by Barbara Anderson

Created on: August 27, 2008   Last Updated: September 21, 2008

My True Garden Story

Our backyard has always been a relaxing sanctuary for us, perfect for sunning in a chair, spending time with friends and family, or just sitting and reading a book. We have a nice brick patio with a gazebo, picnic set, and swing. A second smaller patio outside the back door holds a hot tub for relaxing after a hard day at work. There is a well-maintained grass lawn, with shrubs and annuals in the side beds. And the back-fence-line has a beautiful ornamental grasses and perennial bed. A birdbath and feeder attract lots of pretty songbirds to watch. In fact, we only have to purchase a few hanging baskets and annuals each year to complete the picture.

Then, two things happened to change all this. First, our well-behaved older dog passed away, and we adopted a boisterous 60 lb. hound dog that couldn't understand that the lawn is for running on and playing, NOT the flower and shrub beds.

Second, our back-fence neighbors of 20+ years retired and moved away, and their house was rented to a group of college students. They didn't bother to put shades or curtains on the windows facing our house. While our former neighbors kept the house and grounds neat and clean, the kids didn't care how the outside of the house looked. The grass grew, the weeds grew, leaves and wind-blown papers covered the front and back yards, and worst of all, they didn't seem to understand that you put the garbage bags out by the curb on collection days, but left them in the backyard for weeks at a time before throwing them away. We decided something had to be done.

We first checked into getting a white vinyl fence like many of our other neighbors, but decided that although this would block the view, it would do nothing to solve the "dog trampling the plants" problem. Also, we have always had a natural looking backyard, and a vinyl fence would do little to enhance this look.

So, we decided the best solution was to find sturdy evergreen shrubs, which could also stand up to doggy antics, to put along the back fence to screen out the view. After a lot of research, we settled on "Thuja Green Giants" for our back-fence shrubs. They grow rapidly, and in a few years, the property in back of us would be virtually invisible. They are also fairly pest and disease resistant, require minimal pruning or other maintenance once established, and most importantly, would stand up to the dog. We decided to go with 6-7 foot tall plants, placed 6 feet apart, since this would give an immediate, even

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