When I installed an oversized window in the front of my house, letting in lots of beautiful light, I  found myself feeling a little “exposed” to the outside world.  And I really didn’t want to look out across the street to my neighbor’s yard.  The decision to buy great blinds was very effective for the nighttime.  But I needed something more for the day.

I turned to a fellow plant person for some advice.  She suggested a Japanese Snowbell, or Styrax japonicus, as I wanted a tree that only grew to a certain size, to go with my rather small house.  I wasn’t familiar with the tree but I took a chance.

And here she is, two years later, strutting her stuff and doing a swell job: providing me with  beauty to view and  a “curtain” against the world.  And she’s getting prettier every day!  You can grow your own view, too.