It’s almost time for us to rake the straw away and get down to the business of reclaiming our yard, and we’re in the market for some strange shapes that a gardener at our local nursery likened to images from Dr. Seuss books. To our delight, she found us a not-too-expensive tree my husband has wanted for the yard ever since we moved to the Pacific Northwest: a Weeping Giant Sequoia. Ours is pretty small right now at about four feet, but they grow to ten times that size. Next on the list is something that was a common landscaping plant in the 1940s and ’50s, the Hollywood Juniper. I’ve seen quite a few of these out here — they don’t call this the Evergreen State for nothing. LA Land describes them as “unabashed individualists” that “grow and twist as they please.” I’m not saying this describes us, too, but… Yes, I am. I’m planning on a couple of these for a slightly narrow area in our yard, where they’ll amuse me and block a somewhat unpleasant view. And yes, eventually I’ll share my own photos. –Mary T.

Images via The Gray Barn and Cuyamaca College.