Using Podocarpus (Fern Pine) As A Privacy Screen Part 2

You may recall my post about the firefighters, I mean, the plants I chose for the backyard. Well, the podocarpus plants were delivered and planted today!

Here is the backyard way back when.

Here the trees are in pots, being lined up and spaced. 

And here they are all in! I can't wait to see them fill out and get all fluffy.

Now, to work on that grass and to set up my patio furniture! 

Any ideas on fun plants I can put in between the trees? I'm thinking something floral and sweet-smelling - maybe gardenias?

Using Podocarpus (Fern Pine) As A Privacy Screen

I like firefighters. You probably like firefighters. Most people like firefighters.

They provide a service, they're courageous, and they save kittens from trees. 

Plus they work out a lot. 

I like firefighters. 

But I don't exactly want to be able to wave hello from my living room, while I'm drinking tea in my undies. 

Hi Guys! See how the height of the fire truck complements the height of my wall and provides the perfect angle for them to see my skivvies?

And even when I'm outside, I can still see the building (and the Carl's Jr. sign). Though the flags are a bit festive.

So, what am I going to do about it? Well, we already had the retaining wall removed (read about that here) and now we have this lovely dirt strip about 5 feet deep. 

I went to my local nursery, International Garden Center, and asked the knowledgeable staff for some assistance. We discussed bamboo (too invasive), bougainvillea (too much maintenance on the fire station side), and we ended up in front of a plant called a podocarpus, or a fern pine.

This guy will start out about 5' tall and will end up 10-20 feet tall. We are going to plant 11 of them along the back wall, which is 53' wide. They have a nice, leafy spread that I'm hoping will end up looking like this.

{via}

A thick, leafy, green wall that is low-maintenance and relatively drought-tolerant. And most importantly, allows me to drink my tea with some privacy. 

I can't wait to share pictures of what it looks like once the plants are in. Expect that update in about two weeks!

**See that update here!**

I'm Not Retaining This Wall!

There is a Jeff Foxworthy joke that goes, 

"If strangers regularly knock on the door to ask if you're having a garage sale, 

you might be a redneck." Or, you might be my Grandpa.

His backyard was chock full. He had THREE storage sheds and a whole side yard full of STUFF. I kept a lot of the really cool stuff - old metal carts that will definitely be fun projects to rehab, some useful file cabinets I'll put in the garage, and even some plastic lawn chairs that I plan on spray painting fun colors. But so much of it was junk!

So, after we got rid of the old lumber, the coils of wire, the metal scrap, and those sheds, we were left with a really good size backyard. It's about 20 feet deep and 53 feet wide. Unfortunately, there was a 5 foot wide retaining wall running along the entire back wall. There was also a huge ugly plant in the middle of it and some crazy ivy in the corner. 

{you can see the edge of the ugly tree on the left}

{attack of the killer ivy!}

At first I thought, "oh, it's a raised planter!" Then, I thought, "It's a jumping off point for a mischievous dog!" And it had to go. 

First, we had the huge tree removed (and no, there's NOTHING I can do about that ugly telephone pole). Then, we had them take down the wall!

And afterward, we were left with a big dirty stain on the wall and a 5 foot wide strip of dirt. 

{please disregard the toilet ;)}

What do you think I should do with this space? I'd like some sort of privacy hedge, but I don't want to deal with a lot of pruning or maintenance. Maybe bamboo? Also, it would be fantastic to cover that telephone pole in some way. Maybe a star jasmine vine? Give me your ideas!