Two Desert Olives

 
Two old and scraggly New Mexico privets (Forestiera neomexicana), planted too close to the house, have been removed. They were probably 20 years old, planted when the house was first built.

They did screen things on that side, and they were green and leafy. They had gorgeous bluer than blue fruits in late summer that were the size and shape of olives. Another name for this native plant is desert olive.

They were too big and the stiff branches kept scraping the house and windows. I cut off so many branches and it still didn't help. I even pruned up the lower branches at one point, which looked a little better.

But pruning was an ongoing chore and a lost cause. With the leaves down they were twiggy messes. They simply hid that side of the house, disappearing the right side so that you only saw half of the front of the house.

They came down and got chipped into mulch pretty easily last week.

And now it is so much better. An open, cleaner look. You'd never even know they had been there.

There is already screening and bulk in front of the house from the two Scots pines, so the big shrubs at the corner aren't missed. 

Without the desert olives, we are a little exposed to the side of the neighbor's house as we walk out the front door. And the clumpy collection of strappy hesperaloes scattered about don't do much.

That open space bounded by the rock drainage path is now calling to me to plant something in the middle -- of course it is. I can't help myself. 

It would need to be smaller and planted out away from the house this time, but the desert olives weren't even gone one day before I started planning what to put in there. I'm thinking my potted 'Seiryu' Japanese maple could come out of its container before it gets too big, and go in the ground there. 

Give it some thought. I have all winter to consider.