Thanks for responding. I keep going back and forth on what I am goign to do with the garden as far as plants go (aside for the boxwoods) I think the bulbs are going to be a pain so Im not going to bother with them. At least that is the sentiment this week lol. Im thinking heuchera berry smoothie and lime marmalade would be nice alternatives to flowers for year round color but someone had brought up a good point about underplantings getting in the way of the spiral topiary maintenance. We'll see how it all ends up I guess lol. The boxwoods (fingers crossed) should go in next month. The other plants wont go in till sometime next year.

How old is your bed? If it's only a year old, it will slowly lower as it continues to compost. I have a retaining wall around mine but I have to let you know that mine composted down and is almost at ground level. -Rini

Suggestions for what to pile on the cardboard or newspaper would include quantities of: used coffee grounds from Starbucks or other cafes; bags of corn husks from grocery stores where they have corn on sale (usually they put a garbage can near the corn); other people's bagged yard waste; old produce from a grocery store or outdoor market; and/or animal manure (you live in Texas, must have some cows or horses someplace?) Whatever you can come up with, it will both improve the soil where you will be planting, and provide an easier planting situation for you later on for the trees. Good luck, just be creative. I just learned from a friend a place in a nearby town where I can supposedly get free compost. I make my own in large quantities but don't like to give it away, so I will use this in planters at the local homeless shelter where I am about to plant lots of large containers. Marcia

My best guess would be that they most likely will not punch through the cardboard. I say that because I accidently buried some of the wife's cannas last year under layers of just hay, compost, and leaves and they didn't come back this spring. But it all depends on how thick the layers and how much the cardboard softens and decomposes before they are ready to come up. Multiple layers of cardboard as many use to suppress weeds beneath lasagna beds would certainly make it difficult if not impossible for them. If you want to save the cannas, I'd dig up the bulbs and transplant them above the cardboard. Dave