Trees make the difference

I heard a report on the news yesterday that this month has been the hottest on Earth since recordkeeping began in 1880.  I know people have been suffering with the heat in Europe and much of the US this month.  Here in coastal Southern California, we had relatively mild conditions until this week.  While we still haven't had a horrific heatwave of the sort we experienced in early July last year, it's been toasty the last several days.  We used to be known for "dry heat" but we've been getting more monsoonal moisture in recent years.  Yesterday we were even spattered by rain for about half an hour, too little to register on my roof-top weather station but enough to make it uncomfortably muggy all day.  Which brings me to trees.  Earlier this month, a study published in the journal Science contended that planting masses of trees globally might be the best opportunity we have available to combat the negative impacts of climate change.

I put a high value on trees.  If you've been reading my blog for years, you may recall that, after moving here in December 2010, I was distressed to discover that my local community put a premium on views over trees.  In an effort to accommodate one neighbor, we removed 2 large trees but, when she persisted with her complaints, I threw up my hands and told her she could take it up with the city, declaring that I'd fight her every step of the way.  Luckily, she moved!  None of my other neighbors have made complaints, although I've gotten wind of conflicts among others in our neighborhood.

That's a long-winded way of saying that this post celebrates the trees and tree-sized shrubs in my garden, appreciated all the more this time of year when it gets so bloody hot.  With our remodel underway and half the house literally torn open, we're unable to run our house's air-conditioning system so we're even more dependent than usual on nature's cooling systems.

This is the view of my front garden looking from the south end toward the garage on the north end.  The Magnolia grandiflora and peppermint willow (Agonis flexuosa) trees were here when we moved in but the rest of this area was mostly grass.  (Note: I skipped my quarterly wide shots post this month due to the remodel activity that's spilled into nearly every area of the property.  I've tried to shoot around what I could for this post but, barely screened in the distance of this photo, you may be able to make out the storage pod and port-a-potty sitting in our driveway.)

Two peppermint willows form a lacy screen on the west side along the street.  One of our four strawberry trees (Arbutus 'Marina' ) peeks out on the left side of this photo's frame.

There are 2 Western redbuds (Cercis occidentalis) serving as understory trees in the front garden, one shown here to the left of Echium 'Star of Madeira'.  Another peppermint willow, as well as a Callery pear tree (Pyrus calleryana) can be seen nearer to the garage.  A hedge comprised of Xylosma congestum shrubs, about 5.5 feet tall, lines the street.

This is a closer look at the area next to the garage occupied by the peppermint willow and the Callery pear.  This area was also mostly covered in lawn when we moved in.  There's a pineapple guava (Feijoa sellowiana) on the inside of the area bordered by the Xylosma hedge here.

Just beyond the area shown in the last photo, along the northwest boundary of our property, there's yet another peppermint willow and another Arbutus 'Marina, offering a degree of shade to one of my succulent beds.

In the cutting garden, there are 3 citrus trees, a Mandarin orange, a navel orange and a lime bordering the fence, as well as a persimmon tree and 2 small Japanese maples (not visible in this shot)

On the northeast side of the house, in addition to a guava tree, another persimmon, and 2 large New Zealand tea trees (Leptospermum scoparium), large shrubs of Coprosma 'Plum Hussey' and Leucadendron salignum 'Chief' line up against another stretch of Xylosma hedge

Turning the corner and moving into the back garden, there are 2 more strawberry trees, currently sporting their scaling bark

Beyond those strawberry trees is Leucadendron 'Pisa', the size of a small tree, and, in the distance the largest of our peppermint willows

There was another peppermint willow in the spot now occupied by the Callistemon 'Cane's Hybrid' shown here.  The willow was one of the trees we took out in a misguided effort to satisfy our neighbor.  The Callistemon will never achieve the same stature but it's now a good-sized specimen and still growing.  The pine tree in the distance sits on a neighbor's property.

There's yet another peppermint willow on the right in this photo with a huge toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia) sitting at the edge of our property on the south side, atop a slope.  I planted the purple smokebush (Cotinus coggygyria) shown in the foreground a couple of years ago.  It sits roughly in the area formerly occupied by a 60 foot Eucalyptus, cut down at our neighbor's request (and arguably too close to the house for comfort).

This photo of the southwest side of our property brings us roughly full-circle of our property (with the exception of the back slope).  On this moderate slope, between the peppermint willow on the left and the strawberry tree on the right, there's another pineapple guava (positioned half-way down the slope) and, bordering the south property line, a row of cherry laurels (Pyrus caroliniana).  The latter provide additional shade to the plants in my lath house on the lower level.

I didn't capture all our trees in this post but I picked up a good many of them.  I probably can't get away with adding any more without running afoul of our community's "view conservation" ordinance but don't be surprised if you find me planting more tree-like shrubs wherever I can shoehorn them in.

Best wishes for a pleasant weekend!


All material © 2012-2019 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party