One year Strawberry

Strawberry tree, that is. It's reaching upwards. That's as much as I can ask of it. There are only two side branches. Click on image to see how it looked in March.

Arbutus Marina

One year Lemonwood

This one is amazing. They said because it's the variegated version I can't expect it to grow as fast. Looks pretty full compared to early spring!

Pittosporum tarata variegated

One year Tenuifolium

Growing tall and thin. Leaves are small compared to late spring.

Pittosporum Tenuifolium

Fall Photinia

It's been a full year since this one was planted. Every little branch looks healthy. I'm pleasantly surprised because I didn't think the soil was all that good. Nor the side yard location. Two gallons of water each week can do wonders. Click on photo to see how it looked earlier in March.

Slow Escallonia

Now five months in the ground, it's quite apparent that these are slow growing.

Matsuda Compacta Escallonia

Outflow landing

For purpose of controlling rainwater runoff, a curbed outflow landing made the most sense considering I wanted landscaping in this area. There's no municipal storm drain here. This is corrective measure after having removed a poorly designed concrete walkway that reduced useable back yard space.

So the lowest point was found to be at the threshold on the latch side of the gate. It's the existing concrete lip at the block wall, so all I needed to do was design all downflow to it. Casting the concrete was a two-pour process -- first pour was the curb with a PVC sleeve cast into it, then after curing, the in-fill slab poured and finished trowel-smooth for good surface flow.