Well I guess I'm contributing to the hijack - sorry scraplolly! I used to live in a house with a driveway just like dtownjbrown and I hated it. So I was kind of interested in contributing to his story. You could think about mixing some evergreens in there. Microbiota, dwarf chamaecyapris, pencil holly, rug or pencil junipers, etc. But they are kind of dull in a row... Another way to go about this is to plant annuals for a few years to see what responds to the lighting. I would think you could grow coleus, petunias, maybe even an indeterminate tomato - cherry tomatoes, the italian plum tomatoes. I grow them in less than optimal sun in containers. My favorite is San Marzano - good for salsa. This year I'm growing calladiums in full sun planters so go try some new things - you never know what will work. Sometimes the repeated annual amendment helps also. Your soil looks good in the picture but who knows how old it is? You say it drains quickly- its possible that somewhere along the way somebody re-waterproofed and improved the drainage down deeper. When we had our back wall re-waterproofed they dug down 11 ft and then filled the space with limestone to about 2 ft from the top - then backfilled my topsoil on top of that. The space right up against my house is very dry as a result. A good resource for you would be the Botanical Gardens in the area - just do a search. Another good resource is the Plant Search function at MOBOT - Missouri Botanical Gardens. For ex. I just searched on Full sun to part shade, Dry to medium, 6-12 inches spread, Zone 3 for scraplolly and got a list of plants back - http://www.mobot.org/gardeninghelp/plantfinder/Results.asp I don't know if you want anything to hang out over the line of the bed into your driveway but I'd think about that as you select plants.(daylilies)Whacking the flower heads every time you drive in has a tendency to look kind of ugly. The above was in case you don't like my idea: Given the narrow space and lighting my personal recommendation would be to plant a unifying ground cover like pachysandra which is evergreen, make space intermittently to have a few clumps of daffodils/tulips and alliums in spring and then have a nice white lattice structure just covered in green ivy to cover the wall. I would have parts of the lattice go up 6-8 ft and parts down at the level your siding begins. - sort of like the silhouette of a town. I would use horizontal and vertical crossbars rather than the cheaper looking diamond shaped criss cross pattern. You need to fasten it so that it is out from the siding about 1.5-2 inches for long term home care. You don't want ivy putting tendrils into your siding or cement. Where you live you might succeed with Boston Ivy which is very colorful in the fall. An alternate might be grapes or hydrangea petiolaris which I doubt would be watered at all after established. I could see having round blue ceramic planters filled with colorful coleus and impatiens set right down into the pachysandra with the wall of green ivy behind them. To give more space you could have cutouts in the latticework to center the planter in the space. You could have a small water fountain on the wall among the vines - or frame it with the lattice. Another planter idea is pruned boxwood with annuals/trailing vines around them for summer - and you can do something with them for the holidays. You should be able to have Korean, Vardar Valley, Green Mountain, etc live in a container if you keep pruned. The Blue Girl holly also does well in low light/bright sun but you'd really have to stay on the pruning to keep a holly in bounds. I would also try some unobtrusive stick in the ground solar lights to create a soft glow after dark along the drive or you can wire lighting in. I get container combination ideas every yr from the White Flower Farms catalog - gorgeous stuff altho this yr they were too in love with bronze and orange combos. Shrubs that I have kept pruned for yrs to 12 to 18" wide are taxus, boxwood and believe it or not - euonymous - burning bush. I have a 3 ft deep bed along my house and its underplanted with pachysandra and the burning bush are at least 20 yrs old - you just have to keep up with the pruning to keep them to the size you want.

I am looking for some advice about what plant I can grow on top of a large retaining wall/hillside that will slightly "conceal" a chain link fence withOUT blocking the sun. Obviously, I won't completely able to conceal the chain link but I'm hoping there is a plant that will help make it less noticeable. However, it is really really important not to block the sunlight too much. Additionally, it is way up high on a wall so it is very inaccessible so regular pruning (to thin a thicker plant) is not possible. :( Does anyone have any ideas? Things I've considered: 1. Ivy (since leaves will block the sun I don't think will work). 2. Sarracenia (I don't know which species or if they grow in SF but I thought the larger tubular shape of the pitchers might conceal. Plus, it doesn't look like they grow too densely) 3. An ornamental grass (I love horsetail but, again, I think it grows too thick and would block the sun). Maybe there's another? 4. Lowes has a plant that has a large white flower on it (almost looks like a really large orchid but it definitely isn't). Maybe a type of plant the flowers? I attached a photo. You can't see the chain link in the photo because the sun is too bright but you can see the wall and the top bar of the fence. Thanks for your input!! Image link:

Hi Mike, I haven’t checked in for a long while, but thought I’d respond... I grow my Meiwa kumquat in West windows, zone 7A (SE NY) in gritty mix - it never goes outside. Fertilize with Foliage Pro. For extra light on rainy days (lol, like this entire Fall ?) and in winter, I use a fish tank light hood with Zoo Med “Ultra Sun” bulbs and just lay it across the top of the pot, the leaves are uplit. The tree is ending its 3rd year in gritty mix. It’s time (likely past time?) to go from a 12” pot to a 14”. I came back today to research lighter weight soil options and maybe get some input about root pruning? Instead I discovered something called a New Zealand Lemon! Been indecisive about a 2nd citrus tree until now...but ordered a NZL from FW and fingers are crossed! My Meiwa is recovering from spider mites (so a little sparse) it was entirely insect -free until contaminated by a new plant (lesson learned) and lost its immature kumquats in late Spring. Treated with Castile soap and water sprays in the shower every few days and now, once a month as a preventative. It has about 20 new tiny kumquats on it...strange that it flowered that much since it’s the Fall...so we’ll see how they do through winter in the window...hopefully they‘ll be ready to eat in July! At night in winter I move the tree away from the window because it can get pretty cold in that spot, but the sunroom itself stays above 55 degrees - Mary (mandarin1)

In my opinion, growing vegetables in containers really is about providing the appropriate soil drainage and space for roots to spread out, given the sunlight space provided. So, the bigger the plant is supposed to get, the bigger the pot, in most cases. You could probably find a ton of information on container gardening online- maybe search for "apartment patio gardening" besides "container gardening". I've seen some pretty cool setups for a container garden. If anything else, see the Container Gardening section of this website. Anyways, about the tree trimming- I have huge oak trees in my yard and in one area, the tree cannopy got so thick last year that my grass died out. When I finally figured out what caused it (very little sunlight), I had an arborist come out and clean up the trees. Now, one year later, without adding more grass, I have grass coming back in. So the extra sunlight does make a difference in my opinion. You should also notice a difference in the health of the trees if they do it right. But, keep in mind the cost/benefit too. Tree trimming by an arborist is usually not cheap. Is it worth spending that kind of money for an extra hour of sunlight on your first go-around with SFG? Other than money, it can depend on a few things like does your Salad Garden reqire more sunlight than you currently can provide? Are you trimming trees just for your garden or are you also trimming for the health of the trees at this point in time? You know what your situation is, so you make that call. Keep posting, Bryan