How cool, Aimeekitty! Up Whites Canyon from Soledad on the hill? Yes, Banksiae and Purezza are completely evergreen up there. And, yes, they both have been successfully grown in pots, much the same way you can bonsai a full sized tree in a pot. It requires excellent drainage, a pot of sufficient minimum size for the size plant you want, a pot of suitable material to prevent it from cooking in the sun/heat and religious watering. I've seen Banksiae grown in five gallon sizes for many, many years. Yes, they become root bound, but preventing the roots from getting to the soil, keeping it properly watered and fertilized occasionally, as well as keeping it sheared to maintain a proper balance between root and top growth sizes keep it alive. It will flower in those conditions, on any sufficiently mature wood and anywhere that wood receives enough sun. The potential for sunburn of the wood is much higher growing in pots because of the water stress from lack of spreading, foraging roots. I've seen it grown as a tiered "poodle" topiary, and as a standard where the trunk was incredibly thick with side buds removed as you would for a standard trunk. The top branches were permitted to grow and were continually kept sheared to maintain a rounded head. Those also flowered in spring, paving themselves over the surface with bloom. It CAN be done. It takes time and a LOT of effort and attention. I had a client in The Palisades who was a very long time gardener. He was widowed and did all manner of odd things for his own amusement. I teased him his garden was like visiting The Island of Dr. Moreau because of the unusual things he accomplished, but he spent every day in his garden. It was his life. You could also train a Banksiae like the braided trunk ficus you see everywhere, then either round the head or allow it to fountain out. They are amazingly versatile and enduring plants. They will suffer just about anything you can think to do TO them, as long as their basic requirements are met. Victorian and Edwardian florists raised many types of ramblers and other climbers in pots, training them into fantastic shapes and forcing them to flower for holiday decoration. Think bougainvillea or even what is done to potted florist azaleas in today's markets and you get the idea. Aimeekitty, you have plenty of room for the Banksiae as long as you aren't afraid to prune and shear it as you would a bougainvillea, pyracantha or other indeterminate shrub or climber. Don't be afraid to prune it. It honestly will thumb its nose at you and grow more vigorously, just in a different direction. If you train it along the top of your fence, you can shear it to form a dense topper which will then flower each spring. Banksiae will make free standing shrubs, totally capable of supporting themselves on the thick wood they will develop. You can see a few of them outside the gates of Scenic Hills along Rainbow Glen, just off Sierra Hwy. Kim

Oh sure, silversword, you have to recommend Gardenias and then give me that post to read. Ha! Ha! I only made it as far as the August 3rd posts, but I intend to read a little more at each sitting. Boy is it funny/eye opening. I, being a Gemini, get bored easily and can't finish things so I just skimmed a little to see how far the thread went. I happened upon the reply from "Jim" who was giving his wife a Gardenia bush for Mother's Day and then he was printing out the entire thread and writing "sorry" on top of it and running. That was so funny! I guess I am pretty stupid because even after reading all that, I am going to have to get a Gardenia at some point. I was sold on the description of the scent. I am just not sure I will actually try to grow one. I would probably do better to just have one and toss it aside like the Freesia. For some reason anything I try to actually put love into and take care of, dies on me, whereas anything I just neglect thrives. Perhaps my plants are suicidal too. The title of the thread reminded me of something Jerry Seinfeld says in his book Seinlanguage and it makes me laugh every time I read it: "I have no plants in my house. They won't live for me. Some of them don't even wait to die, they commit suicide. I once came home found one hanging from a macrame noose, the pot kicked out from underneath. The note said, "I hate you and your albums." It's so funny to think of plants as human. I'm screwed though because I am definitely a sucker for a good-smelling plant. The house we bought has some kind of lilac that blooms in the spring and fall. It is pathetic looking (not like back home) but I never grow tired of smelling it and reminding me of home. And I love the Freesia because it smells like Froot Loops (which reminds me of my childhood). The roses that I dug up were sad looking and not very pretty plus the fragrance was not that great. The funny thing is that I have NEVER been a flower person. My husband likes to do romantic gestures like buy flowers for me, but he won't buy roses on Valentine's Day because they cost much more than any other day of the year. So he likes to surprise me with flowers some other day. I am fine with that because we have a cat who tries to eat ANYTHING that looks like plant matter. I can't even have Easter grass in baskets because the dummy will eat it. So roses cannot be enjoyed because they have to spend so much time behind closed doors and I am not really one of "those" women who requires candy and flowers on Valentine's Day or birthdays, etc. I might give that Little John some consideration somewhere around the house because I adore watching the hummingbirds. :-)

Oh yeah. If it isn't blooming they won't buy it. Could be a 6-pack so root bound and heavy with flowers that it keeps falling over, but it will sell. It's also when they will find the plant for sale. Come in September looking for forsythia? Good luck, they were available in April. All 6 of them. Over 30 years ago when I first started the nurseries tried a campaign to encourage people to plant in the fall. "Fall Is For Planting!" posters were put up everywhere. It's the best time to plant in CA except for tropicals. The weather is starting to cool down but it's still warm. You usually only have to water until the rain starts. The plants have a long cool wet winter (well, most winters, lol) for the roots to grow well and get established before the heat of summer. Well, it was a total failure. Most people, being from somewhere else, just couldn't wrap their head around the idea of fall planting. Plus most of the plants were NOT in bloom. Even with pretty pictures of the flowers on the tags, just couldn't imagine the flowers. They'd rather buy them in May when they're blooming so pretty, stick them in the ground, forget to water them in June, cause it was just raining wasn't it? Then wonder why they were dead in 95*+ July. Heh heh, I'm not cynical after all these years, am I?

Interesting seeing the comments regarding the pool being in the front yard. It’s quite common in our area. Mine is in the front yard also, placed further away from my entry however. My house is in the Palm Springs area, but I have 2 friends in Newport Beach whose pools are also in the front yard. BTW ... just go to an independent garden center ( not HD or places like that) & get their suggestions. Often, they will offer design services free or credit the cost of it when you purchase from them .