I hope no one minds my making a push for native plants, especially under a native tree like Silver Maple. Very happy under our Silver Maple: Golden Groundsel, False Solomon's Seal, American Spikenard, Oakleaf Hydrangea, Pagoda Dogwood, Spicebush, Bluestem Goldenrod, White Snakeroot, Wood Aster, Sweet Joe Pye Weed, Native Columbine, Royal Ferns, Cardinal Flower, Dwarf Crested Iris. Birds love this area with all the underplantings, and plants that supply lots of caterpillars for their young, and berries later. Also great for bees and butterflies. One trick is putting a bird bath under the tree, and putting some of the plants needing extra moisture, like the Cardinal Flower, near that so they get watered when you hose the bird bath. I am actually trying to get rid of the lily of the valley that is also there, that was there when we moved in. It is super-poisonous to pets, and looks just awful after it's done blooming. I wish we could totally eradicate it.

Verticillium wilt is very present in PNW soils......it is a pretty common problem and seems to affect Japanese maples more so than most other species. To answer your questions.....you can have it tested and confirmed if you wish but it is not absolutely necessary if you are feeling relatively secure in your diagnosis. The second tree may not be infected. VW is an opportunistic pathogen and typically infects trees that are stressed or damaged for some reason. It is quite possible to have a second JM or other susceptible species close by that is untouched and often will remain so. Species that are not as prone to VW as Japanese maples and older, very well-established trees can often survive the disease long term with only partial dieback, provided proper care is given. I have yet to see a JM infected with VW in our area survive very long, so forget the 'management" approach. It just doesn't work with a Japanese maple :-) Typically, VW is extremely fast acting with Japanese maples, with the entire tree dying in a matter of days. It will not hurt at this point to take a wait and see approach with the affected tree - significant dieback that is present in spring (by failure to leaf out) may or may not indicate imminent death. Usually, VW and the very rapid decline shows up in mid to late summer, but with the extremes our weather has demonstrated over the past couple of years, these early season signs of the disease are becoming more prevalent. If the disease is confirmed, the tree should be removed, but I'd be extremely careful about root removal. If there is any chance the roots of the problem tree have intermingled with the nearby healthy (so far) tree, leave them alone and in place. Again, VW is present in most NW soils so it is very likely the pathogen is throughout your garden. But it is typically present in an inactive or dormant state unless stimulated into activity by root damage, mechanical damage or excessive stress. If planted carefully, given proper care and good garden sanitation adhered to, there is no certainty any other susceptible tree or shrub on your property will contract the disease. In my old garden, I lost two trees to VW, one in the front and one in the backyard. Since they were never present in the garden during the same time period, there was no chance one could have infected the other. VW susceptible species were planted close to both but were never infected either. But I never disturbed the root systems - the one in front (a JM) I cut down and the young western redbud in back I just left in place as a vine support until it finally rotted away. It is disturbing to lose a valuable and well-loved tree to this disease. But it did not discourage me from adding additional VW susceptible plants to my garden, however any new Japanese maples I did confine to containers to reduce any further possibility of problems. That became the start of a rather large collection of containered JM's, which I was able to take with me when I moved. Wouldn't have been able to do that had they been planted in the ground, so there's a bit of a silver lining in any dark cloud :-)

Yes you are correct, I was thinking about the whole yard at once, and this is just too much for my little mind to figure out. I have finished the book and the answer is not on the last page! I do think permaculture is more for bigger properties, than suburban lots. I do not have a zone 5, or a zone 3 or 4 for that matter. I guess I have a zone 1 near the house and everything else a zone 2. I figure if I won't want to drag the hose out that far, best to have a plant that can take care of itself. I have the veggie garden next to the house near the back door. I am also concentrating on my rain garden and keeping the trees in wood mulch. They look so much better since I mulched them up last summer. I think it is best for now to keep what I have healthy than to add a lot more plants that I can't keep healthy do to lack of time, water or mulch. I also took jekyll's advice and cut out to scale pieces of paper for future trees and shrubs. I also cut out future sizes of existing trees. This helps a lot in visualizing where trees are actually needed. I don't need as many new trees as I thought. Once the current ones fill out, I am pretty much all set. I do need shrubs though for wildlife perches and to shade off the tree trunks in hot Texas. I am going to in the future, get a few dwarf fruit trees for fun. I have selected apple, persimmon and fig. I may do annual papaya. It is too cold and wet in out falls and springs to bring them though winter. But I am not thinking about that now. I want to shrub up the current trees first and deck out my rain garden. The only thing in there now are some red cannas, and some Texas dandelions that I sowed last fall. The black eyed susan, the texas star hibiscus and the rain lilly seed that I planted last fall, did not come up. I will be receiving some rain lilly bulbs soon on a trade, to put on the not so wet edge of the rain garden. I will be putting basil and borage on the edge too. Come fall I will stick beets, rutabaga, and carrots on the edge of the edge. I have also planted cardinal climber on the hill coming up from the rain garden. They have not come up, so I may have to replant. I read to plant morning glories in winter so the seeds can crack and they will sprout. Maybe the cold weather that we have had lately have told them to not sprout yet. I think 1 or two are up though. I also have some blue eyed grass seed I think might work in there. Maybe I should wait to fall to plant them. I also would love to try some iris in there and then that is about all I have room for. This rain garden is a work in progress. It is mostly a canna garden now. The daffodils did even worse were I moved them too. Maybe texas is not the spot for daffodils.

The backsplash and floor look great, but when I look back at your original photos and compare them to the new ones I'm struck by how different the tones look on my monitor; which leads me to be very reluctant to make any advice about color based on what it looks like on a computer. If there's a Benjamin Moore store near you, you can take advantage of a free sample coupon valid through June 30. (Thank you, GW'er kathec!) It's a good size sample (they gave me a 15.75 oz can) and they'll mix it in any color. That would give you a chance to try one of your leading contenders for free and see how it looks on your wall in your lighting. Here is a link that might be useful: Benjamin Moore Coupon