I'd Rather Be Studying Agave Leaves

A. titanota, with Opuntia microdaysis (or is it Opuntia rufida?) in the background.  "Titanota" means "alabaster white".
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This Agave titanota has a ghostly mid stripeOooh!  I want that one! 
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Not titanota (unless it is F076):
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The irrigation change from sprinkler to drip is complete in the fall project area.  I tested the changes, and discovered the sprinklers I capped off are leaking, and the sprinklers I replaced with dripper manifolds don't drip.  Sigh.  But as Katie Scarlett O'Hara Hamilton Kennedy Butler said, "Tomorrow is another day!", so I'll think about that tomorrow.  

Now that the project area is just about empty, I'm considering the views into the space.   I'd really like something in the spot marked by that potted blueberry, to focus the eye on something besides the neighbor's roof.  Though...I see the neighbor's Magnolia grandiflora is beginning to do the job, isn't it?  Except I've hinted to the neighbor that those Magnolia grandiflora roots will eventually undermine the retaining wall that keeps our property from collapsing and crushing the neighbor's garage, a point they seemed to appreciate.  The original Magnolia there was a 'Little Gem', not the full sized species.  But 'Little Gem' died, and was replaced with the species.  Always something.  You just want to look at something besides the neighbor's roof when walking out to pick tomatoes, but everything is so complicated
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From the other entrance to the project area, the same pot in the same spot.  Here, something is needed to screen out, or draw attention away from, the neighbor's bathroom window.  Somehow windows are like staring eyes, even when it's a window no one looks out from.  At least I hope no one looks out that window and sees me scowling at it.  I need a screen there, for the neighbor's sake, if not my own.  No, for my own sake, too. 
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I thought about a dwarfish (8 feet, maybe 3 M) citrus tree for that spot, which would screen out one neighbor's roof as viewed from the front entrance, and also screen the other neighbor's bathroom window as viewed from the other entrance.  

An alternative might be a pair or trio of tallish, narrowish shrubs, perhaps Pittosporum 'Marjorie Channon', on the other side of the wall, which would  provide the screening, but not the focal point.  Screening shrubs for each entrance.  The focal point would then become some sort of urn, fountain, statue, or other such object, inside the wall, in the project "room".  

I think about this stuff carefully, and drive myself nuts with it.  Why do people think about the strange things they think about?  No wonder I'd rather be studying Agave leaves.   
 
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Comments

  1. I love this post, I had a good laugh. Yes, "why do people think about the strange things they think about?". If you are in a populated country like ours, it is difficult to be different, and "think of strange things....". But i love your opuntia more than your agave, hahaha!

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  2. I like the second idea- the screen behind, the focal point in front. A pretty view, despite the neighbor's windows!
    Sorry to hear about the plumbing. I despise all water conveyance systems, even though I understand the need for toilets in a civilized society.

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