Ingrid - Your garden is gorgeous! So glad you were able to rescue that Mutabilis from the gopher - and very, very, glad (knock on wood) that we don't have gophers here. I was at Vintage Gardens once, and Gregg was giving a tour, and he was talking about all of the gophers, when some of us started to giggle, as just behind him was a gopher, who got out of his hole, and was just sitting there listening to Gregg!

Jackie

Oh, I am so glad to hear I'm not the only one with problems! Your garden is gorgeous, and it gives me hope to deal with the problems we have in Texas.

Thank you!

Ingrid, wow, what a drastic transformation! I am sure you removed the ficus benjamini for good and the purple crape myrtle will be very pretty when it is a little bit more mature. I am glad for you that you discovered the gopher hole at the base of your Mutablis in time to rescue the rose. It is amazing how quickly Mutablis is growing back after your pruning job and soon it should be a wonderful specimen, again. Cecil was really hard at work digging all the stuff out with a pick ax and planting the new tree! Great that you got everything done! Now you can lean back, enjoy the fruit of your labor and wait for the next spring to come!

Christina

Ghetto? What ghetto? LOL. I have a feeling your garden will always look great no matter what you do to it.

It's a shame the Ficus roots would be so destructive. Your tree was so beautiful. Some friends of mine planted one outdoors when they tired of it as a houseplant. It was so lovely, but apparently our winters are too cold for it because it didn't make it through to spring. The crape myrtle will look very nice, though. It's a fast grower if I remember right, so it will fill in quickly.

Jackie, what a funny story. I could picture it happening, like a scene from a movie.

Ingrid, I know you know what all that hard labor is called...love in action!! Your garden is so beautiful and green. It looks like it doesn't mind your heat at all. Did you by chance catch the gopher? Or ward him off anyway? I love your Crape Myrtle. I've never seen one so tall. Purple will be great in your garden. Here it is not advised to plant CM's near roses because they get fungal diseases. Everything gets fungal disease here, it seems. Count your blessings! I loved your photos and the new view of your boulder. Your scenery always reminds me of the old Roy Rogers TV shows. Is there a cowboy behind that boulder? :))

Sherry

Here is a link that might be useful: If only sweat were irrigation...

The crape myrtle looks much, much better than the ficus. I'm so glad you took it out! Now your roses will get more light.
Beautiful job.
Renee

Ingrid, The Mutabilis leafed up so fast! Are you sure you are not feeding it steroids?
The Lagerstroemia will look perfect there.
Your husband looks a hunk!!!
Daisy

hur hur - yep, seeing the mattock made me wince in sympathy since it is a tool never far from my reach either. Have to say, for such a whopping tree, the fig left a surprisingly small hole.
Crepe myrtles are not really seen over here (in fact, I didn't have a clue what this astoundingly popular plant was until I looked on Wiki).
Still, changes are the lifeblood of a garden, d'y'not think? My mutabilis is being banished to the allotment as it has been a sad mildewy wreck in my tiny garden at home. As I have such a small space to play in, only top class plants make the cut here. I am also eyeing the coral bark acer (SangoKaku) which looks slightly crispy from the windtunnel effect which comes in a tiny enclosed garden in East Anglia (winds straight from Siberia). Also due for banishment: a too large Rozanne geranium - lovely but it has taken up an entire border, mugging the agapanthus, various campanulas and sidalceas. However, this time of year is the start of the gardener's year as far as I am concerned - bulbs have been stuffed into gaps (had a minature narcissi moment and bought a couple of hundred fragrant jonquillas and triandrus), plants are in the process of being dug out and divided (the mattock!) and the biennials are fat and ready for their new places in the garden and allotment. The old virused raspberries are being removed alongside a gigantic acanthus, to make way for more wild roses (cantabridgensis, helenae, pomifera duplex), 2 philadelphus are being moved around,the new fruit trees are going in the ground next month (a cherry and a lovely almond ('Ingrid' a prolific and hardy source of almonds)as well as another 30 raspberry canes and 5 redcurrants. The move away from vegetables towards fruits and nuts and roses is coming along (slowly, like everything I do). While this is going on, we are trying to get our heads around the kitchen floor. After 25 years of horrid grey vinyl tiles, I ordered rubber flooring (from an industrial supplier, having quickly learned to avoid sites such as the 'natural flooring co and Ecofloors, in favour of Jaymart, Polymax, Shitco). The prospects of trying to move assorted dressers, aged cabinets (no fitted kitchens here) and ancient sinks, while offspring and granddaughter and huge dogs are all in residence is, frankly, terrifying. We have a couple more weeks before the landscaping season starts in earnest too so it's back to the grind (but at least we will get paid). Neeargh, life is far too busy for old, worn-out and jaded gardeners.
yep, Ingrid, your man looks handy!

The Crepe Myrtle will look nice. Even when they're not blooming the shape and bark are attractive. My garden has suddenly changed dramatically from a gigantic oak falling on part of it. It was actually growing 50 feet away and the top landed on the garden. It will take days of work. It's probably destroyed an arch. I don't know how the roses underneath are.

Roots can be a challenge to remove. Nice pics of your hubby and garden.

I'm so glad for the sake of your home you got rid of that ficus. Your pavement, foundation, and roses will be much better off with the Lagerstroemia.

I just found a thigh-sized root from the neighbor's Ficus 20 feet away sucking all the water out from under some of my roses. I hate those trees.

Ingrid, your garden looks beautiful. Mine is a wreck right now (knee surgery). I hate to bring negative thoughts to the garden party, but crepe myrtles reseed everywhere here. Now sure if that's because of our damp climate or if they do it everywhere.

If you selected one of the smaller types, you will be able to prune off the seed pods. My trees are probably close to 40 feet tall and impossible to keep deadheaded, so they drop seeds in my pots and all over my rose beds. I'm constantly digging up young trees and pulling them out of pots. If I had it to do again, I would not plant them--or at least stay with smaller selections. I was a neophyte gardener and had no idea any crepe myrtle could get that tall.

Thank you all for your wonderful responses. My wrist tendinitis is worse today so I can't write too much but I enjoyed every post. The gopher episode was so funny. We put poison underground for ours which is the only thing that has ever worked for us. Regarding the crape myrtle, it must be the dry weather because it never has seedlings here that I could detect (I have three others). Pam, I'm so sorry about what happened in your garden. I shudder at the amount of work involved; it makes our little project look like a walk in the park. Suzy, the stump of the ficus is actually behind the hole, covered with dirt which is why you can't see it, but we had to plant the crape myrtle in front of it. It it had been dug up the hole would have been huge. When I read about all your projects I feel like a wimp for even posting about our little enterprise. I thought it was interesting, though, because of how different everything looked afterwards.

hoov, I remember it was you who first warned me about the invasiveness of ficus. I can see you know all about it firsthand. Bummer! Christina and Daisy, I'm also surprised that Mutabilis cam back so quickly. It's already quite a bit fuller-looking now than when I took the picture. I think the rain we had one day helped, and maybe also the absence of the ficus! Thank you for the nice comments about my husband; he's willing to do anything I ask in the garden and has planted practically everything in sight. I think he's rather cute too.

Ingrid

WOW---what a job-----I'm sure you will be happy with the "new look"----Your DH is not only a hunk but a sweetie as well--I remember the beautiful post he wrote a while ago----
Pam--so sorry to read about the oak tree-----I hope you can save the arch and the roses

Florence

Thank you Florence. I'm already getting used to the "new look" and it can only get better. I think you and I are both blessed with pretty great "younger men".

Ingrid