Landscaping, at last, or back to the vegetable kingdom

Araucaria araucana, my dream tree, takes forever to grow


Way before I was dying to move into the house, I was dying to do the planting. But it was not to be. My theory that we should plant the trees before building the house was demolished with arguments involving ants, cows, drought.

By the time we moved, we were too broke, so we had to wait. Then when I started enquiring with our landscaping company, again I was dissuaded, "it was not the right time." But also, several times I was told that nothing would grow, that any tree would become a bonsai at best, etc. etc.

So, tired of all the naysaying, this past weekend I found myself a wonderful, huge nursery whose owner is a bit more positive about my chances at having trees and eventually a garden. She visited the site, made an appointment for us to go over all the species she thinks will work, toured us around her nurseries and some places she's landscaped (not our style, but all looking nice and healthy), and eventually agreed on a list of things that we like and that have a chance in our lot, punished as it is by salty sea winds.

Below is a visual list of all the stuff on my list. Ironically, although I said I want to keep the list short so our place doesn't end up looking like a nursery catalogue, the list is quite long. But we have a lot of perimeter to cover. Initially we will attempt to do the upper fence, about 130 yards of it, with as much inside the property as outside (the future sidewalk or whatever it becomes once they actually build the road.) We will also try to reinforce some sections of the bottom fence, although not all of it.

Also, we will plant the public space where a "traffic circle" or plaza that will never in a million years be built is, at the corner of our street and the main road. That is, we have a quarter of that circle to landscape as well, and if it ever becomes a circle, well, it will already have a quarter of it planted.


Jazmin
White oleander


Dracena
Strelitzia alba
Purple penisetum
White penisetum
Italian poplar, or alamo piramidal

Retama
Pink tamariz
Washingtonia palm

Yucca
Purple formio
Green formio
Pindo palm
Pitosporum
Poplar (alamo carolino)
Guayabo del pais (local guava)

The other araucaria
Butia, the 4x4, all terrain palm
Equisetum, a fashionable green stick-like plant

Casuarina