and for two years it has grown to be about 2x2' but I don't know if they will continue to stay small. Personally, I am slowly eliminating any Shrub that requires Freq. Pruning. I want garden to work for me, not the other way around. ETA:. The smallish one is abelia grandiflora "Gretol". I also have the so called dwarf one (ha, what a joke) which will be coming out b/c too much work. In this case the term dwarf refers to smaller leaf, not overall plant size. The leaves are decidedly smaller but you have a GIANT shrub with "dwarf" leaves. . I think plant marketers duped us by playing with the word dwarf.