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Psst..There’s a Killer View Behind Your Old Hedge!

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Written by Shirley Bovshow

Friday, 16 May 2008

Modern Family Living :: with Shirley Bovshow I had an epiphany while working at my client Rhonda's house one day. I was doing one of my "design discovery" expeditions around her back yard looking for site weaknesses and stregnths and invisioning things that are not there, (yet). I took note of the mature Melaluca and Eucalyptus trees and jotted down that they were keepers for the new design. My eyes panned over to the stately and verdant Privet hedge that must have taken years to grow so tall. Nice. Rhonda even mentioned to me earlier that morning how much she liked her hedge. The hedge is a keeper too, I thought,…then it hit me!

How come I drive up a very steep hill to get to Rhonda's house and there is no view from her yard? Rhonda's next door neighbor has an awesome view of the valley below and hillside beyond, but Rhonda has nothing. Armed with my always ready-for-battle loppers, I ditched my portable beach chair and headed toward the hedge, confident I was going to find hidden treasure. A wayward branch smacked me on the forehead and welcomed me with a nasty scratch. "Great," I thought, "Welcome to the jungle!"

The privet hedge was over 6 feet deep and densely branched!

I detangled some branches and reached in with the goal of spreading the branches apart with my hands so that I could see what was behind them. I didn't want to cut into the foliage because I thought Rhonda would be upset if I disfigured her hedge and found nothing but the site of her neighbors side yard. Being the persistent person that I am, I went in deeper, sacraficing my body as a human wedge , using it to pry open the branches of the woody web while fighting back the ants and bugs that resented my intrusion.

I saw a small beam of light. My hands were cramping as I tried to keep the small view tunnel open, so I let go. At this point, I was confident that there was a big sky view beyond, at least I imagined there was. My only option in confirming my hunch was to cut through the branches and open up a port hole. Rhonda wasn't home so I couldn't ask for permission. "What the heck," I thought, let her get angry…she's gonna love this view I found for her!

"Eureka," there's a view behind this hedge. A great big view of the sky and the thick layer of smog that lingers over the Valley! What a beautiful sight! I felt like Lewis and Clark must have felt when they set their eyes on the Rockies.( Yes, I'm obnoxiously enthusiastic about little "finds" like this.) I couldn't wait for Rhonda to get home and proudly show her the big hole I made in her hedge and the million dollar view I found. I showed her my scratch too, it complimented my story and proved how much I had" gone out on a limb for her."

The lounge area was created to enjoy the view from.

Rhonda looked puzzled at first, wondering why her hedge had come under attack.

"Come here Rhonda, look at your view, you have a view behind your hedge, I emphasised.

I smiled, hoping I'd see a big smile on her face too. She poked her head through the porthole and came out exclaiming, though it sounded more like questioning.

"I have a view? I have a view? Since when?

"Since now," I answered back.

I reached for my loppers and started to cut more branches without asking permission. I knew I was safe as every felled branch revealed more and more open sky and pried a wider smile on my clients face. The view is a focal point for the lounge area I created and extends her yard beyond the limits that her old hedge held back. What's not to smile about?

Shirley Bovshow is an in-demand landscape designer in Los Angeles and the designer/co-host of the television show, “Garden Police” airing on the Discovery Home Channel. Visit her website at ShirleyBovshow.com and her blog at EdenMakersBlog.com.