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A Gardener's Notebook: The latest incarnation of my column detailing the trails and tribulations of my garden. Join the list and ask your own questions about gardening Subscribe

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Without necessarily planning to in any formal way I have started my own small version of a white garden. Vita Sackville-West, a turn of the century gardener developed a very famous white garden at Sissinghurst, her estate in England to help combat the usually gloomy weather so I figured I would try the same tactic with the deep and part-shade areas of my own garden.

The Back Corner

Regular readers will have read about one of the first major projects in the garden 4 years ago. I took the northwest corner of the rear garden, removed a struggling lawn and replanted it with California natives. A few of these natives still survive, but the ever-deepening shade from over-planted trees killed others off, one by one. We have removed a few trees in this area, but it is still heavily shaded for most of the day.

Over the last 4 years I have learned a few important lessons about what plants work best in the many different areas of the garden. I knew I needed shade-tolerant plants for this area and found 3 different types at my local nursery last week. The mix includes 3 gardenias, 2 white shade azaleas and 2 white camellias. I planted these in the rough triangle proscribed by the flagstone path that leads across the bed and to a beautiful willow twig swing we purchased a few months ago.

I hope the white flowers will help to brighten up the area even when it is in full shade. Sackville-West believed that white flowers helped to punctuate the light that was available even on the gloomiest days. The gardenias will bloom throughout the year. The azaleas and camellias will bloom simultaneously or in close proximity to one another. It will take some time before I see the results of my work, but even now, as small as the plants are, I have added a nice spot of green to this otherwise unimpressive area.

Timber!

Not every job in the garden can be accomplished on your own, Early tomorrow morning I have an arborist coming to remove 5 more trees from the property and trim several others. It is somewhat expensive, but I would never attempt to remove these trees on my own. Several are much too large for me to do safely and others are in close proximity to power lines and vehicles parked in the car lot that backs up to my property.

One tree, a native Fan Palm, is actually a volunteer. I have never been able to it cut back far enough to kill it so I will let the trimmers deal with it for, hopefully, the last time. The seeds of the palms are spread everywhere by the birds and squirrels. In fact, I have several more popping up amongst the azaleas in the front garden. These are small enough that I can take them out with my hand loppers.

This round of tree work will also start another, long delayed project. We will take the chipper/shredder leavings from the trees we remove and use them to both mulch the flower beds and reline the pathways that are now covered in pea gravel. This will be a major improvement for the garden and truly dress it up for the upcoming baby shower.

Next week I will let you know how these projects and others are proceeding.

Keep Digging!