Help with backyard

4 years ago

We recently moved into our house and these pittosporum silver sheen were already planted. I like that they give some structure but the garden bed is so narrow I feel like they take up all the real estate. The options I have thought of are

1. is to leave them and see what happens when they grow in

2. relocate them/repurpose

3. leave them and widen the garden beds. That way structure and also can have perennials etc. I also don't like how because the beds are so narrow it feels like everything is just in a line e.g. on the right are rose bushes and it feels like I can only plant stuff in between them in a straight line.

4. Take out one or two of them?

The other factor is that the lawn is already small. I just want a little bit of grass for kids to play in.

What does everyone think?

Ignore the lawn I have already managed to dig up due to crab grass.. one step at at time lol

Featured Answer

CA Kate z9

4 years ago

You can only prune so much each year wihtout killing them... and then they are too big. I have them all over, and after 10 years - with pruning - they are too big. The inside structure alone is quite big dispite all the pruning. I've been removing them little by little every year or so.

They get huge, so I'd suggest taking them out now while you still can easily. There are soo many other things you can plant there,

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Comments (7)

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
4 years ago
Just widen the beds as much as you can manage. Otherwise you will just have a soldierly row of shrubs following the straight fenceline. Boring!!

The wider you can make the bed, the more shrubs or perennials or annuals you can plant to provide some layers, color and interest. At least doubling the width would help and still leave sufficient lawn area but that would be a minimum. I'd take it out as much as you can manage.
K Laurence
4 years ago
The pittosporum ”Silver Sheen” get huge both in height & width where I live (So Cal ). i had to have mine removed at my last house.
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gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
4 years ago
^^^ They are immensely prunable to any size you want!
Erika Orange County, CA thanked gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
Erika Orange County, CA
Original Author
4 years ago
@User No I dont think height is a priority. Some visual height interest to layer in but the priority is having a space to be creative with gardening but also have some structure
Erika Orange County, CA
Original Author
4 years ago
I'm in Orange County California
Erika Orange County, CA
Original Author
4 years ago

Wow I was just looking at old pictures and this photo was from when we first bought our house around April this year. Look how tiny the pittosporum were then compared to now even. I decided to take them out and expand the beds, I will post a photo to show the progress but I think it already looks so much better!