Thanks for your opinions regarding the pines. I guess I would like to get back to my original bed area in front of house (my fault for taking it another direction) I have decided to put a magnolia in the left "triangle" bed in front of the big rock. We are going to leave the bed dimensions as they are (put in lawn irrigation system in fall) moving beds would require sprinker heads to be moved. I never liked the tree on the right side of house so going to move on there. There is a wind break/ and for some privacy on lot line of austrian pines (love em) we will be installing this spring on the right side of home (50' off side of house) including other trees and shrubs all the way back. I also am putting a fall fiesta or oct. glory maple way way in the back by current wood line. SC77, looked up that birch have not heard of it here. At last house had 2 different types of river birch and then bought 3 white himalayan birches. The japanese beetles are very bad here for about a month. They killed the himalayan birches and were in the tops of the river ones but didnt really make a dent. I dont use too many chemicals and shy away from imidaclopred (sp?) to treat them and have decided at this house to try to stay away from japanese beetle favorites. Do you happen to know if they love that white birch. I havent seen that birch at garden centers here so also would be hard to track down, but will keep my eyes out for it. So back to the front bed SC77 interested in what conifers you would recommend as the "yellow" shrubs flanking the enterance demonstrated in Yardvaarks plan above? Not into overly sculpted ones. I have decided on some green velvet boxwoods (not a hedge) with space inbetween and coral bells and little lime hydrangea on right side and magnolia on left. I have always had a hard time incorporating smaller evergreens into landscape. Last house we had golden globe arb which for me is as sculptural as I like to get, but I liked that one. How could you see it used on this plan. Thanks for everyones help.

I did some reading on this recently. In a quick cruise of my bookmarks I don't see the links (I can look again when less tired), but basically what I found was that studies show tree fruits do not put much of the copper and arsenic from treated wood into their fruits, although it shows up in other parts of the tree. The fruit is pretty safe. (The study was on particular varieties of apricots and apples, and the guess is that this is true for other fruits as well.) Vegetables that you eat the roots and leaves of, OTOH, are more problematic. Especially roots. Near houses and roads, lead is an issue. It is not recommended that you plant leafy vegetables there -- or, if you do, wash them very thoroughly. A lot of the lead is in surface dust on plant leaves, and on the dirt on root vegies, rather than in the tissues of the plants, so you can wash it off. You might consider raised beds... if you know the history of the dirt you would be importing.

Hellllooooooo...... I need some help please :) Im currently attempting my first garden :) lol I havent done much yet, except decide im going to do it, chose to do a vertical garden, decided to use pallets, and what vegetable to choose! I contact a craiglist liste for pallets, they are in the building!!!! Im so excited, but now I need help with some basics.... 1. How do I know they are ok to use...as far as putting vegatables, ill be eatting, to grow in them... pressure treated/arsenic in 2015, has there been changes since the orginal post? How about the wood being ok to use as far as insects? Is there anything else I should look out for?!? 2. I was going to be painting the pallets, does this affect the vegetables I will be gardening? Obviously after letting it cure for a few days..... :) 3. I was going to put KRYLON UV-Resistant clear acrylic coating over finish product to seal in the color of the paint and protect the wood..... lol I am no profeffesional..but this is something that seemed logical to me and I have also used this on garden statues...n the statues still look tip top after 2 or so years...? Im sure this is just the beginning of my question but I think it a good start.... I would value any advice :):) Thanks so much Caitlin

Thank you, Rodney, for clarifying that this site is not just pnw gardeners. I must admit it is a more active blog. The other Houzz site I found that had a LOT of Central Floridians on was 1. Lot of 2011 comments, 2. Tied up with a controversy over earth worms. The blogs were interesting, entertaining, and a little better then watching the grass grow. Just to satisfy my curiosity I found a site that gave analysis findings on NP&K contained in EW castings. My take on it was just like humans you are what you eat. Now your raised bed comment. Yes it is more work. My oldes daughter and I went dumpster diving for the original boards that I used for the raised bed and they showed me what termites and moisture can do in a verrry short time in a sub-tropical climate. Social Security Disability income and age can put a new twist on your list of objectives when approaching a project. Projects in General will have a better chance of being successful if care is taken in the preparation. You would not paint a room without first masking and putting down drop cloths to protect the different surfaces. I went through 70k for surgeries, medical supplies, living expenses, and still lost my house. I took the last 40k and bought a HUD foreclosure, 2007 manufactured home on 1/2 acre so I would not be homeless. I can spend all day in my yard and garden doing what is needed, takes me all day sometimes, but it is my physical and mental "health insurance" and cheaper than a gym. The location of the garden was non-negotiable, although I did manage to give it a north/south orientation, but the previous owner must have had a love affair with rocks because 1 1/2-2 in. below surface is a layer of stones. Hell will freeze over before I can excavate all of that from the garden site, tried, so raised beds some 12 in. high was necessary. Dumpster diving is out, daughter moved to another state, and I can't do it myself so I need to buy the cheapest boards but not have to replace ever. My most recent chuckle/saying is "I am taking my bad knees,no more operations, and my raised bed boards to the grave with me, proverbially speaking. In the past; I did invest in good tools, "toys", if you saw the video demonstrating the ancient japanese method of wood preservation they are using a big torch I have a Dragon torch, handy little critter, makes the job easy, kinda like watching grass grow. I use a battery operated drill to screw the boards together since hammers, nails and I do not get along. Voila, raised bed my "mixing bowl" for all things needed create good organic soil. :) :) Happy Turkey Day BTW to everyone. Nov. 26, 2015