BTW, side yard is in shade most of the day

There used to be Australian Brush Cherries in a very skinny spot in the yard. They grow pretty tall, dense and can be trimmed into a skinny hedge, as tall as you need. We chopped them low a few times to paint behind them, but they grew back straight up and were easy to keep trimmed.

There's a pretty narrow side yard here, probably less than 5 feet due to a long shed we built along the fence. I started building totems out of the 'too many pots' all over the yard. They can be as skinny as you want depending on the size of the pots and are fun and easy to build. Some are just cd racks from yard sales. The second to the left in the last photo is an upside down chimney from a chimenea with a plastic pot in the top. These plants have grown nicely since these photos were taken. I don't have any sprinklers, and water with a hose. These things get water every couple of weeks, but sometimes go a few months (due to being lazy, lol). They're in soil that's as close as possible to Tapla's mix over on the container forum. There's shade cloth above them. Linda

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Abufish, you might want to check out variegated buckthorn, rhamnus alaternus variegata. Drought tolerant once established -- very few plants are drought tolerant before they are established. As an added bonus, the branches are great to use as interesting greenery in flower arrangements.

Kay

PS: There is also an all-green version, but that may get taller than you'd like.

Here is a link that might be useful: Variegated Buckthorn

Linda, Nice plantings!! May i ask where you found those face pots?? I've seen in several peoples yards around here some grasses that look like long blonde hair.I told dh if i can find a pot that looks like a head/face,then i'm gonna but both the pot and the grass.I think that would be soooooooooooooo cool.
TIA
kathi

Hi Kathi, These are the pots that you see sometimes with bare feet underneath. I had seen this pottery store next to the 110 fwy. in Gardena for years. Never had time to stop, so finally made it a point to go there. It's either pottery heaven or pottery he11, depending on your mood. It's a big building filled with every pot you could imagine, but the best part for me is that they have a large clearance section outside. These face pots with no feet were $2.50 each outside on the day I was there. They're available inside with feet in a few sizes. Here are some photos in my album from when I went. Sorry you have to cut and paste. I'm also lindasewandsew on photobucket.

http://s143.photobucket.com/albums/r149/lindasewandsew/Pottery%20Manufacturing%20Store/?start=all

I'm in no way related to this store, other than really liking it. Good thing it's a bit of a drive from my house, lol. There's a nice little nursery one street over from it called Sunflower Farms. It's worth a look too. Have fun, Linda

Here is a link that might be useful: Pottery Place in Gardena