Well, I have more dogwood seedlings popping up in the elderberry, honeysuckle (yuck) and walnut grove. I'm gonna let them go and see what they turn out to be. The big fella here had a good summer. Fall is a bit lackluster. It has been VERY dry and unseasonally warm. The leaves look less dry than on an older Cornus florida in my yard but many have fallen off with less color.

Dave, I like your ficus. I have a ficus elastica like yours and also the one that starts out a little purplish and turns dark green. They grow quite fast here. The only thing is I have to keep all the rain off of the variegated one or it gets fungal spots on the leaves in the summer when it rains alot. I have it on the screen porch so its not a problem. It is such a carefree beautiful plant. One of my faves. She could do brugs, they get quite tall here. There are several around this nieghborhood that get up to 14 ft + before they froze back. But they seem to recover quickly. Also, you could try some of the tall upright Alocasias Calidora (aka Persian Palm)(EE's). Bananas make a nice screen, she could mix some different hieghts together..some tall, some dwarf etc so there would always be foilage to shield the patio view. Canna are always a good quick fix and lots of colors. Princess Flower (Tibouchina grandiflora) gets large round hairy leaves and pretty purple flower stalks. It grows quickly like a large shrub. Here is a link that might be useful: Alocasia caladora

Brenda I know from my own experience that the sweet potato vine will overwinter with no watering even. If necessary It is actually a potato and that stays alive in the dirt it is planted in. So not to worry about the green or whatever colour of the leaves Sometimes, I just bring those pots in, for winter, the entire planted pot and try it in the basement. Some things live and others don't. I am not home in winter so they just have to make it or not on their own. Maybe same idea for you. We should have or rather use those digital cameras to take pictures of some of this lovely stuff we are fortunate to grow. Brenda, hope the person who was ill, whom you cared for, is doing better.

NW_gardener, we just mixed in some compost with the soil in the parking strip then topped the area with a few inches of compost when we planted the trees in March. During summer we mulched with a lot of dry holly leaves then added more compost at the start of fall. If they grew, it was probably only a few inches. The photos were taken at different angles, so that may have been why they look taller. bboy, I know amending planting holes may discourage root growth past the amended area, but it's a really hard habit to break after 12 years of living in the Southwest where the soil had no organic matter. At least most of the soil here generally has organic matter and can be improved with compost over the years. We also dug the planting holes to be twice as wide as the root balls, so hopefully, the roots grow out and down. Seattle also allows only certain trees to be planted as street trees, but they include Cornus kousa 'Chinensis'. When I spoke with the city arborist about our tree application and indicated that we'd like to plant the Starlight dogwoods, she approved them. The city arborist also approved other trees not on the list, so we were able to plant Crepe Myrtles.