On Mon, 28 Apr 2003 16:55:32 -0500, "Someone"
wrote:
"Frogleg" wrote .
On Sun, 27 Apr 2003 21:14:10 -0500, "Someone"
wrote:

There's a 4 ft wide space between two sides of my garage and the
neighbor's
fence. One side has a beautiful and fragrant vine I've seen at the
nursery
called "Today and Tomorrow" on the top of the fence. The other side has a
tree I've never seen before which is producing black and reddish berries.
The tree is getting sandwiched between the garage wall and the fence.

The ground is covered in weeds and some ferns. It only gets a little bit
of
light. Although the space is not seen often, I'd like to do something to
give it a more finished appearance. I'm thinking of just throwing a whole
bunch of gravel or using a non-climbing ground cover. Any suggestions?

http://photos.yahoo.com/billynare

The 'tree' looks as if might be pokeweed. If so, no reason not to get
rid of it. I would try a narrow gravel 'path' on the side next to
the garage, and some encouragment of the ferny bits next to the fence.
It looks as if ferny-shady-mossy plants might enjoy it there. OTOH,
it's not exactly an area where you would sit out and admire the
mini-garden. In which case, I'd go for all gravel to minimize care.

The berry tree is out of the range of the picture. I think I'll keep it
anyhow as I've seen lots of birds and squirrels have a picnic in it.

OK. I may have misinterpreted. Your 2 pictures seem to show 180-degree
different views of the same narrow strip between a garage and a fence.
One has a blooming viney thing at the end; the other a "sandwiched
tree" that looks like pokeweed.

http://www.vet.purdue.edu/depts/addl/toxic/plant40.htm

Caveat: the only trees I can reliably identify are Willow Oak and
American Sycamore.

Thanks for the idea... how does one encourage ferns?

You got me there. Clear the rubbish. Scritch up the dirt a bit. Be
sure they don't dry out. It appears they occasionally like a little
20-20-20 fertilizer. A couple of species that have taken hold in my
garden seem to be happy with mostly shade and benign neglect. They
spread on their own. Must look up pedigrees.