I have not seen any mention of Blackgums! Beautiful, large trees with truly blood colored foliage in the fall (They also provide little blue berries for the birds!). They grow fairly quickly and are pretty tolerant of drought conditions. Something we put in last year was a Princeton American Elm. Unbelievably fast grower and was bred to have resistance to Dutch Elm disease. There really is a reason they were so widely planted as street trees and would provide high shade for your front yard relatively quickly. They are also reputed to be very tolerant of city pollution. No mention of Red Cedar, either. Grows quickly, immune to virtually everything and has a nice grayish color which contrasts nicely with the dark greens of other trees. I have mixed them into our overstory oaks/maples etc. with podocarps, firs and deodars for a nice tapestry of color and texture. They give good cover for camellias from winter burn. Any kind of magnolia does well! We have planted virtually every kind we could find and they have distinguished themselves into overstory and understory nicely over the years. The Sweet bays smell particularly wonderful and are a good open, midsized tree without too much spread. They tend to get very thin in winter, however. The Little Gems have the advantage of blooming until frost without getting overly large. American Hollies are magnificent, but are difficult to get started for some reason. Once one is happy, however, they will take off. Mary Nells or Oakleafs might be a good compromise. River Birch, of course, is incredibly fast growing and would do well in your seasonally wet areas. They have beautiful yellow leaves in Fall, nice open shade in summer and gorgeous exfoliating bark. Finally, esh had a good suggestion in bald cypresses. We have one that is always commented upon by those who come over, especially in the Fall when the needles turn golden and carpets the ground around it. A truly beautiful tree and a fast grower. As he mentioned they do well in both dry sites and wet. The only difference to my eye is speed of growth and density of needles/boughs.

I think the sweet autumn clematis sounds like a good idea. I have it and it can get huge. Why not combine the SAC on the existing tree (Wow!, will that smell good in August, or what?), and plant the new trees in that area as well. You may have to supplement the shade with strategically placed shade cloth until the SAC and the new trees get big enough to do the job. You say you sew - wait until you see where you need shade. You could put an eye hook in the fence (lower to the ground than the photos of the other ideas, as you do not need to walk under it) to anchor there. Use a metal fence post (if you paint it with camouflage paint, it might blend in better) for the anchor on the other sides. You just hammer them into the soil and they are easy to remove when you no longer need them. The idea is to rig up a hook and eye system, so that you can remove the shade cloth when you have guests. You'll have to spend time at a good hardware store and figure out some combo of sewing, grommets, hooks (think about the hooks on dog leashes) that will shade your plants from the hot sun. (maybe the kite shape would work.) You'll have to mess with this for a while, until your trees get bigger. Also, the japanese maple will rot, so the SAC (I would plant another clematis or two for extra color) solution would not be forever. Depending on your budget and your talents, you can take all of the ideas and use a piece of each. I would definitely use black shade cloth, though. Also, if you get a windstorm, most likely it will not totally destroy your system. You may have to replace the cloth, but you can re-use most of the hardware. Shade cloth has holes in it, so it's not like hanging a tarp out there. It allows some air to flow through it. Good luck. bkay

Yeah, that's the trouble with the cane berries. I can mess with all kinds of treatments, but with the few shrubs I have and the close proximity they are to my patio living area, it's the "unsightly" factor that is making me want to rip them out. That's why I'm torn, their appearance vs. the yummy berries they do provide. What I should really do is try and find a community garden plot somewhere for my more unsightly loves. That's the real challenge for me with edible landscaping, not the edible part, the aesthetics. I mean a well maintained vegetable garden is a "pretty" thing to my way of thinking, but in the right setting. Somehow for my courtyard, it's a different animal. Yes, I am asking a lot, but that's the fun of it, it's a real learning experience. The raspberries looked great until they became riddled with problems. I'm trying chemical and pruning schemes but it's an uphill road, like you mention Carol. Funny you should mention "wolfberries." I was just thinking about them today. They grow in huge lush hedges around here in the wild. I pass by some along the road on my way to work every morning. They are on a bank next to the road, competing with every kind of aggressive neighbor imaginable. And I was actually thinking about currants too. There is a clove scented currant bush. This has given me some more options to think about, so I won't feel quite so sad about ripping out my raspberries. Like I said, I'm just whining because I look at them every day and fuss with them to no avail, and this voice in the back of my head says, "Chuck them, they are a mess" and then this other voice says, "No, no, I like those raspberries, yum!" Which will win out, my stomache or my eyes? :) The whole yard is due for a major overhaul this fall. I'm tearing out one wild rose that was a case of "good plant, wrong place" since it is sending out runners into my neighbors yard, plus it wasn't that pretty. I gave most of it away to the arboretum where I used to work, but have to root out the last of it. That's why I'm thinking that spot I pictured above might be good for another rose. At least the runners can't get to my neighbors garden from there. Luckily they are patient with me, since they like to garden and have their own rose and grape battles!! There is another rugosa, called "Snow Pavement" which is supposed to be a bit smaller, but I haven't seen that one in years. I know those landscape roses would be perfect for my yard, but they aren't as fragrant and don't have the large hips. I gotta have a rose though, due to my last name--Rosenberg, which is where I get the "pinkmountain" from. Decisions, decisions. Lots of great options here! I may have to mail order though. As a side note, I have just been hired to teach a horticulture class at Temple Ambler!!! I am sooooo excited. What a geat place that is, they have an absolutely gorgeous arboretum. I'll bet I can find someone down there who would know where to get some of the less run of the mill plants. I'm in seventh heavan, surrounded by plant weenies!!!

Thank you so much, Jay and Rafor. It is fun to create new beds for my plants. I had to restrain myself this last year before construction began, because any work around the Teahouse would have been wasted effort. But gosh, it was hard digging out that compacted clay and the chunks of spilt concrete, and old broken tile that someone had used years ago as fill where the old shed roof dripped Jay, what we installed in a sort of permanent way is made by SPT-USA, model WA-1230H, and it is called a "portable air conditioner" on the owners manual. BUT, it is a dual cycle, heater or air conditioner, and a very economical heat pump. They are wonderful, let me tell you. My SIL had a unit about 5 years ago which heated/cooled their media room above the garage instead of running ductwork out there. It comes with the stuff to poke the 4" diameter exhaust duct out a window, and it draws less than a hair dryer in electricity. It has a 3-prong plug, it will usually evaporate the condensate unless it is a "high humidity" area, like south Alabama, so DH built ours with a drain line just below the air exhaust. Knowing it would put out water regularly, I planted my iris by that drain line. Since our walls in the Teahouse are 8" thick solid concrete, our installation is of a permanent nature instead of a movable or portable one. DH has an older unit up in MA that we will bring down here when that house sells. You can never have too many air conditioners that do not have to block a window! I plan to use that one in the kitchen when we redo it next winter. So this is our third go-round with the portable units. I do not know where DH bought the latest unit, but I'm sure you can find it online. They shipped it to our door. It weighs about 70 pounds, and has casters. DH built little "elevators" for ours, I think it has a short guy complex, but it sure does look like R2D2. Oh yeah. It is quiet also.