"Isn't that beautiful corn in those people's front yard?" I asked."I will not have corn growing in my front yard," said my husband.
"Corn is a handsome plant. It gives a lush, tropical air."
"I will not have corn growing in my front yard."
So we didn't have corn next year. Our back yard was shaded, except for one part, and I had decided to grow roses there instead of corn.
The year after that I returned to argument: "What if we planted corn in side yard? It gets lots of sun."
"I will not have corn in my front yard."
"This wouldn't be front yard. It would be side yard. And you remember how delicious corn tastes when you pick it five minutes before you cook it?"
He thought about how delicious corn tastes. "I guess side yard isn't front yard," he said. "Okay. You can grow corn in side yard."
"And I'll plant a hedge out front so people can't see corn as they drive by."
"That's even better."
So I began to plan a hedge.
We had many children in our Virginia neighborhood. Why not plant a hedge they could enjoy?
In corner next to our neighbor's property, I began hedge with a serviceberry bush (an Amelanchier). Serviceberry bushes and trees vary in size. Mine ended up about eight feet tall, with feathery white blossoms in spring and brilliant orange leaves in fall. In summer it produced tiny black berries with one drawback: between birds and children, they zipped off that bush. I got exactly two berries one year and none thereafter. I can state, on basis of those two berries, that they taste a good deal like huckleberries. They are good.
At other end of hedge, in a strip facing driveway, I planted black raspberries -- which felt so peppy they hardly knew what to do with themselves. I didn't know they needed to be tied to supports, and they stuck ten-foot stalks in all directions. They looked awful. They tasted fantastic.