You've made me dig out the book that made me understand (with the help of a certain Professor Snyder) these things. It is a paper back with a spriral wound binder that I paid $9.65 for in 1982. It is "Planting Design: A Manual of Theory and Practice" by William R. Nelson. I have not opened it in quite some time, but it is a really good book on theory rather than a "Hooray for me, everyone should do what I do" book. I think you can find it on Amazon or somewhere else. It might be hard for some people to want to go back, clear their heads, and start at the beginning, but if you are not insecure this is a great thing to do and a great way to learn what it is that makes what you do successful or to learn to be successful if you are not there yet. Nelson calls these "The Principles of Art". These are what makes a composition successful. He writes that it is about "harmonious relations". I don't think that is arguable. I would contend that if it looks good as a composition it must somehow be a harmonious relationship. I believe that is what Nelson is meaning as well. His Principles are "repetition, variety, balance, emphasis, sequence, and scale". He goes further to write that these are not "rigid, inflexible laws" and that your goal as a comoser is to combine these so that the observer focuses on the whole composition rather than individual parts. If you understand the rules to be something similar to what Nelson's explanation it is quite different than understanding them to be a list of fail safe conventions. We have all read posts by people who just read through part of a book explaning repetion and they come to believe that they must repeat the same color with every plant selection or it will be a mess. I imagine that some of this is due to not understanding that the book is breaking things down to learn one principle at a time. But, I could also imagine that some books are written by people who teach and practice this as a fail safe method. There used to be a guy in Florida on HGTV that would do the exact same thing in his planting schemes week after week. I would not say that they looked bad, but it was taking some of these principles very literally. I thought the results were very predictable and rather boring, although they were not bad. I think that is what a lot of usthink about as "following the rules". I'd call it following convention. You can follow the rules in infinite ways that do not follow convention. Catkim asks if it feels good, just do it. Perhaps if it defies ALL principles it won't feel so good (why does Tiger woods come to mind?). If you somehow compose something out of the box that looks great, it would be a good study to try to find how it actually does achieve it. Nelson also talks about how some perceive this to be a "mysterious activity" and a "unique talent possessed by only a few". Then he goes on to say that this is quickly dispelled once you study the six principles. That is something that I did not remember from way back when I studied the book, but it is something that I could not agree with more.

Good heavens...that is awesome! I love it! Now that is the kind of thing I like. A real eye-catcher, and no one else has one!! chuckle ~Sandy~

Any modifications are up to you. Instructions to pamper the grass is only so it has the chance to mature with no stress. It doesn't mean not to walk on it at all. It does have to be mowed after all. It's just to prevent heavy traffic for as long as possible. Damage is more likely during the early stage after seeding, and it has to be strong enough to endure its first winter. I should warn that no grass can endure two dogs. You might want to give them their own section of the yard to increase your chance of getting as close to a golf course lawn as possible. 1. Get a soil test. Call your nearest state university extension service for a test kit and sampling instructions. I don't know what state you live in or I would link you to the extension service. It will likely take two weeks for results. If you need to apply sulfur, lime, or any other amendment per test recommendation (that is not applied in Step 5), you can do it after seeding if you don't get results back in time. The soil test will determine nutrient level and pH balance most importantly. 2. Mow to within one and half inches, but mow it down gradually. Cut off 1/3 the grass blade and another 1/3 three or four days later. Repeat if necessary. 3. Rake it up 4. Core aerate or cheat and apply Nitron A-35 to relieve soil compaction. 5. Fertilize 6. Sow seeds (slit seeding is best). If you want to slit seed, then don't core aerate and apply Nitron instead. 7. Topdress 1/4 inch layer compost, peat moss, or clean straw (weed-free). (One cu. yard/1000 sqft). 8. water 15-20 minutes twice a day for two weeks water 20-30 minutes once a day for one week water 30-45 minutes once a day every other day for one week water 30-45 minutes once a day twice a week for one week move into deep irrigation, increasing the time to provide 1 inch of water all over and decreasing the frequency to just once a week. Starting off, the schedule supplies roughly 1/4 inch of water, then increases that amount while decreasing frequency of application at the same time. Like practically everything that concerns lawn care, this schedule is a general guideline and should be modified to accomodate your specific conditions. The lengths of time should be modified if you have an automatic sprinkler system since that will not take as long to provide adequate moisture. So, decrease amount of water (time) but maintain frequency as is. The tuna cans test is recommended. If it is still especially warm, you may want to irrigate 3 times a day (10-15 minutes if necessary) for that first couple weeks. Your objective is to keep the upper 1 inch of soil moist and not let the seeds dry out. 9. Baby the grass for the rest of the year. Don't walk on it if at all possible. 10. First mowing is when the new grass reaches two inches. However, the existing grass will be considerably taller, so you'll have to mow down gradually again to the point of mowing 1/3 off the new grass. You do want to get the new grass mowed early at this time in order to promote tillering. Then, you want to gradually raise the mowing height to desired length of 2.5 inches. Higher if you prefer.

Congrats Rebekah!:) ATTENTION: Patty's computer is down,I will be handling all of her posts from now until, it gets fixed or to the end of the swap,whichever comes first. If there is anything you need to tell, or ask Patty,just email me. I will call her and relay the message to her and get back to you with the answer! I will be starting the new thread for her also,I will be using her account info to post,so you will see her name as the one who started the thread.:) MESSAGE FROM PATTY: She is going to start mailing out envies. They will be mailed out as they become ready.I will have a list of names to post soon,letting you all know who has been mailed,so you can start watching your mailbox!:) I went to Patty's this past Saturday to help pack seeds! Talk about a ton of work! We made a dent,but there are loads of them! I was impressed by Patty's method. She has a great system and is very thorough! She handles every single pack! I hope to go to her house this weekend and help her finish up! :) OK,more good stuff! Patty's yard is still full of lots of beauty,so I have compiled an album of scenes from her fall/winter garden! I also have pics of the goodies that were sent to us,of course the chocolates sent in for Patty didn't last long, and the cookies Diana sent us were nothing but crumbs by the time I pulled out the camera,so those will not be seen in any photos! LOL The pics will be posted in the new thread I am about to start. So please make sure you post on the new thread from here on out!;) What else will not be seen is.... any pics of the seeds!!!!! I totally forgot! Patty mentioned it,and then we started doing the seeds and I got totally side tracked! Sorry guys,I know some of you would have loved to see the giant mound of happiness!:) Thanks to all of those who sent in seeds! I know for a fact there are going to be some really happy gardeners here!:) Enjoy the pics!:)