A Gate, a Wall, and a Willow
A friend in the neighborhood has exactly the same model home we have and it's interesting to see how her decor and garden layout differ while the footprint and construction of our homes are the same.
Here is a shot of her entrance gate and wall at the garage:
She has a sculpted adobe wall, an arch over her wood gate, and the gate is painted blue to match the garage side door. A desert willow in front of the gate is nice. I like the open, graceful look of it.
I love the look of her gate with its elegant wall and upright tree, and want so much to copy it here. I like that her gate is the same color as the garage side door behind it, and that it is full door height making the courtyard private.
I even love the twiggy desert willow tree without its leaves yet in spring (it's a very late plant to leaf out), it looks perfect for the spot.
I've wanted to plant a desert willow for the longest time. (It is Chilopsis linearis, not an actual willow at all, but a dry loving tough tree with gorgeous flowers in summer.) I have nowhere obvious to put one, but that may not stop me. I'm good at planting things where there is no room for them.
This is a stylized idea of what a Chilopsis linearis looks like in leaf and blooming, although they can be pruned effectively into a variety of shapes and sizes. It shows the narrow leaf shape that made people call this a willow, even though it is not.
But the bigger issue in copying the look of my friend's gate, wall and willow, is that taking down our coyote fence to put in an adobe wall and arch is a major undertaking. Even just a taller arched wooden gate painted blue is not inexpensive; custom built gates are very, very expensive I've discovered.
So, we'll keep what we have - a shorter orange stained gate with an open grill, a rough coyote fence, and a tilted juniper too close to the garage.
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