"Most importantly......have FUN!" They keep saying this kind of thing on American Idol too, and then the contestants get slammed for technical reasons such as being off-pitch, selecting a song with a 5-note range, doing ridiculous dances to their songs, and so on. If a person just wanted to have fun, they wouldn't come to this forum. They could plant anything that gives them pleasure, and throw in a couple of flamingoes and plywood cutouts to boot. So let's go back to design for a moment. You still haven't provided a picture that gives a full perspective (not to mention that you haven't asked for design advice) but I imagine you've done about the right thing by replacing that myrtle. I honestly think most of the other plants could stand either replacing, removal, or growing out too. The azalea (?) right by the car looks too big to do anything with besides shearing it, which is looking like a losing bid for control. As a foundation planting, the beds are maybe laid out OK, but I really wonder how rational it is to have a tree that size that close to the house, and of the rest of the shrubs I could imagine a planting far more flattering to the house and pleasant to look at. It sounds as if you can too, but are not ready to tackle that just yet. I suppose it would be "fun" to do some window dressing, but that doesn't seem like useful design assistance to me. Not that I have any within the limits of what you're asking for, but we try on this forum to distinguish design from diddling around. You can't control the kind of advice you get around here, but you can filter it a little... KarinL

"It's a Chicago Fire Burning Bush. Please don't throw tomatoes, because EVERYONE has at least one fat and tall burning bush in their front yard within a 10 mile radius of my house..." It's your property and your decision, but think of it this way...If you saw many of your fellow motorists throwing out trash, would you also throw yours out? Having a Euonymus alatus in your yard is actually a little worse than throwing out litter, because litter doesn't exponentially reproduce, but, like littering on an already heavily littered highway, I guess one could make the excuse. Your state's Department of Environmental Conservation has given that plant a rating of "Very High" for its invasiveness (environmental damage) rating. I agree with Ken, your little dead voles didn't do that damage. Maybe you should club your rabbits. I can't tell if the damaged branches are coming from the main trunk or from ground level. If from the trunk, yes, I'd prune at the trunk (just outside the branch collar). If from the ground, I'd prune at or just slightly above ground level (IF I was going to keep the plant).

thanks for the advice! I sprayed a nice dose of Daconil on the leaves and removed the rest of the yellow and ones with holes. I am hoping the current hot weather will help keep the fungus away :) I over planted to help with the possible losses. I guess since the last 2 years I had very little tomatoes I am trying more this year. I never sprayed before and just planted more so I could have something if the bugs or fungus attacked. abayomi, I wish there was ocean water around here!!!! I did pick up some fish fertlizer. YUCK it stinks. I thought since it was cheaper and I could mix it as I go it would help. My worm compost only is not enough and I know that. It helps but I needed some more. My hubby was not happy I bought daconil and fish fertlizer. However, for us to harvest some veggies over the summer it was necessary. I hope I can limit the use of the sprays as much as I can. For now I will spray as needed. I have several plants that look awesome and are growing quite well. The ones with the problem are not the ones I was most excited about growing so I will be ok if I lose those. Karen

Rileysmom, you are too funny. My husband has HUGE arms, some people are really intimidated by him - little do they know he's the sweetest teddy bear in the world. :) I have to agree with most everyone - I have been ignoring him (I do say hi to his wife - she seems sweet enough). He asked us a few times to go out with him and his wife for a couple of drinks, but I told my husband he'll probably try to hit us up for money for a property survey. LOL We keep putting them off - he's not someone I really care to get to know any further than I already have. Seems he's conniving and rather passive aggressive. I don't trust him or his motives. I went behind my garage today, first time since I posted the last info, and they took a mound of dirt probably about 10 inches high, and blatantly put it directly in front of my wood pile, dead center!!!!! There is plenty of room for them to place it closer to THEIR garage, but nope, they had to plop it directly in front of my woodpile, which IS technically their property, but how rude and inconsiderate. I just can't understand why anyone would want to be so blatantly rude like that with neighbors. If I have to move the dirt pile to access my wood pile, I will. If they have a problem with that, so be it. It's so funny because my neighbors to the north and south of us are fantastic. We all have problems with the neighbors to the west of us, but both my north and south neighbors get a double dose because they also have probems with the neighbors on the other side of them. So, we all vent to eachother...and we aren't the "gossipy" type at all, but we can't believe what whacked out neighbors are surrounding us. Aside from the people behind me, the people next to them - who happen to be ATTORNEYS no less (kitty corner from me) have stolen from my woodpile and bragged to the previous owners about it! I had to plaster a large sign on the back of my garage that reads "PRIVATE PROPERTY" and I strategically placed it in direct view of their window. Those same people got upset with my neighbor to the south because she cut down her pine trees on her own property - the attorney said she didn't want the trees removed because this was her backyard "zen"... (can you say whacko?). Then plant your own trees on your own property! Then there's the "fruit of the earth" retired couple to the south of my southern neighbor, and he insisted that she put a gate smack dab in the middle of her fenceline along the side of her driveway (from his back deck to her driveway in the back yard) because "he always had access to her property in the past"..... He actually has her move HER car out of HER driveway, so he can cart his lawnmower down her driveway to get to his front lawn. He's on a corner lot, he has sidewalks on both sides of his property - he can only travel one direction with the lawn mower? I don't get it. He comes back up the other side of his property. Why can't he go down the same way? No reason, other than the fact that he's a freak. Then, there's the tree hugger (and no offense to anyone, b/c I'm a tree hugger too) who refuses to do anything with his lawn or his property for that matter (garage is falling apart), he's on the other side of my northern neighbors, and he first refused to remove a woodpile that leans up against their fence that is about 36" into their property line. Tree hugger (I'll refer to him as T.H.) thinks his woodpile should be "grandfathered in" because it's been there so long (my northern neighbors have been there since this past winter). They asked him two months ago to move it, and all they get are stall tactics. They asked to move it FOR him, and he comes up with every reason under the sun not to. They have a property survey that clearly shows he's 36" over their property line - that's not the worst part. The reason they asked him to move it is because their fence, that they own, is practically falling over - clearly because of the woodpile that stands all the way to the top of it. The fence leans WAY in, and the only way they can dig out the posts is to have him move the woodpile. I can't believe how patient they are - I don't know if I would have waited this long. T.H. moves like a turtle, and seems like he has little or no motivation to do anything, and doesn't seem very handy to begin with. So, out of genuine kindness, we offered to help T.H. install a gate on his fenceline in the back yard so he can have direct access to the back of his garage where he SOMEDAY plans to move the woodpile. We installed a gate on the back of our fence, and it took us maybe a couple of hours maximum. Well, T.H. went and got a hinge and some screws, my husband did some cutting for him, and then T.H. decided that he had to wait until he calls his chemist friend to find out if the zinc plated screws are going to have a reaction to the galvanized steel hinge before he proceeds any further. Are you fricken kidding me????? I swear, this is not an exaggeration. My husband was so peeved as he's standing there getting eaten alive by mosquitos in his yard because the grass and everything else growing there stands at least a foot tall due to no maintenance. T.H. has told me that he likes to do things "a little at a time so that I can figure out what I'm doing wrong before I do it" The next time T.H. asked us to "help" him with the gate in the back was on the 4th of July. ?????? Yeah, because I always spend my holidays installing gates for my neighbors. Again, I think he just wanted to ACT like he's motivated to follow through, though every other day there's a stall tactic. I mean, can you possibly pick a more inconvient day? T.H. is recently divorced. Need I say more? Then there's the lady behind my northern neighbors who is in cahoots with T.H. (late night meandering over to his property with her poodle tucked under her arm), and she doesn't want my northern neighbors to install a 4 1/2 foot fence at the back of their property line because it will prevent sunlight from reaching her garden. My neighbor had to stand at the property line in the early morning hours, and he's 6 foot tall, to show her that a 4 1/2 foot fence is not going to prevent much sunlight from her yard - she'll have full sun from noon on! She also wants them to plant a blueberry shrub in the back so she can enjoy the fruit (but she wants them to put it on their property). LOL T.H. also came over to our house one day and saw that we were getting a wrought-iron electric gate installed. They had JUST installed the post that day, and by looking at it with clamps still on it to stabilize it, you could clearly see that it was in the process of setting in concrete. T.H. walked up to it right in front of me, grabbed the post with both hands and with movement from his entire body he started an attempt to "wiggle" the post - his whole body jiggling with movement ????? - I thought I was watching a 5 year old child seeing a new toy for the first time. I said excuse me please don't do that - the post was just set in concrete today - can you see the clamps they used to stabilize it for the interim?????? The next time he stopped by, they hadn't installed the control arm yet for the gate. They soldered a piece of metal that the arm was going to be attached to, and since our gate swings outward, it protrudes outward on the opposite side of the gate, facing the street. My husband is in the yard, T.H. is on the opposite side of the gate. My other neighbor's dog starts barking, and T.H. asks if he can stand on the metal that they just soldered on, so he can take a look at the dog. ????????????????? Um, no, my gate is not a jungle gym to be climbed. Then the next time he stopped over, same thing, I was commenting to my husband about a bunny rabbit in the neighbors yard, T.H. tried to fit his foot between the spokes of our gate so he could elevate himself. ?????????????? Nope, still not a toy to climb. Let me just say that the reason he is always on the other side of the gate is simply because we haven't had the key pad installed yet, and our gate openers were in the house. We keep the gate closed for our dogs. But, him being on the other side of the gate I think is a good thing! In the winter months, he knows when my husband is traveling because I'll be the one snowblowing the property during snowfall. So, he'll come over and start a conversation with me, like, did you hear so and so is selling their house? Yes, I did. And he'll say, "why don't you come over later and we'll discuss it further?" Ummmmmmm.....I'm busy, thanks anyway. I told my husband if I ever disappear, that's the first place to look! LOL What can you do but chuckle? We've been calling our neighborhood "The 'Burbs" It only gets more and more interesting. Hey, I'll post again when the woodpile is finally moved! LOL