DebCA

Thanks for the comments on the fencing and tree suggestions. Our Association fences are the typical 5-foot vertically slatted wooden fences seen all over (heard they are called 7-year fences because that’s about as long as they last). There is some gap between the vertical boards as they are angled but I doubt they allow much thru air flow as the gaps are caused more by the unevenness of the boards than anything else. We can put up lattice at the fence top if approved by the Board, but since the lattice is open I doubt it will offer much in the way of wind resistance. To make matters worse, we have a two-story house which is next to another two-story house so in effect when the winds blow our side yard is in a wind tunnel and who knows what kind of air patterns get created with the fence forcing air up and around. I knew this area was going to be a landscaping problem yet I very much want some tropical vertical interest there at that spot.

The tree suggestions are good ones (BTW hadn’t even heard of a pluot before), and I have considered planting a tree in front of the fence. Unfortunately we have a short setback to the road and the side yard between houses is somewhat narrow making most trees too large for the space and encroaching on the neighbor’s side. We also have a walkway and gate to the back yard at that side, reducing the available space. We do get some shade protection in the summer afternoons from the house next door which is a two-story and on the western side of us; although it doesn’t help from the wind perspective. The other side of the coin is that if we block the wind too much, the side yard, especially during the warm spring/hot summer-fall months, will feel like an oven. It’s not a great area but the best location for our BBQ island and I’m trying my best to continue the tropical look to that side of the house.

I should mention that I am planning on planting some shorter musas, thinking Red Dwarf, and maybe either the Dwarf Brazilian or Orinoco, in that area. I still really want something with height above the fence top though. I read somewhere that the ‘Ice Cream’ (which sounds yummy to me) was wind tolerant, and wonder if it would be a better choice to try than a Basjoo?

It’s sounding like I’ll either have to settle for shredded leaves...or plant something else more wind tolerant but tropical looking in that location--which is why I thought maybe the giant banana Canna I mentioned originally might be a possible subsitute for the taller bananas. I have no working knowledge of this plant either or how it would do in my situation.

Back to the conversation in posts above, I do read try to read everyone’s comments, especially on the threads I start, so if I don’t respond shortly, please assume there’s a good reason why I haven’t replied.

Also if anyone knows why I keep having to re-log in when posting, let me know. As you can tell sometimes my posts are long-winded or I get interrupted while composing so, I just figure the system times me out. The page still acknowledges my sign-in name and sometimes I can get back to what I wrote and select copy it and then re-log in again and try posting again. I don’t understand what is going on. Sometimes my efforts to recapture my text doesn’t work and I loose everything. Pretty frustrating. Am I doing something wrong? I composed this offline and copied this here but I think I should be able to just compose it directly here without problems.