What fun! And GOOD job.

Nice, neat work on the sagos. We'll keep our fingers crossed. This has been the kind of exceptional winter where some of our less hardy plants will croak. The black material is landscape fabric. You'll end up getting rid of it, eventually. It's 'supposed' to keep the weeds down, but fails miserably. It simply gets in the way of normal landscaping tasks, and certainly impedes the free infiltration of water and fertilizer as well as the exchange of soil and atmospheric gases.

The ligustrum sure look better. I'd let the tops get a bit longer, if they belonged to me. They would look more natural. I wouldn't worry about the big holes in the base of the trunks. If these were larger trees, yes. These were caused by insects/disease/animals or all three. If you begin to see the top part begin to fail, then remove that trunk to the base. Until then, do nothing (you can't 'cure' it.) The green stuff along the trunk is called lichen (LYE-kin), a harmless life-form that is simply using the trunk for physical support. There are thousands of different species of lichen. You've probably even seen the growing on rocks!

Ophiopogon develops little blue (dark blue) berries, too. I still think that this is what you have; the leaves look too thin to be one of the liriopes to me. The lawn mower is a perfectly good instrument to use for this job!

Great job on everything. Aren't you pleased with yourself on how it all looks?

Everything looks great....good job!

The sagos will probably all be fine. The caudex crowns on closeup pics two, three & four all look great. I'm not quite sure about pic one, but it may just be the angle of the pic. Around mid april I would hit them with a high nitrogen lawn fertilizer (with NO herbicide) that also has the minor nutrients, especially Manganese, which is what they need. In an approx 18" radius around each crown work into the soil a handfull or two of fertilizer & water in good. I'll almost bet they flush well before June 1.

One more suggestion for the liriope (sorry Rhizo, but the leaves look too WIDE for mondo IMHO), you may not want to tackle it this year but I think the long border along your sidewalk needs to be contained somewhat. I think liriope looks best as a border with a maintained uniform width of about 10 - 12" wide max. So I'd take a straight edge & dig a line approx 1' from your sidewalk and remove all the liriope between that line & the metal or plastic edging that's already there. Then perhaps add some annual color in that space between the liriope & the edging. The dug liriope can be easily transplanted to a new area to create a new border or just planted in clumps.

Keep us posted on the sagos, I'm anxious to see how they do.

If it is Liriope, then it's the turf forming L. spicata. Also called Creeping (or something like that) Lily Turf, if my memory is correct. Good LUCK keeping it within bounds, lol! It can be useful as a turf replacement (only mow once per year!!) for those locations that aren't hospitable to grass NOR ornamentals.

Good job! Y'all have worked hard, so enjoy it.

You may wind up getting rid of some of the shrubs close to the house if you find constant pruning as much of a chore as I do. There are a lot of perennials and dwarf shrubs that would do well there and wouldn't have to be pruned a lot to keep them in check. For now, though, those look good and you have plenty of time to decide what you want to do.

Alice

Thank you guys for all of the support & encouragement. Even though it was quite a bit of work, we really enjoyed being outdoors and making the property look better. I also enjoyed researching the different shrubs and plants and have started noticing (in detail) our neighborhood's landscapping...I can see this turning into a great couples hobby!

The next project is what you guys ID'd as Loropetalum rubrum:

I've read that they are low maintenence plants, but as you can see from the picture, they're starting to crowd the deck. I also read that they can be aggressively pruned to shape and should be done so in early Spring. Also, I wanted to ask if the below picture shows any suckers:

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And pic of plant crowding deck:

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The Loropetalum (pink flowers) can be grown as a shrubby plant, or it can be limbed up to a tree form. It does beautifully in the latter form because you can expose multiple or one trunk and let the top get as tall as it wants to. They aren't small plants and don't like to be muscled into a limited size. (Unless you're practicing bonsai, but that's another story.) They are often purchased when they are small and tidy and are told that they will remain that way.

If you limbed this one up, you'd remove all of the branches, or many of them, that seem to be crowding the steps. The top, if left alone, could become a canopy over that corner. Left to grow naturally, with the exception of keeping the trunk exposed, these plants make beautiful small trees. If you prune the top on a regular basis, you'll create a 'ball on a stick' effect, something I assume you'd like to avoid.

Of course, I can't see the reality of your situation. It might be that this is a case of the wrong plant being installed in the first place. It wouldn't be the first time that happened, lol. If you honestly think that this plant is going to be a nuisance no matter what you do to it, remove it! Plants are a renewal commodity. There's no reason for you to be held ransom by a shrub, though I've sure seen a lot of people do so.

If this were my shrub and my house? I'd attack those lower limbs to see what kind of skeleton this plant has. I'd decide on a single trunk or multiple trunks depending upon what I find up underneath those petticoats, lol. After limbing it, I'd live with it awhile to see if it fit in or was a problem child, whapping people in the head all the time.

By the way, you'd spend a BUNCH of money on a tree-form loropetalum that size at a garden center! They are tres' popular!

I've attached a link with an example for you. This one has been lollypopped a bit more than I like, but you get what I mean. Loropetalum will develop a spreading canopy, even slightly weeping, on its own. Pretty.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:359356}}

I agree with rhizo. Get a stool to sit on ;-) and start at the bottom, trimming off every small branch. Frequently step back from the plant and take a good look at it. As you go, you'll begin to see what the bones of the plant look like and can decide later whether you want to remove any of the trunks. It looks like it's been sheered back in the past, so it has lots of small branches that will take a while to get rid of. It may take a year or two to get it looking like you want it to, but it could be a wonderful mid-height focal point. You can plant a variety of things along the sides of the deck which will stay shorter without pruning. Just don't plant them as close to the deck as this plant is so they'll have room to fill out naturally. Show us the after pics of the loropetalum.

We didn't answer your question about whether there are suckers on the first loropetalum you showed. With plants like these that are growing on their own roots, suckers are not a problem since they'll be the same as the rest of the plant. Those are just a concern on something that's been grafted onto the root of a different variety which can send up shoots of the root variety instead of the grafted one you want. For things like the loropetalum or crepe myrtles, the question is whether it's a trunk you want to keep. If you want a multi-trunk plant and need the new shoot to complete the overall shape, keep it. If not, cut it down. There's not enough of that particular plant showing in the picture to make a judgment, but it looks like there's one good straight trunk and the rest go off in strange directions and shapes. The one growing toward the house could be a problem. Personally, I prefer these with multiple trunks, but this close to the house and with the awkward side trunks, you may need to cut away all but the one good one. There may be other suckers later that will develop into nice side trunks with proper pruning, but that would take some time.

Well, here are the 'after' pics of the Loropetalum...my wife insisted that they be pruned into shape and out of the way. I tried to convince her that they shouldn't be muscled into shape, but I think this should do for now. I read that a mulch ring at the base helps with severe temps, would you guys recommend this as well...maybe with pine straw?

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Looks pretty darned good!!!! And yes, mulch is the absolute single best thing you can do for your shrubs and trees (and their root/soil systems). Just be sure to make the area larger than you think it should be and do NOT pile it up against the trunk. Your goal is to create a good environment for the roots, and you want those roots to grow far and wide.

That looks much better.

I'd emphasize the part about not piling mulch against the trunk -- of any plant. That would hold moisture against the trunk and provide a comfy home for insects and diseases. Put a thick (4" or so) of wood chips or pine straw in a big donut around the base of the tree with a "hole" that comes no closer than 4" to the trunk. As it decomposes over time it provides organic material for the soil, so leave it in place and just add fresh mulch as needed to maintain the thickness.

The Sagos made it! Thanks for your help everyone!

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Wow, did they ever. They look great.

Your pruning and cleanup jobs all look fantastic.

lj, everything looks great. Wondering what zone you're in - I'm wanting to plant my Sago outside since it's getting too heavy to bring in for the winter. I'd be OK with some dieback if it came back as pretty as yours afterwards - and keep up the good work.

Thanks for the encouragement guys!

Barnold, I'm in Montgomery (Zone 8) if that helps.

Rhizo, you were right about the liriope, it is the creeping kind (L. spicata) and it's sprouting up all over the place, lol. I just keep pulling it up.

My next project is planting some alaleas where the pittosporum used to be. You can use this link to see the pics in the azalea forum thread:

Here is a link that might be useful: Azalea project

Boy, sorry about the liriope. A subcontractor put in a huge planting of what were supposed to be Liriope muscari 'Big Blue' on an undisclosed site in Huntsville. Turns out that there were a lot of spicata mixed in. There may be a lawsuit in the future. It's ruined the planting design.

I'm impressed with how well the Sago came back for you.