- Author: Riva Flexer
These days, that seems to be the mantra for everything. Just think about it…but in the garden, it's not always the case. One of my pet peeves has been the plant that, through no fault of its own, has been located in such a place that it crowds out everything. I'm talking about Phormium, AKA New Zealand Flax. It's a gorgeous sword-leafed plant, that is available in bronze, red, green and variegated tones. It does flower, a huge stalk that produces insignificant bronze flowers. It takes up space (or, rather, fills space) and can be gorgeous in a mass planting or as a specimen on its own. It is frequently planted too close to pedestrian walkways, and gets hacked back and thus deformed because it hasn't been given the space to flourish and spread.
A more extreme situation is the redwood trees that a friend had removed when she purchased her home. They had been planted too close to the house; the roots were interfering with the foundation and basement and she worried that they might blow over and damage the roof. Then, there are the birch trees on my street in Benicia, beautiful paper birch trees, now quite mature (at least twenty-five years old). They have all been topped (a real no-no), because they grow over the roofline. They were planted too close to the houses, and were too large for the space. As always, it's the plant that suffers…
The moral of this tale? Look for varieties that, when mature, will fit your space, so that when they grow, they don't cause trouble. The space you're trying to fill may need infilling with annuals for a few years, but it's easier to select now, than repent later.