The Home Ownership Thread

double00 said:

Noguchi garden , Costa Mesa . more of an art installation but still a Japanese garden



azaleas are a pita . I'd go with something like camelia sasanqua instead . manzanitas are another good substitute . native rhodies are another option .

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Azaleas are not hard down here. See them all over Pasadena. I have like...50.

ValidusLA said:

Pine. Nandina. Gingko. Camellia. Azalea. Wisteria. Mondo grass. Barberry. Even some yews.

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Can't forget the Japanese maples.

ValidusLA said:

Azaleas are not hard down here. See them all over Pasadena. I have like...50.

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I love azaleas (esp. the ones that flower twice a year) but the deer love them to an absurd degree. I spray repellent, but they basically check every single day until the repellent is worn off enough for them. They eat most of the buds on the ones in the front every single year.

Somehow the older (maybe more established, woodier?) azaleas get overlooked, so all my neighbors who haven't done any landscaping in decades have beautiful flowering azaleas and mine look like crap.

ValidusLA said:

Azaleas are not hard down here. See them all over Pasadena. I have like...50.

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fair enough they should work in Tustin or wherever op is .

here azaleas need a wide margin of personal space , good circulation otherwise they get mildew . so they are pretty hard to use imho as you just end up with a little sprawling bush on its own . I have a few in a mixed hedge but it's sort of an experiment and I will probably end up replacing the azaleas tbh .

my kiddo's aikido studio is in an old house in the part of town where the houses got converted to commercial uses back when . so it's a similar situation to OP with the house facade and lot size and they have a Japanese landscape . i'll try to grab some pics of what they did how they screened etc .

ok at this property there are 8' alleys between the footing and fence line on either side , a very typical lot size . in the back there is a few parking spots probably for staff and in the front there is a pretty wide strip between the sidewalk and curb .

what they've done here is to borrow the sidewalk and use the landscaping strip to carve out a pretty neat little courtyard , just a little people place where folks can egress and pick up their kiddos etc .



in the alleys they've kept the house side clean for pathways , vertical screens without and groundcovers on a raised planter .


obligatory azalea and you can see a bit of context with the adjacent house , i'm not sure if that's a biz or a residence


obligatory maple


inside the shady alley , ferns with container bamboo . rock mulch works well here especially in deep shade . stone pavers .

what i'm not showing is how the screen plantings work from inside the building . they simply composed the screen for view .


the sunnier exposure . no rock mulch here they went with concrete . also fewer groundcovers and more bigger shrubs , presumably to shade / crowd out weeds .


one more .

Gibonius said:

Can't forget the Japanese maples.

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I mentioned them above my list!

Coral Bark and Bloodgood are the easiest for So-Cal. Emperor 1 w/ some attention. Mikawa Yatsubasa grows well, as does Kuranai-jishi and Shishigashira. Weeping ones are much harder, but not impossible with shade.

My favorite azalea varietals:
Red - Sun - Hino Crimson, small bright red flowers with small, bright green leaves
Red - Part Shade - Ruby Glow - small dark red flowers with small dark green leaves.
White - Sun - Alaska - Large white flowers with large dark green leaves.
Pink/White - Sun - Iveryana - White flowers w/ Pink Variegation with large bright green leaves. Preferably buy while blooming to judge individual plant variegation.

All of these can (and should) be purchased at Nuccios if you live in So Cal.