Mary. I am assuming that the entry to your house is along the side where the deck is visible with the lake beyond? It looks from the last photo that you park at least 3 vehicles in this area, and the entire area nearest the house, to the inside of the light pole could be garden, which would be more of a square 30 foot across? I'd suggest adding more of an evergreen screen between the driveway/light pole to give your deck more privacy from the street. Maybe even add an accent evergreen tree in this area such as Arbutus 'Marina' with other 4 to 6 foot tall evergreens below to give you some privacy beyond. If you created a "Peninsula" of plantings extending from the light pole towards the area where the boat motors are stored, and then wrapped a curving walk around this and back to the side deck, with more larger evergreens off this corner of the house, you could create the start for a lush entry garden that would screen the side yard from street, while also creating a nice entry garden. The pathway might be as simple as gravel with large flagstone step pads, and a small section of trellis fence off the corner of the house with vines could also add to the effect. You sound like you have lots of options as to plantings with irrigation provided and well drained sandy soil. I'd suggest keeping the plantings simple with lots of repeated massings of whatever you use. Layering the garden beds with massed low ground cover, repeated low growing herbaceous plants or ferns, and some key larger specimen shrubs might do the trick. If you don't want or need year round screening from evergreens between your side yard and street, you might also consider using flowering small trees/large shrubs such as Magnolia stellata or M. soulangeana cultivars as your accents. I bet flowering trees such as Cornus 'Eddie's Wonder White' dogwood would also do well for you. Some easy to grow perennials such as Bear's Breach/Acanthus mollis and Bergenia crassifolia could also give year round good looks with some seasonal color. Chartreuse foliage accents such as low growing Acorus gramineus 'Ogon', or the taller shrubby Choisya ternata 'Sundance' would also brighten up the winter dark if used in mass. Other woodsy plants with late winter color might include Ribes sanguineum or Edgeworthia chrysantha, either of which are already blooming now here in northern California. Your planting zone is much colder than I usually deal with here in California (USDA zones 9~10 is more my norm), so you should get specific ideas from people more local to you, or visit good botanic gardens such as the one in Seattle. I hadn't really noticed the view of the lake in your first photos, and can see that this must be awfully inviting in summer, and why your house becomes "party central". You might also try posting this on the PNW gardenweb forum, to get more specific advice for your area. If you wanted to get some tropical flare going, you could also consider using some of the hardier palms such as Trachycarpus fortunei or T. wagneriana, and die back to the ground perennials such as Tetrapanax papyriferous. the Acanthus mollis and Bergenia have abit of tropical foliage aspect to them as well, although both are perfectly hardy in zone 7b conditions.

hey dano.. i got so wound up on you telling him to surgically repair it.. i missed your caveat ... lol torn.. the inside wood is dead.. it will NEVER heal.. like a bone might ... at best.. you are allowing the 'skin' to heal.. no one argues that point.. but without the interior structure.. what are you left with.. well?? .. frankly a limb that will break.. when the structure get larger than the 'fix' can hold.. the 'appearance' of a fix.. does not mean it will ever be structurally sound ... its sorta like staking.. you stake to the prevailing wind ... so all devious planning aside.. what the heck happens when ma nature blows from the other direction.. well.. you are screwed.. just like the tree that has been 'repaired' ... and where are you then.. back to PROPERLY PRUNING IT ... and the base issue is peeps who think a tree is static ... when really.. its shape and form 'evolve' .. and one way they do that is thru ma nature ripping them apart.. and another way is thru pruning.. to avoid ma natures fury ... IMHO.. the best advice.. is properly prune off the damage.. give it a year or two to recover.. and then decide if its OK to your eye.. and if not.. get rid of it .. NOTHING LASTS FOREVER ... and if its NOT OK to your eye.. meaning it will bug the heck out of you.. then just be done with it ... please .. step down from the soapbox .. and shut the heck up.. lol ... [thats the voice in my head.. talking to itself.. lol] ken

I have been lurking in this forum and others for some ideas. We need to landscape some new beds as a result of re-doing our back patio area and adding a pond. I'd like to put in a Japanese Maple on one side of the pond. Am looking at the Crimson Queen laceleaf, but I keep reading conflicting information about how big it will be in 10-15 years. I'm looking for a variety that only gets 4-8' max in height. I know the spread will be about 6'. You folks seem to know a lot about the various JM varieties. I have a grafted JM in a front planting bed that is gorgeous. It's been there a little over 5 years and is only about 5 ft now, so the growth rate is slow (about a half a foot or less per year I'm guessing in my zone 7b). Thanks!

It looks pretty appropriate for the season to me. Yes, it loses its leaves - if in sufficient sun, these can turn some pretty dramatic shades of gold and orange before they fall but if in a lot of shade, the colors are much less intense. The brown, dry leaves may be an indication that it is not getting enough water. That does not appear to be a very big container for that large a tree so frequent watering may be called for. You may also want to consider potting up to a larger container size this winter when the tree is dormant. Southern California also has somewhat alkaline water sources, which are not favored by JM's. Water pH should be somwhere between 5.5 and 6.5. You might want to acidify your irrigation water slightly by adding some household vinegar to the watering can. 1 cup of vinegar per gallon of water.