Update:

(Shouting while taking shelter behind my 20 foot tall privacy hedge)

I HEARD YOU! I WILL NOT BE TAKING DOWN THE TREES!

I was not expecting so much traction.

I admit: this was a hasty post, fueled primarily by frustration at the puppy procuring yet another piece of trash from the hedge that captures everything the wind blows (a blessing and a curse! ESPECIALLY if we have a wind on garbage day). She gets to trash that I cannot pickup due to the density and size of the trees, and I have was feeling exasperated having to cleaning up the yard so frequently.

But I get it…. It is a beautiful and near priceless hedge.

I will be keeping the hedge and, despite my children’s REQUEST (oops), will likely move the fruit tree then plant a few more arbor vitae because that little gap is really awkward.

Thank you for all of your feedback!

Lastly, I do want to defend my point of just how much space these trees take up. It’s not just a straight line of trees but rather a bowed line that at its widest point protrudes 10+ feet into the yard. Regardless of this fact, I agree with the vast majority of you: I would miss the privacy, shade, and sound barrier this small forest provides and thus I will be keeping it.

Original Post Below
(First please excuse the scattering of dog toys).

We inherited this towering hedge from the previous homeowners, including that gap in the middle. There were 3 nearly dead nine-bark shrubs planted in the gap of which i removed two then planted a fruit tree at the bequest of my kids.

It has been really difficult to access the back side of the hedge for trimming and suddenly this spring there has been a large amount of overgrowth into the neighbor’s yards. In addition, getting a puppy has shown me just how much…. Potential…. Is back there behind the hedge (aka I underestimated just how much trouble she’d be able to find in the hedges… birds, bunnies, trash etc). Not to mention, the hedge is like 3 trees deep and takes up a ton of space in our yard, I could do so much more if the arbor vitae were not there!

I do love the privacy and shade that we are afforded…. But my mind is also racing with creative ideas of all I could put in their place.

Am I nuts for wanting to remove this? And more importantly what spirits will haunt me if I do?

Thanks for your help!

Hey! It has been fun meeting folks from this group who have come by for the East Portland Plant Buying Club's open garden/popup plant sales this spring. I'm hosting another on Saturday, May 30, from 11 am to 2 pm. Location and further details here.

At noon, I will do a walk-and-talk around the yard, focusing on the rain gardens, carnivorous plant bog, and newly installed frog pond, as well as the various vertical gardening setups in the food gardens. I have been gardening here since 2001, and on this almost half-acre lot, there's a mature food forest in the front yard, native-filled woods, meadow, and rain gardens. There's a lot to see!

I sent my irregular newsletter out today. The big news: saffron bulbs are now open for pre-orders. Did you know you can grow this amazing spice in a pot?!? Subscribe here for updates on pop-up sales, open gardens, skill shares, and ever-changing seasonal plant and bulb sales.

I felt inspired after seeing another post on echiums in PNW. Our winter in Puget Sound was very mild this year, and I didn’t loose a single plant through the winter. I’ll have more seedlings than I know what to do with.

These plants are loved by hummingbirds and pollinators. They have blue pollen, so you’ll see bees with some cute blue pollen knuckles on your plants.

Cercis Canadensis ‘JN2’
• Hardiness Zones 5-9
• Full Sun to Part Shade
• Mature Height 8-12ft

This is one of my dream trees, but I’ve never seen this cultivar in Washington. Really hesitant to get one because it would absolutely break my heart if it didn’t go well. Advice or opinions?

Also, if you’ve seen any at your nurseries, let me know!

Every week, my small rubber stamp factory in Minnesota sends hundreds of pounds of clean, high-quality natural rubber to the landfill. It kills me. This is the stuff trimmed off the edges of our stamps. It's soft, natural red rubber, no dirt, no contamination.

I've posted before and gotten tons of great suggestions. I've reached out to every single one. Mulch recyclers, playground surfacing, crafters, art teachers, makerspaces, you name it. Nobody wants it. Most would rather grind up dirty old tires than take clean rubber from a stamp shop. I can't make it make sense.

It's free. You just pay shipping, which works out to about $1/lb. I'll ship as much as you want. Use it for crafts, gaskets, packing material, garden mulch, art projects, whatever. I just want it to go somewhere besides a landfill.

If this resonates with you, please crosspost it to any subreddit you think might want this. Crafters, gardeners, makers, sustainability, hobbies, anything. That's the real ask.

Email nic@unitystampco.com or DM me.

I purchased this as a start from Home Depot about a month ago and it was doing okay but I’ve noticed the middle starting to get yellow from the bottom up. Not it looks like it is full on dying. I have fertilized it twice with miracle gro all purpose and water every 3-4 days. I have really rocky/gravelly well draining soil and all my other new plants are thriving. Anyone have some ideas for me to save these?

Growing on Oregon Curl Free peach tree in Puget Sound region. Ive never seen anything like this. Anyone have any ideas? It was isolated to a single leaf.

I found this plant in a back corner of my 8b yard that hadn't been weeded in about a year and held off on pulling this one because it didn't look like a typical weed. "PictureThis" says this is a butterfly bush but it's been wrong before. Is this something I should get rid of? Also does anyone have recommendations for a better plant identifier app for Android?

Current blooms in my small western Washington yard! It's only my second year after planting most of this, I'm very excited to share!

1.) Western Geranium (Geranium oreganum)

2.)Broadleaf stone crop (sedum spathulifolium)

3.)Slender Cinquefoil (Potentilla gracilis)

4.) Nootka rose (Rosa nutkana)

5.)Blue Eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium angustifolium)

6.) Mountain sweet Cicely (Osmorhiza occidentalis)

7.) Western Columbine (Aquilegia formosa)

8.)Western bunchberry (Cornus unalaschkensis)

9.)Big Leaf Lupine (Lupinus polyphyllus)

10.)River Bank Lupine (Lupinus rivularis)

11.) Salal ( Gaultheria shallon)

12.) Large leaved Avens (Geum macrophyllum) with fringe cup (Tellima grandiflora) and youth on age( olmiea menziesii) in the background.

13.) twin berry honey suckle (Lonicera involucrata)

14.)pink purslane(Portulaca pilosa)

15.) Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)

16.)Alpine enchanters Night shade (Circaea alpina)

17.) Pacific bleeding heart (Dicentra formosa)

18.)Rose Chermellow (Sidalcea virgata)

Looking to prune back this rhododendron, probably to just below the gutter and a bit farther away from the walkway. Any tips or recommended resources before I start?

Got a good jumpscare on my morning garden check. This thing erupted through my poor carrots and leeks overnight? It gives me the heebie jeebies, what do I do? Do I need to amend the soil or are my leeks and carrots going to have to fight to dominate this thing? Im also in bed vermicomposting. Is this going to hurt my worms?

Biggest hydrangea the in our backyard 5ft tall and only *one day* of 80 degree temps burn the leaves, as pictured, because the previous owner planted it in thee most scorching sunny spot in our north facing backyard.

It gets plenty of water because we know what a water hog it is. Doesn’t matter. What 6-7ft weeping dwarf flowering tree can replace it?

This is my first year gardening, located in South Seattle.

Got these from a local nursery in early April. They stopped producing new flowers like 2 weeks ago, but are still producing new leaves.

These are supposed to be June bearing, but at this rate I fear I won't have any strawberries left by then!

Is there anything I can do to help promote new flowers?