Hi, Greenhaven, welcome to Michigan and Garden Web! I'm in SE Michigan so I'm not familiar with nurseries on the west side of the state but I do know there are several rose societies on that side. There is one in Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo and the new Southwest Michigan Celebration of Roses. You can find contact information for them on the American Rose Society's web site.

Sorry I didn't respond til now, I was going there this past weekend and wanted to make sure my response is right. Leaves are still on and show no signs of turning more purple. I haven't identified it yet. Nothing in any of the pictures matches just right. Either the leaves don't match, or the bark on the larger ones don't match. maybe it isn't native, as I'm looking through native plant books/sites. I'll keep an eye on it to see if it produces any flowers, I don't remember any last year though. I do have another tree that I'll post pictures of when it does flower in the spring, I haven't been able to id it either. Ron

Actually, that was the side I didn't do anything to other than cut a few of the larger berry bushes at the bottom of the hill. That birch is in rough shape and without staking it up and waiting several years, it won't survive. I would just assume take it down since it's not really in a great location anyway. I hate to do it since they are becoming relatively scarce due to disease and insects. This picture http://minus.com/lbx4OfKnwRF4xc shows what are definitely blackberry/raspberry bushes. I wouldn't mind having them, in fact I would welcome having a ton more, just not here. Being on the slope they will not be easy to get to when the mature and have fruit. If there was a way to transplant them or something I would love to hear it. I had tried it in the past, but the only way I have ever seen them grow was by accident and negligence. Based on the size of a few of the lower bushes, I would bet they may produce a limited amount of fruit. The smaller ones at the top of the hill however are definitely not mature enough from my experience. Going off on a tangent... I loved having berry bushes growing up and we had a large sandy area on my parent's property that they grew like crazy in. They eventually began to die off and my dad chopped them all down. The began to come back by the time I went to college, but it took a while to get any amount of fruit from them. My last year at college I rented a small cottage on a back road that had the biggest patch of black raspberries I had ever seen. I started picking as soon as they began to ripen and then ever couple days for the next 3 weeks. I stopped for lack of room in the freezer for 1gal ziplock bags. I made at least a dozen pint jars of jam and a few quarts. I gave a bunch away but i'm hoarding the last few of the "good" batch for myself. :) So in other words, I would love to have berry bushes, just not where they are. A lot of what you see on the ground on the left side (looking from the house) is debris and not much in the way of live plants other than some weeds. Obviously it is still very early here and not much has come up yet though. The tree shown in the background of this picture http://minus.com/lbwhVJrx76OE9d appears to be planted from what is left of the mulch/preparation around the base. This shot http://minus.com/lvFny84VUSjeW shows a rock swail that comes down from what is left of the last owners fish pond sort of thing. There is a reddish low lying plant growing on either side that I failed to get a close up picture of. It appears that it will look nice later in the spring but needs some weeding and/or mulching. I will take your advice and try posting some pictures on the "name that plant" forum. In the meantime, would I benefit from getting some sort of tall meadow grass mix to put down in a few weeks? *whoops, I wrote a book

Welcome to the forum, Teach! It likely is just as well you didn't get to plant much this past spring, or this horrid heat and drought would have driven you just as crazy as it has driven the rest of us. Surely next year will be better and by then your soil will be amended and ready for a good gardening year in 2013. I'm glad you decided to stop lurking and start posting so that we can get to know you. Welcome to our gardening family. Dawn