CA friends...I AM SO SAD!!!!!

Yep. And why are they recommending trees from Australia? Sorry, it's a sore point. They could at least start with natives to see if something appeals, then try others.

Check out Tree of Life's Plant Respecifier. It has suggestions for natives instead of the Acacia.

http://californianativeplants.com/index.php/plants/planning_tools/plant-respecifier

The acacias supposedly tend to be short-lived, but I have a row of them that have been there for 25 years now.

oh I just found this post- SICKENING!!!!! I can only imagine how terrible you feel, this is so wrong.

***** grrrr, I would think your "upstairs" neighbor would miss the trees/wildlife as well?

Sickening? REALLY sickening was today, when they removed the last large branch: they all went "woo hooo!". What's wrong with these people??!
I had a knot in my stomach. My DH was so mad he said "he wished that large branch fell off on them"!


In the meantime...does anybody know of anything quick growing to screen these heighbors while I wait for the trees and shrubs to grow? Something annual, maybe? grasses, anything?

I'm so sorry, Roberta :-(

rob, what about malva sylvestris? They're not annual, but they grow FAST. I planted a 1-gal last spring and it's now a 5x5 bush that I've pruned repeatedly. Sunset says regular water, but I certainly didn't give mine much, and I know someone who has one pruned as a small tree (about 9 feet tall) and it gets almost no supplemental water. They grow beautiful around here in totally neglected gardens.
A few of those might make an effective temporary evergreen screen and buy you some time, maybe?
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/124/

Hee hee hee - I have a lot of Romneya coulteri pups if you want something big. We cut them down each year, but wcgypsy might know if they would do OK without that. I was going to dig them up anyway and have enough to share. They are just "iffy" about surviving when dug. Tree of Life has good ones, though. They get about 8 feet in one or two years and are beautiful in bloom. Bees love them.

Malvas are beautiful, too. Butterfly magnet, aren't they?

Magnets for butterflies, hummers, ME...LOL!
I have my Romneya in a really big sturdy pot. I just love them, but I know they're invasive as the dickens.

Oh, they're not that hard to contain. We just cut them down in the winter and pull up the pups or try to move them somewhere else.

Romneya is one of my favorites and I've never had problems with them spreading aggressively--I know they can be invasive in places like the Pacific Northwest so I suspect if you water them too much they can get out of control, but I keep mine dry and they are very well behaved.

That's one of the good things, they normally don't need water once established.

What did I say about DG'ers. Good things will come from this. I was concerned about the slope, not just the erosion. How much of it do you control, own?
Rob, I truly grieve with you. I would have whacked them with a branch, when they were cheering. I have made the Power Line crews leave the oak trimmings they take from around the power lines. That is my wood! It is sacred to our people!
I called the cops on them once because they took my gate off the hinges, trespassed onto my property, to trim the oaks, and they were trimming my oak that was no where near the power line. I was very angry. I filed a police report. I'm still angry!
Have you thought of vines as a screen? Honeysuckle comes to mind, as does bouganvilla which is happier down your way than at my place, plus it has thorns!
Great people deterrent! LOL!
WIB,
SW

Acacias are in full bloom right now here. They put on such a grand and happy show. But I have heard also how some are allergic to their pollen. The flowering though only lasts a short time. I think some varieties from driving down 880 spread like crazy. I passed a small yard the other day that was solid yellow with at least 10 huge trees, you could see nothing else but yellow.

My understanding which could be wrong, is that ceanothus is short lived. But it too can put on a solid blue show. Just fantastic.

Any interest in bamboo, another kind of beauty? I just love hearing it as the wind moves thru it. I always wish I had a big enough piece of land to plant it. You could plant the clumping kind across if you think running bamboo would be too invasive.

Hard not to love this.

Kell those are beautiful. My eyes are watering, I can't be allergic to a photo can I? Must be the beauty!
WIB,
SW

My nose is tickling seeing that acacia! I think they're very pretty but unfortunately I'm one of the people who is allergic to them!

I don't think Ceanothus is always short lived--from what I've heard if it's in an irrigated setting where it gets somewhat regular watering during the summer then it does tend to not live as long, but if you only water it until it's established and then let it go dry or water it very infrequently in the summer then they will live a lot longer (although I'm not sure what their normal life expectancy is, could be they're still shorter lived than some things) I've got a nice Ceanothus experiment going in my own garden so in a few years I may be able to report on the actual difference that summer water makes--I've got a couple Ceanothus in an area of my garden that does get watered about once a week during the summer, but then I've got three in my CA natives bed which last year I only watered once a month and this year things are even better established so I may go even longer between waterings.

I do not cut my romneya back each year....should, but.....The romneya can indeed be 'iffy' about making it...I gave drdon about 20 2-5 gal pots and I think about 3 made it. I like dodonaea /Purple Hopseed Bush for fast screening. Bank covered with echiums and cistus mix might be nice, though the echiums should have their 'finished flowering' branches pruned and that would depend on how much of a slope you have and how much of a hassle to get to them to do so.

This message was edited Feb 19, 2009 7:40 AM

One of the reasons we cut our Matilijas back is so we can walk down the path and see our pond from the house for a while! Poor planting on our part, but we don't want to take them out. And our neighbor across the valley would be disappointed, too. They love the show when they bloom.

I wish I knew how Tree of Life found the secret to propagating Matilijas - they were successful enough that they lowered the price on them. They probably grow them from seed.

Supposedly very,very difficult from seed...the burning of the flat and all that, but I heard from someone recently that she's had success without going through all of that, so....never hurts to try. I don't usually cut up the roots for smaller pieces of root cuttings,but that probably works also. I don't really bother to dig them anymore since my time is limited and I don't spend it on something that's 'iffy' instead of something that's a sure thing. I did dig several this last week during the rains that were encroaching on my path and needed to come out anyway, but of those 3-4, only one looks not wilted. I should cut mine back, but it's a large stand and every time I think of doing that, there are more pressing things to be done instead.

Do you folks cut them back to the ground? I'm wondering if that's something I should do with my potted one---and is this the right time of year?

We cut ours back to about 12-18" - for whatever reason. I don't remember if I read that somewhere, or if that's what I ended up with the first time and just stuck with it. I'm a "hack it back" pruner. LOL Besides giving them a fresh start, I can clean them out and look for pups that way. They're pretty big at the end of the year - I'll see if I can find a photo.

Well, that was easy. This was taken last June, so you can see how fast they recover. The one on right, lower side of the path is about four years old; the one on the left we just planted in 07 - it is quickly taking over the other one in size. It grew amazingly fast to about 4-5 feet.

Kathleen, I had never heard of Romneyas (deuh!) and I LOVE them!!! Are you using that as bait for the RU? ehhehehehe!

Kell, bamboo are great screening plants, but I am leaning towards natives and draught tolerant plants...

Ecrane, my husband is pretty allergic in the spring but I'm not sure if specifically to Acacias....how far do they spread pollen?

I have been doing some reading on Ceanothus and also read they are short lived when watered in the summer. WOuld not be my case! I am looking for stuff that won't need supplemental water once established....

SW, I had also asked the crew to leave the branches in place and they said no!!!!

We cross-posted. I LOVE THOSE FLOWERS!!!

Roberta,

Some people call them Fried Egg flowers. I never knew what they were, either, until I went to Tree of Life and I had seen them planted either side of a gateway nearby. TOL has a great garden you can walk through for ideas. I usually go up a couple of times a year - it's a beautiful drive and they have workshops that can be useful.

I'll look in my allergy book, but I think Acacias are pretty allergenic.

Kathleen

Oh beautiful picture Kathleen -

Ima how big do yours get in the pot? - I think those would be beautiful in a pot by the back door.

I put a 1-gal in this big pot....say 24" across and 30" tall?....in the fall of '07. It had about 4 big gorgeous blooms on it last year. I'm hoping for more this year! Someone I know has them in her back garden in San Juan Bautista, and she says they send big ol' runners everywhere that she has to dig out. Hence the pot.

KC,
If you are pimping out them pups, I've got a couple of bald spots near the propane tank I'd love to hide. After rob gets hers of course!
Rob, were the trees on your property? Maybe, I'm just madder than a wet hen and I scared them into leaving the wood behind. If the trees were on their right of way easement, then they have the right to dispose of them as they want. Otherwise I consider it stealing. What do they do with it once it leaves your place? Maybe it was because I read them the riot act. I am really sad that they have no compassion.
Only ever met one tree cutter that wasn't a jerk. Only one I ever trusted to touch my oaks.
A native no one has mentioned, maybe because it is short lived is the wild tobacco tree. I know KC has some and I do too. The hummers eat its nectar for food in the winter. I'll take some photos tomorrow. They will self seed once established. I've never intentionally watered mine.
They just showed up one year in the yard, and we liked them and let them stay. Then we found the Hummers like them, so they are welcome to live just about anywhere they want. They only seem to live for a few years and then die off. Find lots of birds perched in the dead ones. They grow pretty fast too.
WIB,
SW

Do you know the Latin name of your wild tobacco tree? If it's Nicotiana glauca it's not a native, it's an invasive weed in So Cal so I definitely wouldn't recommend planting it on purpose.

I don't have any tobacco trees, SW. Must be someone else. We did have something called a tobacco plant that used to pop up but I got rid of them - they had yellow flowers, if I remember correctly. The neighbors still have some that grow behind their horse corral.

(Yes, that's the one, Liz)

I guess I was mistaken. Still they are good forage in the winter for our Hummers. I can probably collect some seed, which reminds me I need to go get photos!
BBS,
WIB,
SW

SW, most of the trees were unfortunately on City right-of-way....Two of them we weren't sure of as there is no fencing there. So I got to save one of them....The other one was already gone when I realized what they were doing.

Amazing how they conveniently don't notify anyone ahead of time, isn't it?

SW, of course you can have some Matilija pups!

Thanks KC,
This is where I want to put them. Right in front of the ugly green propane tank. Much prettier than what I'm looking at now!
WIB,
SW

Rob,
I promised you a couple of different photos. This is the Strawberry bush/tree taken today. Use my house for scale.

Rob,
This is the biggest wild tobacco bush I have. Prolific self seeders and good hummer forage. This opportunistic bush has grown taller than the green house, but it cheats. Most are about as tall as the greenhouse.

Okay, one to consider but not sure if it is a native elderberry or not. The ripe berries are green, not black. Taste like grapes. I really admire the character of this old, untrimmed tree. Sits on one of the slopes and is only about 10-15 foot tall. Gets no water except rain. Good food for the birds and other critters.

Same elderberry tree, different view. I've often seen birds roosting on the dead wood portion on the right side of the photo.
WIB,
SW

Well, I hope they grow for you, SW. They would be perfect for that spot.

I've planted a tree in front of ours, but it has not taken off yet.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/66044/