The reason(s) amending of soils in small areas is counterproductive do not vary with the type of soil. Sandy, silty or clay-like, it makes no difference. You do not want to install plants in pockets, strips or zones of one soil texture surrounded by soil of a different texture, as this sets them up for likely problems with how water moves into and out of the soil around their roots. In the case of plants to be left in place for many years (or indefinitely) without lifting and re-planting there is no point in incorporating organic soil texture modification materials (bark, compost, peat...) even if the bed is large enough to minimize or eliminate water movement problems for most of the plants - once the amendments decompose the effects they produce will be lost. Inorganic amendments like perlite and sand do not decompose but enormous amounts of these have to be added to change a heavy soil into a light one. And if too much is added then a droughty and infertile (leaching) situation may be produced, that may be more limiting than a heavy clay-like soil. The most straightforward approach is to choose plants adapted to the existing soil type and plant these in wide, shallow holes dug out of that, loosening it over a wide area beforehand and mulching well afterward. The most satisfactory mulch for woody plants appears to be clean wood chips. If arborist wood chips available nearby tend to have bramble stem sections or other undesirable material mixed in then play chips from a local dealer may be the best bet. Ones we obtain here as cedar play chips are very nice but have become quite pricey, as far as it goes.

Thanks for your ideas. KarinL, I'd forgotten about those aerials. I am horrible at visualizing how to frame the house--especially since it's a fixer-upper needing a facelift right now. This place was a gift from my husband--I'd always wanted a farm(ette) in a rural area that didn't take long to drive to from our main house. It's my get away place where I have pretty much free reign to do as I would like with the house and yard. It's going to take years to get into total repair, but that's OK. What I'm trying to get away from is just acres of grass to mow. The lawn grows fast and thick and takes about 18 hours to mow the whole thing walking behind the DR. mower/brush cutter. Very tiring. That's why I like the idea of deep borders/plantings that take away lawn to mow and not just inserting a shrub or tree in the lawn to be mowed around and under. My husband loathes that. Also, lawn in all directions is boring. I liked the big yard around the house so I could put in flowering things and relieve the monotony. What I have done this year is put in a butterfly/hummingbird garden in that triangle between the walkways. I am happy to say that one long section was fueled by 2 years of gardenweb swap plants that I'd saved in a kiddy pool! It has a very cottage garden-y look to it. I had no idea of the sizes or colors some plants would have, but as is--a happy profusion. I have also put in a large fenced vegetable garden north of the shed, a small fruits area and started putting in spring flowering shrubs (viburnums), some white crepe myrtles on the other side of the front entry walk and small magnolias in the east yard. I also plan to naturalize daffodils and daylilies along the slope of the main driveway which cuts through the ground like a streambed. I have been thinking about putting some small flowering trees along the top of the slope but remain undecided. One of the framing issues has to do with our ancient old ash tree--"Wogan". It has been hit by lightning and has many dead branches-BUT--it's alive and a home to multitudes of birds and mammals. Despite being decrepit, its' branching architecture is fascinating. I am loathe to take it down. Meanwhile, I have no idea where I'd site a replacement tree--it is the only shade on the south side yet I don't want to shade out the butterfly garden...

My experience is with growing blueberry shrubs, and I have tried different spacing at various times. The recommended spacing for highbush blueberry shrubs is 8 feet, & I agree with this number, to get the most growth and the greatest fruit yield. However, I have planted these shrubs two feet apart, to get a hedge established, as part of the landscaping. The shrubs are healthy, but they don't grow as wide or high as a properly spaced shrub. Fruit yield is reasonable for the size of the shrub. So my experience with "too close" spacing has been good, so far. It does not cause disease or any abnormality, it simply results in smaller shrubs.

Well... $4 for a crape, why not?! LOL I checked out the other forum's thread by the way and have some comments. My mother has a 50ft chain-link fence on one side of her backyard and they are tricky to "hide". She has a row of bridal wreath spirea (that grow to 6 - 7ft and will weep over), with some rose of sharons in between. They seem to do the job. On the other side, she has a new neighbor who recently removed the entire length of privet that had been there for over 40 years. There was always some kind of metal fence along that side on our side and some things planted along it (eg., rose of sharons and bamboo), but she is scrambling a bit herself, to add some more privacy things along that side now. I think some of the comments on the other forum are good. It's not easy and in your case, based on you pics, you are almost starting from scratch, ie., you really don't have "old" established plants. You might want to consider highlighting certain of your plants as "specimens" and use others, including some decidous shrubs, as a foundation. I looked up that Magnolia Jane. That's a pretty flower! (Uh oh for me....lol). There will be a time of year (spring) when magnolias are the center of attention and would be a show place... and then they fade away. But decidous magnolias are generally the type of plant that is considered a specimen and should probably be more front and center or even solitary and not in the rear. The same would apply to the crape myrtle (which if it is white, is probably "Natchez"), although in its situation, right next to the house to give it some protection, might be better. It is a mid-late summer bloomer. As a totally different idea, you could always shift the target bed well away from the fence by moving it forward right to the sidewalk. Ie., using your diagram in the other thread, like this: Doing this might draw the eye to this front bed by the sidewalk, leaving the fence in the background by not highlighting it until you meander back there, and offering some privacy for that rear area, from the front yard's perspective. This would also give you some time to deal with the fenced-in area on its own merits. Consider down the road that you may one day remove that fence but might be stuck with established shrubs/trees that are still defining where the fence once was. This might make it all the more difficult to reconfigure and open up that part of the yard if you ever decided to do that, unless you opted to go with "garden rooms" with pre-defined areas of plantings with a similar theme. Perennials, including tall ones, are easier to move than a tree or shrub. Back by the fence, you might consider something like an Annabelle hydrangea (H. arborscens 'Annabelle'), which when mature, can become quite thick and large and would be filled with blooms. You could plant a grouping of 3 in a corner area by the fence to eventually create a mass. I also had an idea where you could put some kind of arch/arbor right at your path to the beds. You could then plant vines like clematis to run up and over to make a cottagey entrance to your fenced-in area. If you replace the chainlink with post and rail, the arch would be a nice segue. One thing that I don't think was mentioned in the other thread other than peripherally. after having looked at the pics of your house as compared to where I lived, is some descriptions of the typical overall "styles" of landscaping that might look best with the type and era of house. I grew up in an English Tudor-style house built using the local PA fieldstone, where my parents eventually established alot of foundation broadleaf evergreens in the front and along the side (azaleas, rhodies, boxwood, pieris, pyracantha, etc). There was already a large eastern red cedar tree planted between our house and a neighbor and that neighbor also had azaleas, rhodies, and an old mountain laurel. The entire block has nearly every house fronted with privet or some "wall" of shrub (eg., laurels, aucubas, hollies, etc) right up to the sidewalk. Ie., it was what one would consider very staid and conservative planting within what is a very old established neighborhood with alot of very mature street trees (sycamores). However fortunately, the style wasn't overly formal, as the residents allowed the natural habits of these shrubs to dominate and didn't lollypop them, etc. And the question for you is whether you have asked yourself what "look" you eventually want to achieve - Ie., "staid and formal" (which can also include Japanese style, since you show ponds there) or more "free-flowing and open traditional" or "cottage style/prairie"? Ie., you indicated in the other thread that the aborvitae that you removed (or will remove) were like "sentinels" and in that setting, they are. In the more "formal" setting, they are often planted in a solid row as a privacy screen. Otherwise, they are solitary on either side of a house or it's doorway. In any case, it's going to be a labor of love and time to get things to maturity the way you envision but I think you need to decide whether you want "formal" or "informal" as a first step. And once you do that, there are various things you can do within each style using the plants that you mention. This exercise is pretty cathartic to me in any case as I look at my own family's situations.