GARDEN SURROUNDINGS: Making Changes in the Garden

2 hours ago

4 min read

By Francesca Filanc, for Let’s Talk Plants! November 2026. All photos by Francesa Filanc.

Here we are in November 2026. This month marks my six-year anniversary writing for SDHS. I’m forever grateful to Karen England for asking me to write an article for the magazine every month. Writing about gardens and gardening gives me such joy. November is a perfect month to write about changes in the garden as we come deep into Autumn. Seasons of the year signify change.

Dishes embracing the end of summer, a perfect time to dine outdoors.

A few weeks ago, I noticed that I had to make some big changes in the garden. There are a large number of Cypress trees outside the perimeter of the garden that are extremely tall and have given lovely privacy to the Garden all of these years.

Cypress tree providing privacy to the garden.

Since I moved to this property in 2016, we have lost four or five of these trees. Several of them just started to fall over slowly and luckily nobody was injured. My Gardner and I actually watched two of the Cypress gently fall over several years ago.

We planted Podocarpus about six months ago that will grow up and take the place of the Cyprus as they die out. Several years ago, I considered taking them all out, but then that would’ve been extremely expensive and I would’ve had no privacy from the street. Instead, we decided to plant the Podocarpus and to cut back all the dead in the Cypress trees.

Podocarpus growing beneath aging cypress trees.

Recently, we noticed a lot more dead and another Cypress tree looked dead. Several years ago, my friend Hudson over at Armstrongs told me that this type of Cyprus has a life to them 20 years old is about the end of their life span.

It worked out so organically to have the one ‘Leyland' Cypress taken down recently, and then I asked the gardeners to prune the other Cypress trees to get out all the dead from underneath, and that would give more space for the Podocarpus to grow.

Vegetable garden at the cusp of seasonal turnover.

Meanwhile, you might remember an article that I wrote back in January when I put vegetable garden raised beds on my front lawn. Most everybody loved it but one neighbor wasn’t happy so I moved them back to the original vegetable garden area. Several years ago an avocado tree grew either from my green waste compost that we make from my kitchen scraps or birds and also a fig tree volunteer. I’ve written about it in past articles and have had up to 40 or 50 delicious figs in a season. This year the figs did not mature properly and would drop off while they were still small.

Last month , the gardeners removed the volunteer avocado tree. We decided to remove it because we never grafted the tree. I used to think it was a novelty to have it growing as a volunteer, but in the interest of change, removing it would give more sun in the area that used to be the vegetable garden so the vegetables would grow again.

Basil benefiting from more sun reaching the vegetable garden.

It was thrilling to see how beautiful the Leyland Cyprus looked after the gardeners pruned all of the dead out of them along the road. One of my favorite places in the world is Carmel by-the-sea, Big Sur and the Monterey Peninsula. Peter and I, my deceased husband, first traveled there on our honeymoon and then we used to go most every anniversary. We love Monterey Cypress looking so romantic with the ocean behind them up in that area of the world. These Leyland Cypress have a similar look, although different variety now that they have been pruned. And it gives me so much joy and I think of that area of the world every day when I look at them.

Cleaned up cypress trees with Podocarpus growing beneath.

Change can be difficult, but when we embrace it, it can be an improvement in our life and also in the garden.

The artichoke that never grew big because there was too much shade will thrive and grow big now in the vegetable garden. The artichoke plant actually made two pups. We planted all three of them in the space where the volunteer fig was removed.

I’m looking forward to growing tomatoes, this spring, and having a thriving vegetable garden in this area again with more sun in the garden, this can be accomplished.

Sunflowers bring sunny warmth to the garden.

Marigolds provide reliable early autumn color.

Sunflowers and zinnias bursting with color.

As much as we might fight change, it can be a real positive once we allow it to happen. The sunflowers and zinnias and Marigolds are all thriving looking like an “Alice and Wonderland Garden” behind the swimming pool. When I swim laps every day, I sing “Alice in Wonderland “as I do the backstroke and “In A World of My Own”. As I swim, I think of my grandchildren and children with every lap . The dogs are happy one usually up by the deep end of the pool and one on the other side of the pool, the shallow end. I swim the crawl one direction and then on my back the other direction I can sing and look at the beautiful garden.