Basketball Resistant Landscaping

Living and gardening in an urban environment, I avoid many of the worst garden ravages of deer, voles, and bunnies. I still have to contend with snails and slugs (and boy am I losing that fight this year) - but my most troublesome garden pests at the moment are my two boys and their *!&$ basketballs!

My husband, in his infinite wisdom, recently ordered and installed a basketball hoop to go with the skateramp on our back patio - and the damage to nearby plants has increased tenfold. I purchased some flimsy metal edging/fencing and installed it around the perimeter, which helps - but there are some trouble spots that are getting decimated anyway, and I've come to the conclusion I'm going to have to move delicate plants out of there and replace them with.... I don't know, something tough.

This is an overview picture of the bed that gets the worst of the damage with the danger zone circled. I'll post a close up in a minute. My hope is that you fine folks might have some suggestions as to good plants to put in that can withstand being bounced on by a basketball, but will fit in with my current plantings.

Okay, here's a closeup of the area that probably needs to be replanted. Not much is in bloom right now, but the color scheme of this bed in general (such as it is) is yellow, salmon/peach, silver, purple, and magenta.

This are is planted with daylilies (Stella d'Oro starting to bloom there in front), lunaria, lychnis coronaria, Eryngium, potentilla, bearded iris, columbine, and some byzantine glads that are just getting crushed. There is also a purple foliaged canna that is coming up next to the Stella d'Oro, which will be next in line for decimation if I leave it there.

The area is south facing, mostly sunny, and probably the warmest, most protected spot I have (from the weather that is, not from basketballs). Oh, and there is a clematis (purple starburst) and climbing rose (Polka) going up the wall behind.

Anyone have any thoughts?

This isn't a plant idea, but I'm wondering about actually putting up a panel/trellis/ wall instead. I'd say lattice, but one good hit with a basketball and you'd have fragments. A solid wood thing might just seem closed off, though. What about getting a cattle panel, painting it black and framing it in cedar as if it were a trellis and putting it in there? You'd need to make sure it was well-anchored so it wouldn't get knocked over-would you be willing to drill a bracket into the brick? It is possible to buy cement blocks with brackets for posts or grooves for things to sit in, but I don't know if they'd hold well enough. Or maybe just get a very plain but sturdy iron trellis and do the same?

Otherwise, this might be a time to go for pure practical vs.dream garden. Looking at this from a solve-the-problem practical (as opposed to purely aesthetic) approach, I'd be considering if I could put in some sort of tall narrow shrub, maybe something evergreen, as they can take a lot. Maybe put in an arborvitae in a big heavy pot so that in a couple of years you could just get rid of it? I know, I don't like them either, but they're cheap, so it wouldn't be a trauma if they get damaged, and again, could be replaced if destroyed-and no heartbreak when you pull it back out, either.

Hopefully, someone else will have more ideas for you :)

I like the look of the trellis behind your roses. Could you make another one to put out from the corner about 5 feet. Could put something on it to screen the basketball court from view. There are berberis, both yellow and red, that grow in column form. That would be tough and something to avoid. They have thorns.

I can't tell you how many times I came home to find a basketball nesting in one of my plants. Most of them survived and the boys eventually grew up and moved away.

Alright, so you two are telling me not to give up and rip everything out quite yet :)

There are two trellises visible in the picture above - the one with raspberry canes on it is actually the former wrought iron door that opened onto the patio/basketball court. When we poured the patio it brought the level up a few inches so that the door would no longer close, so I repurposed it as a trellis. Long story short, don't know where I'd find another one of those :) But the one with the clematis (and the rose once it gets a little taller) is just a cheap trellis from Home Depot - I could definitely get a few more of those and try to bracket them together and to the brick like SusyBell suggested.

Or I'm not totally opposed to some sort of evergreen there - maybe something with silvery blue needles would fit with the color scheme? My first inclination on a trellis of course is to run a vine up it, but it would probably get smushed. So a berberis could be cool - I do like the yellow and purple foliaged types.

Lots to think about. Thanks ladies :)

Wow- you're nicer than I am. I'd tell hubby to move that danged hoop elsewhere, or buy a free-standing one to put where it was far from my precious flowers. Grrr. ;p

Actually it is a free standing one, there just isn't anywhere to put it that isn't next to my precious flowers! We have a small city yard - it's insane to have a basketball hoop, let alone a skateboard ramp. But the hoop is making my 10 year old so happy, and skating is my husband's only exercise and hopefully will keep him in good shape for a long time..... so I grin and bear it.

It's probably just as insane to have the number of plants I have squished into a yard this size!

But the plants are more important- they make oxygen- you're saving the planet! ;D (That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it!)

Haaa! Haven't tried that one yet.

The first thing I thought of was berberis. Thorns and density. Both good thing when teaching boys to avoid the area. Then I read Susybell's idea and thought that was a good one, too. Cattle panels are cheap and easy, and it would be something you could take down later if you wanted to. I've seen fences made from them and they are very attractive when sandwiched between wood. If you put something like that along the driveway (or whatever the edge is that gets compromised by balls) you could turn the on their ends so the screen would actually be quite tall. It would be unobtrusive, and it would stop a basketball. Then your plants would be happy.

Enjoy the boys, they will be grown and gone all too quickly. Time for the perfect garden later!

Just the title of this made me smile. I can't remember how many times my MIL yelled and screamed at her 6 sons about destroying her beautiful flower beds. Even as they got into high school the destruction continued. Finally, her sons got together for mothers day and built her a beautiful flower garden away from the permanent basketball court. Since they couldn't move that they just moved the flower beds. The hardest part of all of that was trying to keep it a surprize. I had to take her out of town for a day and they moved all of her perinnials and roses very carfully and with the help of their fellow neighborhood master gardener, then bought several beatiful plants to make up for the ones that were beyond repair. Then they put a beautiful little handcarved bench beside it that said " You are loved". Now, how sweet is that. She burst into tears when she saw what the 6 sons had done, and yes, she knew she was loved, and so were they.

This message was edited Jun 17, 2010 7:07 AM

Gourdbeader,
What a great thing to do for your mother! How long ago was that? Childern grow too fast and before you know it they are off to college and your remember the days of having the kids around all the time. Basketball was short lived here and they went to soccer.

Lovely story.

That was for my husbands mother just a year before we had got married and I was still in High School so lets just say it was quite a while ago, at least 40+ years. I had great Brother-in-laws. My late husband from that marriage died about 30+ years ago. He was young and got electrocuted working on a job for a friend renovating his home. His oldest brother died the year before in Viet Nam. That family had a very strong religious belief and I do believe that was my dear MIL's saving grace. I don't know if I could go through losing two sons in two years. She sat on that bench often and remonised of years gone by, as all the sons had carved their names into the bench.

Hi Jan, liked the story. Good to 'see' you again.