Goodbye Yews All - Front Yard Garden Opportunities

with peach trim. They worried when I threatened to paint the dead magnolia tree white and call it sculpture. (But is has such in interesting silhouette!) They got so upset when we let the greenery in front of our stone wall get a bit out of hand (mainly because my husband was recovering from heart surgery that summer and I can't operate the weed whacker, care for an invalid and also keep the back yard gardens from getting out of control) that one man finally came over and cut if down himself. (Thankfully, he did not send a bill.)

What they would say about seven dead bare yews I can't even begin to contemplate.

So tomorrow, my husband is under orders to go cut them down entirely.

The mustache is gone. I no longer have to repress it in order to avoid mental and real anguish at the site of it. I no longer have to be embarrassed when gardeners come to call and see the grounds. I can look back at my old article without chastising myself about not doing as I say because at long last - we actually did it.

And an entire new universe of planting possibilities has opened up before me. Shall I replace the yews with a tapestry hedge - two or three interesting deciduous shrubs of contrasting colors and textures? Perhaps some rhododendrons and azaleas and ferns - and while we're at it underplant everything with ivy and eliminate the front yard mowing chores? Something that won't get too tall and so won't need constant maintenance which we obviously aren't into doing? (And we're not getting any younger, so anything new should be low in upkeep.)

Shall I keep it low and simply plant perennials? I love shade garden perennials. Not only that, but I need a display area for my growing collection of dark plants - all of which seem to do better in light shade than in full sun. Or should I go artsy with native plants and ornamental grasses?

It's too late to do the one and only thing I had ever come up with for front yard decor - an idea conceived in despair when I thought I would be stuck with those yews forever. That was to turn the entire thing into a line of dancing topiary penguins. I'm almost sorry I won't get the opportunity.

There is much to contemplate in

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