Goodbye Desert Willow, Hello Grill Throne

Though it was with a twinge of sadness, the time came this weekend to remove the desert willow. See that whispy tree behind the bench?

I loved that desert willow - its pink blooms and the unique scent of its leaves. But I also didn't love it. There were times in its 7-year life in our garden that it was a lovely ornamental tree. But too often it looked like this, all scraggly twigs and thin leaves:

The desert willow (Chilopsis linearis) is a Texas native that naturally occurs out west. The same goes for the feather grass that was planted beneath it, and I've also used that extensively in the garden. I've found that both of those species don't do very well in my garden's soil and light regimes. The Mexican feather grass always looks like crystal meth hair, all limp and matted. Not the wavy gorgeous feather grass of the open sunny Westside gardens.

Well, things have changed a bit at the Grackle. The plants are changing. Some of them that were doing wonderfully just aren't anymore. And some that used to be small, like the xylosma, are becoming quite large.

And sometimes, practicality must overrule design: we needed a place for our new Weber grill. I was sick and tired of going out to the driveway to use the old grill, and tired of the way it looked sitting out there by the cars.

So we said goodbye to the desert willow on this fall equinox, thanking it for all the good times.

In its place, we have created the grill throne.

Now, I actually can't believe that I ripped out a tree (practically a native) to put in a grill. That just seems like heresy, on a certain level. But on another hand, it sure was nice to grill some burgers there tonight. And there is a new simplicity that may be emerging in the back patio zone.

This probably isn't the final design, but it's a start. 

Next steps may include planting a coral honeysuckle vine on the wood slat screen behind the grill, and maybe, if budget allows, moving the steel edging back a bit and expanding the pea gravel patio. That being said, for a guy of my height, the grill being 3-4inches taller is purty nice.

I'm also going to start planting different plants under the xylosma, which has created quite a shady spot. Perhaps I'll move away from several different species and head toward more of a mass planting of something - more sea oats or some other shade tolerant native.

Anyhoo, out with the old in the with the new. Sniff.