Two weeks ago I tied a rope swing with a strait board seat up in a ash tree between wifes flower beds. I caught hell because it didn't go with her picture of the front yard. Easter sunday when the grand kids saw it for the first time and wouldn't stay of it in their good clothes she sure took a lot of pictures. I suggest a child or 2 smiling would make yours perfect.

We did cut some of those lower branches on the Maple last fall so the lowest branches on the left and on the right are now gone. We did not cut the second to last branch on the right off yet as that branch is thicker and we wanted the tree to get taller before we cut that one off..I like the idea of a higher tree. As for the arbor I have not ruled out putting it on a angle like birdwidow said but I am still thinking along the fence looking at the knockouts roses and trampoline might be more my idea as I love to see my whole yard while swinging. It would need to come out a few feet though from the fence..I was thinking of putting a hosta bed under the Maple in the near future but not sure much would grow under there. Someone sent me a photo once of a flower bed under that maple and it looked kinda neat but wonder if the plants would really do that well there. Ill see if I can find that photo as it was kind of different.. Here it is

I have conjestive heart failure and have the same problem you do. I have a fairly large area of flowerbeds and know i can't take care of them all anymore. I do a little at a time and rest alot. I have benches and chairs scattered along so i don't have far to go to sit and rest tho in the beginning it was'nt planned that way. All of my plants are perannuals or selfseed. I'm trying to get the farthest plants up closer to the house and giving away alot of plants i know i can't take care of. I have mostly spring bulbs,iris,daylilies,hostas and roses with a few other odds and ends of perannuals thrown in. I've started some container houseplants like a geranium,christmas cactus and a double pink begonia as they are easy to take care of. I think mindset is the most important tool for me.I also have chronic deep depression to fight and if doing nothing but sitting and concentrating on my flowers, it helps me. I have to take one plant at a time or even a foot of flower bed at a time and see only the progress i made as progress earned and won. As long as i can see one flower grow because of what i have done. I am a participant in life. vikki, do you have someone to help you sometimes? I do on occasion to do a little heavy work for me. let me know how things are going. vickie with a c and e

George, my understanding of a dynamic accumulator is a plant with deep roots that mines minerals from the soil and stores them in it's leaves. By cutting leaves from the plant and using as mulch you have brought micro-nutrients from deep in the ground and made them available to another plant, such as a fruit tree. If you grow comfrey near the tree, you can chop off part of the comfrey leaves and drop them around the tree to improve the growth of the tree. Sort of like fertilizing and mulching at once without having to haul in anything to do it with. It has long been known that legumes set nitrogen for other plants, and work with the bacteria in the soil, but now there is a good deal of research and information being shared about how trees interact with each other through a fungi net underground. There are several videos available on line and I have linked one below. I have become very interested in the things that Mother Earth seems to do to try to heal herself. For instance, if you have a compacted lawn, dandelions show up. They have roots that go deep and start to open up the soil. I have watched videos lately that show areas in the middle east that have had plants come back that they thought were extinct, and the only action has been to fence off the area from the grazing animals. I seem to have changed the way I look at many things, and am learning that there are a lot more things we can do to help our earth function better. When you have 30 minutes to spare, watch this documentary by John D Liu. I'll bet if you watch it once, you will watch it more than once. It is thought provoking. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iJKiFSQLn4 .............Mother needs a little more help from us. Here is a link that might be useful: Suzanne Simard