Today, I'm having five tall shrubs (almost like trees...8 - 10 feet tall) removed from my front yard garden. They've gotten too big, drink too much water, their roots are growing over wide surface area and around my foundation, are difficult to prune their so big (need a tall ladder), and I've been advised that they are not good for my foundation...of which I'm already seeing some issues. I would ideally like to replace them with a smaller shrub that doesn't get tall (2 - 4 feet-ish) or wide (2 - 4 feet-ish), are easier to prune, that do well in heat or in cold (ideally, that I don't have to cover every freeze and can hold up to an extreme event, e.g. Texas Freeze (I lost some shrubs and cut them down to the base; they've started slowly regrowing)). I've already got some boxwoods in front and some other small shrubs/plants of a variety I don't know. My brother mentioned Nandinas but I've read this is an invasive, toxic species that is not ideal for the environment...albeit these seem common in Texas landscaping. I really hate landscaping so I'm trying to make this as painless as possible. I just need something small to put in place of these tall shrubs that looked good but, ultimately, became unmanageable. Ideally, these wouldn't be shrubs that do a lot of shedding in the Fall and require a lot of cleanup. Any ideas on what is good? I don't want anything that starts small and then grows into a gargantuan beast in a few years with big trunks and a large root system. I've done some research but, so far, haven't liked the options. I guess I should go to the nurseries and talk to those folks as I peruse. But, any ideas from you'll going in would be appreciated. The other route is to just hire a landscaping company to advise me and do the job.
ive had good luck with gardenias. they produce these really nice looking white flowers that smell great...they smell like those hard candy root beer barrels. they will get 4'-6' tall, but need a decent amount of sun and water. trumpet bush put out cool looking gold flowers that look like trumpet horns. hummingbirds and bees love them. they can get 4'-6' tall too. need lots of sun, but are more drought tolerant than gardenias. purple sage does really well in texas and is pretty low maintenance.
sunshine Ligustrum. They give you some color and are strong plants. Newly planted ones I have lasted the Uri freeze, no problem.
I'll have to determine whether that area gets enough sun. It says they are "full sun" meaning six to eight hours ideally from 10 am to 4 pm (is what I read). The Sun rises in the back of my house. I don't think my front garden gets sunlight until around noon. They may work.
Do you have an irrigation system or do you rely on rain to water your grass/garden? How much sun/shade does the area have?
I would say borderline between part and full sun. It doesn't get the morning Sun since it rises behind my house. The type of soil is mostly that red clay crap that causes so many foundation problems with gardening soil in the shallow layers. I have a sprinkler system and it covers the flower bed areas. No drainage plumbed or anything. The excess would just run off and down the side of my yard or down the driveway.
Azaleas are pretty common and would probably work. Also you could look into some Viburnums or Dwarf Loropetalums (the non Dwarf can get pretty large over time).
Wonder how the Azaleas would do in the hot afternoon sun in the Summer? No real shade in the afternoon sunlight. Aren't they better suited for more shade and morning Sun?
They just finished removing all of them. They grinded the stumps, removed all the roots, and cleaned up everything. The only negative was they hit the pool backwash drain line that runs through my front garden and that I warned them about it running shallow. It was near a stump they were grinding and didn't see it. But, for the great price I got, I'm not even mad. I be like "oh well". They were all looking at me like they were waiting for me to go off on them. lol Now, I'm happy because I won't have to replace my hedge trimmers every two years as trimming all those tall hedges in the front was not only time consuming but hard on the electric hedge trimmers. Then, I have like 23 hedges in the back to trim as well. The trimmers would end up with the motor burning out. I think I have like four electric hedge trimmers I've accumulated that are completely worthless.
Try dwarf hollies (or other types of hollies). I've had about 10-15 for over a decade that have survived heat waves and -1 degree temps. Also try sages like Texas sage (or other sage varieties). They're damn-near nuclear holocaust-proof (important in these challenging times). Just make sure you don't overwater them. They don't like to be overwatered. They survived the same temperature ranges in my front yard for a few years and don't require much maintenance. Consider something like ornamental grasses like muhly grass. Depending on which you go with, they can be colorful as fall and winter approach. The only thing you really have to do with them is when cold weather comes around, chop 'em to the ground (all of 20 seconds) and wait for them to grow again in the Spring.
That would be the ultimate to have five big cannabis plants to replace them with. But, you know someone is just going to come chop them and take them near harvest time. That would be a beautiful setup and look absolutely lovely. That's how it should be. That's real freedom.
Thought the same thing. Then I subscribed. Same. I want landscaping that is minimum maintenance. I put in big elephant ears two years ago. They survived the big freeze last Feb and the cold this year. They died down a bit but I expect them to come back. They get a lot of sun as they're on the West side of the house. They're supposed to be full sun but I can see they're a little beat up in the heat of the late summer. They are really magnificent though and get huge. Any of you green thumbs have any advice?
Usually those elephant ears don't do as great in full sun and need some kind of shade during the day -- especially during summer heat. Or at least that's what I thought. I think Surf's in the DFW area, so multiple days teens and twenties-degree weather like we seem to be having the past few years would have those plants dead and/or suffering, I would think, since they're tropical plants. But who knows... people grow palm trees up here... *shrug*
I want you to Garden.... I need.... you to Garden.... Id love... you to Garden... Im begging..... you to Garden.....
