If you have to have a "weed", wedelia is one of the best(G). It pulls out of pine back mulch very easily. I like the way it covers a fence, and it looks good when mowed. The flowers are cute, the plant doesn't have thorns, or a bad smell, or cause a rash. I much prefer it over the rest of the pest plants in my yard! But I have plenty, thanks:). Lisa

http://oasisdesign.net/ This is a good site with beaucoup information. Terran Here is a link that might be useful: Oasis Design

IMHO--avoid the fertilizers! And yeay for you for being conscious of the little amphibs below! :) I would try to slow the run off too--follow the contour lines with beds or even small checkdams (bricks or stones stacked ~6 inches high will work) especially if you have any rills or gullies. If you want to keep your lawn, have you considered replanting with native grasses or heathers? www.highcountrygardens.com has some great ideas for water-wise lawns and heather (You might get too much precip for some of these). I second (or third?) the dethatching and aerating ideas. And adding screened compost, while adding nutrients, might be a good way to go. Have you done soil pH /macronutrient tests on your lawn soil? I'm a big dirt nerd, so I love doing these--you can get a test kit for $15 at Ace Hardware and find out if you have any nutrient deficiencies or pH issues...this way you will be better prepared for planting other plants or able to shop for products armed with more info about what your soil needs. Good luck!

Yes, we do! I designed our house (it took me years, since I'm not an architect or designer), but if you'll look at the Chesnee linked above by amoore, the middle part of it is very close to ours, and the only one I've ever seen like this--and I looked at a LOT of plans several years ago. If you print the Chesnee and re-lable the rooms as I've called ours, you should be able to follow my lengthy description below and see if any of it is helpful to you. Sorry I can't post a picture. If you cut off everything to the left of the Great Room & BR/Study of the Chesnee, put a patio behind their Dining, only the Master BR/WIC/Bath behind the Garage, move the Garage back and to the right several feet (ours measures 25' x 31' finished inside but I think their measurements would be better), and put the Pantry, Laundry, Mudroom hall with bench & cabinets, up/down Stairs, door to back Patio, Powder Room, and 3 scattered Closets between the 3-car garage and Kitchen/Dining, you've got our basic house with different measurements. Their BR/Study is our Dining Room/Study (used for lots of projects) and has one set of centered 54" pocket doors to the foyer and another not centered set to the GR (so I could fit the credenza on the longer side of this wall). We have a wall between the GR/F and K/EA (Eating Area), with doors on each side of the Chesnee long island--which makes ours a peninsula (although shortened to the same length as the right side of the center island--our island is 4' x 3'--so it's easy to get to our EA). We have a 2-way gas fireplace in the wall between the GR & EA. We have a single 24" sink where they have a double (we put cold canned drinks in ice here when entertaining), a double sink under the window, and an L instead of a U. The cooktop & warming drawer are in the part of the L to the left of where they have the fridge, we have a door to the pantry to the left of the long end of the L (where they have cabinets & ovens on the right), and the oven/MW is just outside the pantry at the long end of the L. Our fridge is recessed into the Pantry. The flow is excellent for all of the main rooms, since the K, EA, & GR can all be accessed from 3 different doorways, and the DR/Study by 2, without traffic jams and with minimal interference, if any, with what's going on in the rooms. On our plan the Porch area is included in our Foyer--which has a closet and bench, Kitchen, Pantry, & Laundry. Our porch is in front of the foyer & kitchen. Our house has an open feel, but the walls block some of the noise, and the doors allow us to close off most areas, which can happen more than you'd think. I also like having walls for pictures! This is a VERY energy-efficient house, so I had to talk DH into even doing 9' ceilings on the 1st floor. With hardwood floors, large windows to get the sun, floor to ceiling slate on both sides of the fireplace, and the 9' ceilings, it's still noisier than I'd like (in spite of rugs & drapery panels) when the whole family gets together. From the kitchen I can easily see and hear what's going on in the GR if I want to, but I need to concentrate when I'm cooking. Otherwise I lose track of what ingredients I've put in, what temperature something should be on the cooktop or in the oven, etc., since I'm preparing a lot of different dishes at the same time. So I need some separation from loud voices in the GR. My #1 requirement was to have a view from the kitchen through what I call the eating area to the back (it's as large as a dining room, but we have another DR, since I do a lot of indoor seated potlucks), with the kitchen on the front. We have an acre treed lot much longer than it is wide and it's angled half-way back, with the house set at the angle and great views to the E, NW & SW. I love our kitchen on the front! The view through the trees in front is great, I can always see when company is pulling up the driveway, if the FedEx, UPS guy, or mailman is coming, I can see down the street to where the school bus picks up and lets off the young grandkids who live with us. I also love being able to look through to the backyard, especially in the fall and winter when I can see through the trees down to the river. When might this kitchen setup not work? If you have small children who will be playing in the back yard and you'd want to watch them while inside prepping meals--but they grow up quickly. If you grill a lot and want the kitchen closer to the back grilling patio. One thing I didn't want was having people coming and going from the outside through the GR or DR, since it can make the indoor seating difficult, but more importantly this causes more wear, dirt, and tear on the hardwood floors and area rugs. So we're happy to have them go from the kitchen through the tiled mudroom hall and out the back door, or through the eating area which has a door to the back hall/back door about where the Chesnee has the wall for the up stairs. I love having the SW breeze blow across the front porch when I'm sitting there--a reason not to have a room block the porch if this matters to you. We also get the SW breeze on the back patio. There are tall oak trees on all sides of the house to block the summer sun. The front porch is 10' x 20'. It would have been 8' deep, but you have to walk across the length of it from the right side to get to the front door, since the lot slopes down to the DR/Study in this area. For us it's better this way with the porch furniture under the kitchen window, but makes the kitchen darker at certain times of the day, although we put 2 SunTunnels in the kitchen that make it fine some of the time. I did medium cherry cabinets which have darkened some--wish I'd done the lighter maple with a glaze that I'd had in my previous place. We had to put our walkout patio and doors on the FRONT of the house in front of the DR/Study which works well due to the way we angled the house on the lot, all of the trees, a pond, and how the neighbor's house/lot are. Our lot shape and contours, wetlands/ponds/river on 3 sides which also forced where the driveway could go, limited septic field location, and neighbors' houses determined a lot of my design. The orientation is less than ideal for energy efficiency due to the back view facing the NW. However, we see the sunrise from the kitchen, the DR/Study gets SE & SW sun year round but is blocked by trees when the leaves are out, the GR gets the sunset, as does the eating area, and the MBR doesn't get much sun, which is fine with DH who prefers to sleep in a room with blackout shades. The front porch entry for guests does not get the stronger winds that can cone from the NW. We love our house. It's not perfect, but we were able to design most of what we wanted into it. This is way more than you wanted to know, but I thought some of it might give you some ideas about thinking of how you will use/live in your house, since you are still in the initial stages of design. Also, we originally angled our house relative to the garage, but then decided to keep the T-shape that we had to cut costs, and turned the entire house & garage to get the views. I'd originally staggered the rooms in the back like you did, but it didn't get us our best views. All of your corners will increase costs, if that matters. You have a couple dozen; we have 8 with our T. Also, you've indicated that you're in zone 5, but I don't see a coat closet by the front door, and not much storage elsewhere, although I realize this is a preliminary sketch. I LOVE our area between the garage and K/EA mentioned above. The 3 closets are for back patio & grill stuff/EA table leaves/DH's many short jackets; cleaning supplies & central vac 30' hose; coats & boots, etc.; and we also have 4 hooks on the wall behind the door to the garage and 6 on the wall above the 5' bench below the upper cabinets in the mudroom/hall. Hope this all makes sense, since I've moved some paragraphs around, and it's getting late. Please let me know if you have any questions. Anne