Well, the sofa is at least leather so it didn't penetrate cloth cushions or anything. The liquid basically ran into the crevice between the cushions and out the back onto the floor. It has this liner stapled on the bottom. I just sprayed the hell out of it with disinfectant and had to do an ultra cleanup job on the leather. The cushions don't come off as it's all one piece. I disinfected the hell out of it. I'll end up removing the thin mesh liner (which is totally useless anyway) from the bottom and throwing it out. Then, doing a deeper clean from the bottom inward...after I get some doggie pee cleaner. I had to use Lysol mopping disinfectant and spray disinfectant along with alcohol wipes. The stupid senior dog has trouble getting off the sofa to where she has to use her two front paws to pull and drag her back legs off. Well, she was struggling and had to pee. It's a f*cking nightmare scenario. I don't know how much longer I can do this. She'll probably end up pissing on my mattress before all is said and done. Yea...I'm constantly doing a lot of cleaning and disinfecting around here.
Japanese blueberry can be kept small. Big leafed Gardenia is good as well. Can prune into a small tree. You could also do a holly-type shurb. If it was me, I'd go for something exotic like a yucca (pendula, gloriosa) or agave. Not many people have those. No matter what you get, you need to keep up with pruning about once a year when established.
Great option - very easy, thick foliage and essentially bulletproof, but I understand that some people have strong allergic reactions, though I really enjoy the smell of the little flowers. But if you want that "wall of foliage" to block something off, it's hard to beat. I had a varrigated pittosporum that made a pretty shrub. Would recommend that as well.
Be careful with pittosporum up here in DFW nowadays. I had about 4-6 pittosporum bushes that were in my front yard since 2004 when I bought the house. During the crazy freeze last year, they all died. A lot of other neighbors' died and they pulled them out, while still others died, but grew back very slowly. After over a year, they still look meh. Now, that could just be due to the -1 temps we hit. They're supposed to be fairly cold-hardy, but even Neil Sperry was doubting why he was planting them up in North Texas. Btw, his site is a good resource for this area : https://neilsperry.com/ Indian hawthorns are also popular around here, but most of them died during the severe freeze, too. But that being said, if you don't think we'll have successive days of under 10 degrees again, you may be ok with some of these. We got down in the teens again this year, so I don't know if it's the new normal.
I had some bushes die in the front from the Texas Freeze. I cut them down to the base. They started to regrow. I made a quote at the time I was cutting them down to the base that it would take 4 years for them to come back to the original size. I think it may take a few more years longer than that. Hopefully, they will get a Spring boost. Reminds me I need to give them some food to help them along.
I had to pull about 7 or 8 plants out including those pittosporum after waiting for about 2-3 months after the freeze to see if I saw any life. Two of the bushes were growing back oddly. Like I'd have half-a-plant or something. I still haven't replaced them. I probably should before the HOA comes after me. lol. If you've got an HOA, make sure the new plants are "approved". If not, just park your truck on the lawn as usual.
Yea...no HOA I have to worry about. I would probably have been called out for not having enough trees on my property. I had them all chopped because they were out of control. It's great when the trees are infants. The planning around planting trees is sorely lacking. Let's not have the foresight to think about where a tree will be in twenty years and how it may be working out then. Some short-sighted decisions made with tree planting. "We'll have one here and one right over here and there and everywhere!". ENOUGH! Trees are a suck on the money vein as, every year or two, you have to hire the tree company to come out and trim your canopies. Before you know it, you are out hundreds upon hundreds of dollars in tree trimming costs accumulating over time. Then, you have to pay more to have the trees removed. IT'S A SCAM! NOT GONNA DO IT NO MORE! Oh...and my next door neighbor had this huge tree that suddenly wasn't producing leaves after the Texas Freeze. Turns out it died. That tree was so huge and was overhanging all around my property at very high elevations it was so big. He had to have it chopped and I bet it cost around $2500. I always heard that trees add value to a homeowner's property. But, do they really? They are money pits!
Yup. I agree with the tree comment. I still can't believe they allow oak trees to be planted on some of these small suburban lots. Then 15-20 years down the road, people are struggling among laying down new sod or chopping the tree down because it's blocking most of the light coming down on the lawn or sucking up all the nutrients. Nevermind that in another few years its roots will probably be invading your sidewalks, walkways, and foundation if you're not careful. I bought my house during the time when Bradford Pears were considered great trees to plant everywhere. Of course after about 15-20 years, their limbs can't handle their own weight and start breaking off in storms. After a crazy storm that rolled through most of Texas (and I drove through coming up from Houston to Dallas), I woke up the next day and saw one of my Bradfords had basically split in half and fallen off. I got somebody to chop that down, do a deep-grind on the stump, and then had a chinese pistache tree planted there. That was not a fun expense. I like trees, but on larger lots and nowhere near my house.
Yea, eff those trees. Ugly, drop ugly leaves like a mofo, and had one fall over on top of my family’s car. After about 15 years, they’re pretty much trashed. OP, please don’t use last years freeze as an indicator of what not to buy just because it died. It’s rare we will get that again anytime soon.
My neighbor has a big oak tree that is rooted at the edge of his property closer to my house. It's probably about 10 feet away from my house total. All it's roots are encroaching all over my foundation. I had them cut back today as far as the ones visible above ground on my property. And, it turns out, I have wall and brick cracking occurring in the corner of the house closest to this tree. I'm positive this tree is drinking tons of water and my foundation is paying the price. I asked my neighbor to chop it but he says he's "enjoying the shade". I even offered to pay for half of its removal. And, all the tree's branches are hanging over my house and not his. He has nothing to worry about because it's a good 20 - 25 feet away from his house. So, the problem is basically all mine. I'm not happy about it. And, it's just getting bigger and is already yuge. But, at least he trims the branches that are overhanging my house so I don't have to. Great neighbor but we disagree on the tree. It serves no purpose and isn't close enough to his house to provide shade. And, it drops ton of acorns and leaves into my gutters. I have to clean my gutters several times a year. Guess I need LeafGuard on my gutters eh? NOT GONNA DO IT! ANOTHER SCAM!
For about 1-2 weeks out of the year, that tree was the best looking tree on the street. That was when it bloomed and the entire tree was white. The rest of the time, I was just waiting for it to fall apart. lol. Well, it did last 16 or so years. Kind of agree with you on the last year's freeze and what to buy comment, but I always keep that in mind because we got damn cold again this year, but not for a week. I liked my pittosporums and may plant some more - who knows.
I've got a similar problem with a kook neighbor that took a bunch of trees from his front yard and threw them into his backyard to provide shade for his pool and to cover it from people peering at the pool, apparently. Now I have all his leaves stuffed into my gutters and all the grass between our houses dying because nothing's growing because of this cornball's addiction to trees on property lines. I replaced sod and when that didn't work, I put a bunch of dwarf hollies on the side of my house to try and keep the soil intact. It's amazing, but those things don't get much sun but keep rocking along. Great little plants if you don't mind the red berries in the winter (I don't).
I'm thinking we can expect those freeze events to become more frequent...as in one every 3 or 4 years...going forward. I don't think it's as much a fluke as a sign of things to come. But, time will tell.
last year I had removed 10 giant poplar trees (worst trees ever ) from backyard then spent rest of summer fighting shooters and sockers, digging for giants root and reclaim space.. , I planted evergreen emerald as natural fence ,added extra mulching on top of fabric , integrated with Xeriscaping style (different shades stones) as those trees not known to survive -40 but they did so far. Boxwood with lemongrass and peppermint anywhere I could squeeze in between to deter mice,ants and mosquitoes and fill empty space
