Just for the record, I know my limits and will not push too hard. I had spine surgery and will not jeapodize it. So no worries that I will overdo it. But thanks for the concern. I'm alittle sore, but its a good sore, you know what I mean? Anyway, took my little pup out with me this morning, and fought the sheep flies. Did get Ms Mildred planted, both ladies staked. Also trimmed up two trees in my front yard. Now you can walk under the hawthorne tree without losing an eye! My goals for tomorrow morning are to trim the last tree in the front and wagon the branches away. Then just 7 more trees to trim....UGH! Man I miss my husband! Such small steps.....embarassing, but its getting done in increments.....Thanks for the encouragement. Baby steps my friends!

Our soil is .... I think fairly nutrient deficient so a raised bed of nutrient rich soil ==>>> based on what??? .. guessing??? lets start basic ... you need to build beds ... first.. understand.. you are HIDING the foundation.. NOT PLANTING ON IT ... which is what was done previously ... and why the measly little beds.. look out of proportion to the height of the house .... begin.. by understanding.. that 2 to 3 feet AT THE FOUNDATION .... is left bare.. for house maintenance ... for you to walk back there ... as you cruise the hood.. look at well landscaped houses.. and those that bother you .. and see if you can see what i am saying ... if you do.. then you have accomplished step one [... dont you have to clean your gutters a couple times a year with those big trees?? .. or put up xmas lights.. etc ....] and then.. understand.. that you need a 6 to 8 foot bed ... plus the 2 or 3 feet left empty ... and you are talking about a near 10 foot deep bed ... again.. look around the area ... and see if you can spot this.. and whether it is pleasing to your eye.. as compared to the peeps who planted things two feet form the house 30 years ago ... and for this season ... right now.. lets focus on the front of the house.. once you perfect that.. the sides will be much easier.. right now.. you are overwhelming yourself.. to think.. you are on this.. in the next 3 months .. you arent.. at your level of knowledge ... then the issue is.. do you create a bed straight across the front.. or do we undulate it ... that is your choice.. look around the area again.. and determine what is pleasing to your eye ... or SOther if they are actually in charge.. lol ... there.. thats enough for now ... otherwise.. i will overwhelm you ... define the bed design ... and then we can talk about how to build the bed .... and then ... we can talk about plant decisions.. and actual planting ... and if you think thats all going to be done inside the next 4 to 6 weeks... good luck with that ... if it took me the entire growing season to do this... i would be a happy boy in October ... if you want it done faster.. think about hiring a professional crew ... finally .. reviewing the pix... my ideal bed would probably reach 3 to 4 feet BEYOND the porch ... curving into the walkway ... and go straight across the front of the house ... yeah.. what can i say.. lol ... i dont think the facade is wide enough to have some nice flowing curves .... without making it look hoaky .... if you are interested in making this a conversation... then lets go for it .... as for buying soil... you havent told us what your base native soil is.. so its hard to advise in that regard ... compaction can be uncompacted ... its clay i am worried about... and layering good soil above ... more facts ... and finally??? ... lol ... i dont have soil touching my brick.. so we may need to deal with that ... but not slope new soil toward the house .. etc ... and before anything... get rid of those landscape timbers... crikey.. they look one foot from the house ... double finally.. the best way to start.. and not look back.. is to rip everything out .. and get rid of it ... i dont know what inside the timbers.. but i dont like it.. and get rid of that big tub.. its ruining the natural elegance of the house and porch ... but i was thinking about some type of vines up those columns ... BTW.. what are the trees .. ?? ... we have to figure out if we need to deal with their roots .... in the new beds ... can we talk??? ... does the above.. in any way.. help you understand.. how to start ...???? ken ps:everything is too green and lush.. to presume your soil is nutrient deficient ... lets not start by making presumptions ... have your soil tested.. if you think there really is a problem.. and do understand.. plants are not children.. they will never need to be fed... you need a good soil ... and you dont make that by throwing fertilizer around .. and i think you probably have a decent soil.. but plants to not need to be fed ... i think.. at your level of understanding.. its a non-issue.. which you are spending too much time thinking about ... so focus on the ramblings above ... soil will be issue 37.. not where you start .... [thank God.. i came full circle and remembered to finish on the topic i started with ... i hate when that doenst happen .. lol]

Just finished prunning and cleaning up that front yard section. I just can't believe how much sun there is there now. Anyway, the older bigger roses in the front bed, which were put in 2007 had no damage worth mentioning. Did need some hard prunning to get rid of broken limbs here and there but as soon as they leaf out and start growing that will be unnoticeable. The newer bed section that had Heirloom roses from last year and the year before took the worst of it. Nearest the tree trunk so most flattened. I had to dig and loosen soil around the roots on some of the rose shrubs and pull them back upright as they had ben pushed down. Broken limbs so they got harshly prunned. Then the really little ones from last year are in truely bad shape. Two of them are just not there at all, must have gotten dug up and lost with all the trampling and root digging. I will just replace those as if I need an excuse to buy more roses from Heirloom. The rest of the babies in that section got beat up badly but own root roses come back so they should be fine after awhile, even if extra small. I was also out there on my hands and knees with a cutivator and trowel digging and brushing dirt off the buried Siberian Iris. I was happy to find many of them. So while most are still there some of a partial row is totally gone. That would be were they dug to get to the tree roots that went straight down so that they could have accress to cut that root with the chain saw and lift out what was left of the stump. So now I am going to have top find my lists and see whats missing from that area so I can replace them.

Roundup or herbicides containing dicamba are about your best hope, as far as I know. Maybe someone else will have other ideas. Roundup works best on actively growing plants so sometimes it helps absorbtion into the plant system if you cut the plants back some to encourage new growth, then spray. Spray at the recommended rate -- stronger isn't better -- and use a surfactant (I add a few drops of dish detergent to the sprayer) to help the spray stay on the plant leaves. Also, there's a temp range in which it's most effective (check the label) and make sure to apply it several hours or (ideally) longer before any rain. Give it plenty of time to work -- usually 1-4 weeks. You'll have to do repeat sprayings, and I wouldn't give up on pulling it where you can -- I know it's an endless battle but it'll help. Good luck!!