Our patio went from a shady haven to flagstone hell! But there was nothing we could do--the tree was just on the neighbors' side of the property line.
After a few miserable weeks (it took them three weeks to get the tree down, AND they had to work out of our back yard to do it) I started trying to find an upside.
Our roses on the back fence would get lots more sun. Our grass would probably do better. Our water bills would be less (we were the ones watering that huge root system for the last twenty years, after all.) And, um...still thinking.
All possibly good things, but none of them solved the issue of the deck and especially the patio being unusable from about one o'clock in the afternoon on.
Then, one morning as I was taking a walk, I noticed a neighbor had a shade sail over their driveway. Hmm. I started to research. I consulted the practical hubby, who said it could be done, and we plunged in. We went for the red that picked up the color in our Japanese maples (which we hope survive. They are under story trees, not meant for full afternoon sun.)
And here we are, lots of hardware, rope, ladders, and a post later, besailed!
A sail over a small part of the deck, and a bigger one over a section of the patio. We had to put in a post at the back fence to hold the third point on the patio sail, but it shades at least a section of the patio until late afternoon. (The fence point on the sail is where the tree used to be.)
My little paradise may not be quite restored, but it's certainly improved, and the sails make me smile every time I look at them. I got to plant a few of my shade-loving pots, as well.
And the sunny parts of the deck are thriving.
I may still not be a happy camper when the temps hit the upper nineties, but I'm trying to make the best of things. We have a third sail that we think we may block a little more sun from our west-facing sun porch windows, but we haven't had a chance to put it up.
So, dear REDs and readers, how have you made the best of an unpleasant or distressing situation? It does force you to be creative.
(And thanks to Jasmine and Dax for the photo-bombing:-))
What a clever idea! So glad you’ve found a way to get some shade for your patio . . . .
ReplyDeleteWe once lived in a house with a small, poorly-planned patio with no shade. We never used it until we hit on the idea of converting it into a sunroom. Best decision ever . . . .
This looks fantastic! when one of our kids needed to stay with us for an extended period, my husband bit the bullet, organized his (to him: treasures/to me: junk) so we could convert his rarely used "office" (the one he could barely turn around in) and converted it to a lovely guest bedroom. Proving even for him, people are more important than stuff.
ReplyDeleteHooray for Jerry! But where did he put all his treasures? Have they crept back into the guest room?
DeleteGood for you for thinking creatively! Shade is so important.
ReplyDeleteI'm off to get ready for a full day of Pennwriters, but if I think of an instance where I found a solution, I'll pop back and add it.
Have fun, Edith!
DeleteThe sails are so cute! I was certain you were going to say you planted a lemon tree! Do you have any fruit trees that grow in your neck of the woods? Wouldn't a fig tree be a wonderful addition?
ReplyDeleteFig tarts! YUM!
DeleteYes, there is a fig tree on the back fence--which will now get more sun and water!
DeleteLucy, we can only grow lemons in pots. They have to be brought in for the winter. Maybe this year I'll invest in one.
DeleteI love the sails--colorful and practical! A quicker solution than planting a tree, but I also love Lucy's idea of a lemon tree :-)
ReplyDeleteI desperately would love a screened porch, but it's not going to happen any time soon. I have a smallish back patio on the south side of the house--not as fierce as Texas summers, but no shade. So I put a three-seater swing with an adjustable sunshade on one end of the patio. We can sit outside and enjoy the backyard with some relief from the sun.
Flora, there's no way we could have planted a tree to replace the elm. It would have taken another life time to provide that sort of shade. But our old pecan tree, which is anchoring one point on the patio sale, was crowded by the elm canopy. I think the pecan will begin to grow out over the patio. Still no protection from the west sun, but maybe more shade for midday.
DeleteI would love a screened porch, too. Unfortunately, our sun porch was the original screened porch on the house, glassed in long before we bought it. I can't say I'd trade it (as I sit her typing, looking out at the back garden) but it leaves us with no place to put another screened porch. For years we've thought we'd turn the old garage, which we just use as a storage shed, into a sort of screened in cabana. I'd still love to do that, but I think I'll need to win the lottery--or sell my books to TV!
Sell your books to TV? Yes, please!
DeleteI meant patio "sail", above!
DeleteI love the shade sails, and also the new vines you have growing over your pergola after you lost the Cecile Bruner roses to rose rosette disease. You are a great example of the "adapt and prevail" attitude, and all your David Austin roses will be so much happier.
ReplyDeleteAs for me, when my beloved Mustang had to undergo a surprise heart transplant recently (new engine!) I completely freaked out, but Ford shouldered some of the cost, and the dealership gave me an Explorer as a loaner car while mine was in their shop. The Explorer (4x4, third row seating, almost as wide as my driveway) is definitely not my kind of vehicle (I don't have a soccer team to haul around) but it is the kind of car the main character in my work in progress drives, so I figure I just did six weeks of valuable research.
So I am expecting more chapters soon, Gigi-:)
DeleteAnd, Gigi, oh, the Cecile Bruners. That was a tragedy, all right. But we planted native coral honeysuckle (which will now get more sun!) and after a couple of years, it's growing up in the top of the pergola. And the hummingbirds love it.
DeleteAnd all the other roses we lost to horrible rose rosette have been replaced with David Austins, so that's another lemonade from lemons.
After our first ice storm in Atlanta, when the tall, skinny pine trees snapped mid-trunk and boomed as the telephone pole-sized trunks hit the ground, I had the three pine trees in our front yard removed. We had a snowstorm the same year, during which I realized that we had the only sledding hill in the neighborhood. I didn't replant, so the kids would have the joy, every two or three years, of sliding down a snowy hill on plastic trash can lids.
ReplyDeleteLove the sails! Your patio is still lovely.
I love the red sails! Please post pics when you get the third one installed.
ReplyDeleteI recently found some things on Etsy that may be the solution to my need for green growing things while limited to a patio-less apartment. It's too soon to tell but I'm hopeful.
Debs, the sails are beautiful… Very elegant, and kind of like the Sydney opera house, right? And yes, the scourge of a tree cutting neighbor is just… The worst. You know we had the same situation, which seems to be on hold for a while. ( we called in arborists of our own to get ahead of the situation, and now I am just crossing fingers. )
ReplyDeleteChange is difficult, and transition is horrible, especially when you feel helpless, and that you are on the losing end of the deal. Which, here, indeed you were!
But what an elegant and glamorous and uplifting solution!
How have I made lemonade out of lemons? I’m sure I’ll think of some examples, because rationalizing, reassessing, and moving ahead… that’s what we do, right? About this? My publisher had a terrific down price for TRUST ME last weekend, and made it a Mother’s Day special. But, from some technical glitch, after all my promotion and sales efforts it only happened Friday and Saturday, but not Mother’s Day . So frustrating! But I said, that’s OK… Things happen -) as a result… They are doing it again! So watch for news.
Exactly, Hank!! Fingers crossed for Trust Me!
DeleteIsn't it nice how when you are gracious about something, people respond positively--in your example, by doing the promo again. Good for you!
DeleteCreative Debs finds a creative solution. How will you handle high wind alerts? can the sails be furled? As I write this I am humming red sails in the suuuunseeeet....
ReplyDeleteAs far as solutions, our neighbor now gone neighbor did not clean up after his dog. I allowed pampas grass to grow -- a fierce weed in Fl, along with bamboo it provided a living wind break and screened our back yard. Will bamboo grow in your area? It worked for me.
Oh, Coralee, the old neighbors in the same house (who were our friends) planted bamboo. It's now a little bamboo forest that has edged into the adjoining yards, including ours. I've just noticed some coming up on our side of the fence and need to go cut it down.
DeleteThe big patio sail (it's 16 feet) is attached to the pole by a pulley and a cleat, so we can just take it down. We may do that this morning--storms coming in. The deck sail can be unclipped but it takes a ladder to do it. That one doesn't get nearly as much wind movement, however.
And we did take it down. Severe thunderstorms going on here now.
DeleteOne more good thing that has come from the loss of the tree--fewer squirrels. We have always had such a plague of squirrels here, I'm sure at least partly because of our native pecan tree. The last few years they've dug up all my pots on the deck and the patio continually, and they even dug the pots on our front porch--the nerve! But I wonder of most of their nests were in the elm tree, because we've seen so few this spring, and so far only one pot has had any damage. Fingers crossed.
ReplyDeleteIf anyone else is looking for a shade solution, we have been so impressed with these sails. We ordered them from Amazon, and they are not expensive. Of course you also have to buy the rope and the hardware, and we had to put in a ten foot post, but all that was still very affordable. We thought about looking into putting a retractable awning on the sun porch, but our pecan tree is in the way--and we are not taking it down.
ReplyDelete1) Love your backyard. 2) In awe of your green thumb. 3) The sails are a great idea and less leaves to dispose of in the fall (trying to find one positive about the neighbor's tree removal��). 4) My lemonade out of lemons moment....I know there has to be one but I can't seem to think of one right now....I'm sure will pop into my mind, I'm sure one will...soon....I'll let you know...
ReplyDeleteCan't you put up a huge sail that completely blocks your neighbor's view?
ReplyDeleteRhys, we wish...
DeleteYEAH. And a big noise-making thing.
DeleteWhat a great solution and gorgeous backyard.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kait! It is so pretty this time of year that I want to spend every minute outside!
DeleteLove the sails & your yard is so pretty. I live in an apartment & there are a lot of rules as to what I can/cannot do on the outside of my apartment to help block the sun. Even tho I have a covered balcony, the patio door/window faces west, so it gets a lot of sun. I have a patio umbrella (it's allowed since it's patio furniture) that I place in front of the window. It helps block a lot of the sun.
ReplyDeleteDebs, I love your back yard, and I desperately wish I had your patio-to-grass ratio. I have SO much mowing to do (and won't get to, since I'm headed back up to Orono to pick up Youngest again) and it's supposed to rain again on Sunday.)
ReplyDeleteI hope we all get a chance to see it in person during Bouchercon!
Julia, that patio grew like topsy over the years, because we couldn't keep grass alive. But we have a LOT more grass than you can see in this pic.
DeleteBrilliant solution! Such a shame, though, to lose a lovely tree for no good reason. Could you have refused the use of your yard for the work? A beautiful old oak had to be removed to build my neighbor's house. I tried to tell it to move back just a bit, but trees just don't work that way. I love the hickory in my yard, which shades in the summer and allows winter light to warm me. The squirrels love the nuts, but fox, hawk, and other predators have seriously depleted their number. That circle of life is sometimes cruel.
ReplyDeleteMary, we could have refused, but both our lawyer and the city arborist told us that they could eventually make us let them use our property, and we might as well save ourselves the grief of a long, ugly battle.
DeleteThose sails look great! I hope you get several years out of them. Our backyard neighbors cut down a huge tree a few years back and we lost our nice shady backyard - it was a blow to the grandkids as they liked to play croquet out there and with no shade it was just too hot on a summer day. I understand taking down big trees - the roots go wild and get into the pipes. The neighbor across the street had to take down a beautiful tree about the same time due to the roots getting into the sewer pipes. We need to realize this when planting that those trees need a lot of space when they get mature and most backyards are not big enough.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photos! Wonderful stories about making lemonade out of lemons. I have a perfect example. We were going to buy a condo and when we tried to get a loan from the Bank of America in 2003, they denied the loan. REASON: there was a pending lawsuit against that condo because of mold! The real estate salesperson should have told us about the mold and NEVER told us about the mold! It is dangerous to have mold in the building! Still very grateful to the bank for denying the loan because otherwise, we would have never found out about the mold!
ReplyDeleteWe wound up finding a better condo with a smarter real estate person. I always recommend this real estate person. We are still friends. He and his partner invited us to a dinner party at heir new house and we went over to their house.
A Deaf friend was acting in silent films. He has since passed away. When they switched over to the talkies, he decided to become a filmmaker and he produced films with Deaf actresses and actors. He made a wonderful documentary about travelling to Cuba in the 1930s. His wife was diagnosed with Lou Ghering's disease. And she was given one year to live. He discovered that vitamin B12? would help. His wife lived 50 more years after the diagnosis! His name was Ernest Marshall.
Diana
What great stories, Diana!
DeleteAww thank you, Deb!
DeleteI feel sad that all the TV shows are ending. But more time to read and garden!
ReplyDeleteChiming in late, but I have a great example of lemonade from lemons. This involves a tree. We had a difficult driveway to get in and out of. It was shared with people who lived farther back. Very narrow and difficult to back out of, so we used a little "slot" parking area to back into and then head down the driveway. For years the slot was vacant, and then suddenly someone started parking there. We either had to do some fancy maneuvering to get the car to face the right direction, or back down the driveway. Years earlier, someone had botched a pruning of a tree at the edge of the driveway (I'll bet you can guess where I'm going here.) One day I was looking at this very ugly, gnarly tree and suddenly thought, "Why is that tree even there. It does nothing for anyone--no shade, no beauty, no fruit." We had it taken out that very week, and presto, there was plenty of room to turn around. Sometimes things look you right in the face and you don't see them. And bravo for your "sail" solution.
ReplyDelete