I would probably steer you towards using fine fescues. 10,000 square feet is not what I would call "not very large" but I guess it's smaller than a few acres. Fine fescues (creeping red, hard, chewings, sheep) require less water, fertilizer, and sun than all the other cool season grasses (well not all, but we'll neglect to talk about the specialty grasses), but they aren't the most traffic tolerant. Sure they can handle kids running around a bit, but not repeated touch football games. The creeping red's have some spreading ability, but it's slow, nothing like Kentucky bluegrass. I have heard a lot of good things about Bonny Dunes fine fescue blend, but it has a low percentage of creeping red fescue. If you want to have a large percentage of creeping red, you should take a look at the NTEP ratings ( http://www.ntep.org/data/ff03/ff03_08-9f/ff03_08-9f.pdf )to see which ones do the best in your area. Then you can order the better performers from a seed seller. Most of the shade mixes in the big box stores are terribly thought out and contain lousy cultivars, I would avoid them.

What a great opportunity--to build a garden and someone else pays for it! Keep in mind not to plant anything until the ground is fully thawed for good--unfortunately in our zone, around Memorial Day. As far as specific plants, what colors do you like? How many hours a week do you want to spend on the garden? How much sun/shade is in the yard? The following are some things I'd do with such a space first before planting anything. I've been kind of extensive, and hope I haven't suggested things you've already thought of--just don't know how much gardening you've done. 1. See if you can get info from the previous owner(s) about what was planted there. 2. Start by cleaning up the garden. Rake up old leaves, trim back dead stems. I check if dead by snapping off a piece, and if the remaining stem is not green, then it's probably dead. But I further check by grasping the plant at the base and wiggling it a bit to see if the roots are firmly in place. If not, I pull it up. 3. Pick up some bags of aged manure and compost at your garden center. Mix them up and spread the mix about 1-2" thick throughout the beds. However, don't cover right up to the stems of plants--leave about 3" breathing space. 4. This last is the hardest thing. Watch the garden this spring and summer and see what comes up as you don't want to pull up something that might be great that doesn't appear until later in the season. Also, watch the sun pattern--how many hours of full sun does most of the yard get during the day? Most flowering plants need at least 5 hours of full sunn daily to be lush and healthy. 5. To fulfill the need for blooming plants this summer, pur-chase annuals and small pots of perennials that you like from local garden center. Plastic pots hold water better than ceramic and terra cotta. If you love the latter, put the plant still in its plastic pot inside the ceramic/terra cotta container. 6. Finally, and most important is watering. And the earlier in the day the better. (3am to 9am). You might consider soaker hoses for watering and timers as well if you don't have much time. However, soaker hoses alone won't be enough, so plan on watering additionally when the weather gets warmer, especially if there hasn't been much rain. Good luck and enjoy. Welcome to Zone 5! Barbara

Thanks BenBirding..as it happens we have violets that seed themselves all over the place here, so I will make sure hubby doesn't attack them with the weedwhacker as he is wont to do :-) Susanlynne48..thanks for your list. I am hoping to include as many native plants as I can, so Spring Beauty is a good one. One thing though..I think Phlox drummundii is native to Texas and that area of the US, so wouldn't have the ecologic benefit as plants native to New England. But..it is a good butterfly plant so I'll include it in my list!! Phlox drummundii is an annual in my region so it needs to be started indoors now to get blooms in summer. Is Serviceberry (Amelanchier) a good butterfly plant? I have several of them growing and they grow lots of berries, so I know there are insects polllinating them..do butterflies use them? Ellen

Dutch white clover makes a very lush looking lawn if you can stand the bees it attracts. If you do not use Dutch white clover then you will be looking at a forage type clover. Those grow up to 30 inches high and are very tough plants to get rid of...unless you have cattle or hogs. Dutch white grows to 5 inches maximum.