I'm seriously considering ripping out two bottle bush trees, grown side by side, which have became a pain in the neck to keep in bounds. They are planted in a side passage near our back porch and they grow to such proportions, both tall and wide, that I'm forever chopping them. To make matters worse, our neighbours lot, which is elevated in relation to ours and sits at the back of these trees, has a chain link fence where they grow wisteria. Needless to say the wisteria grows to our side, rambles over the bottlebush trees and suffocates them. A real mess, especially because due to the trees I can't get behind and trim the wisteria with the hedge trimmer.

So... Despite the fact they're evergreen and a good source of shade in our Summer's heat, I'm seriously considering chopping down the trees come Fall and use the space to grow other shrubs/plants that don't grow as tall, and hopefully won't get smothered by the neighbours' wisteria (and gives me the chance to go behind them with the hedge trimer).

Any suggestions? This is a North facing area in a zone 10 dry Mediterranean climate. The passage is roughly 1.5 meters wide (5 ft) and the trees currently occupy an area of about 2 meters (6.5 ft) in lenght, so this will be the area I'll have to play with. To the right of them there's a crape myrtle and to the left there is mahonia, gardenia, a hibiscus, begonia, some lilly bulbs and a moss rose. I'm planning to add a Winterberry holly behind the mahonia next Fall. I'm a sucker for Fall and Winter interest, so if you could suggest stuff with interest in either time of year (or both) that would be super.

Now shower me with your suggestions :-)

TIA

Eduarda