Moss. Preferably the thick dense dark green kind of moss that looks like a carpet that grows on the north side of embankments where little sun reaches. How close is your nearest state or national forest or, in the alternative, the nearest dirt road with an embankment that gets little if any sun because of shade trees. Take a drive and/or walk and see what kinds of moss you can find and take some pics. A dozen or so pieces would likely be all you need to get it started because, with the right conditions -- shade and moisture -- it spreads. (Ferns like shade but usually do better with drainage. Moss likes damp but will not grow in a puddle.) Where you have windows, you could create a "view" : With a concrete planter (or on concrete pavers set a large clay planter) with a trellis with English ivy. Alternately, you could buy your own pieces of exterior grade plywood and use deck screws to affix them to the fence posts and horizontal supports of the fence and decorate them w/paint and/or planters and/or metal sculpted art --- get creative.

I'm a first time gardener and taking on an orchard no less : o I want to plant our own trees and have decided that espaliating them would be our best option. Does this look right though : 3m between rows of trees. 3m between individual trees in the rows. Can I group all the same trees next to eachother or are there any trees that should NOT be planted close to any others ? Also, we have clay soil so I will mix in gypsum with the compost and make a "doughnut" of straw around the raised base. Anything else you can think of ?

- Every autumn, street gutters get clogged with the leaves from the street-side planted trees from the UK or other Northern Hemisphere countries. - Our native birds have few, if any, places to feed within our urban areas. - Rotorua, during this last week of stormy weather, has lost two "heritage" trees, one killing a resident when it came down. An arborist had warned the District Council about the dangers the town's "heritage" trees posed. The fatally fallen tree was so rotten inside a man could have stood inside the trunk's space. All the "heritage" trees are in such a state that they have "supporting" braces of wire or planks. Our native trees are evergreen, which means they drop their leaves - mostly tiny 1 cm long and very narrow - all year round, and are so small they are easily swept into storm drains without clogging them. Why, oh why, do our councils insist on planting oaks, maples etc., rather than Kowhai, Puriri and other natives? I am wondering - how many (if any) towns or cities have planted their roadsides with natives?

Supposed to say ‘for privacy’ and I don’t know how to edit my post!!!!