Thanks for your comments and your expertise, nandina. I do agree with you on treating the property as the natural setting it is. This is, I believe, where some of my hesitation to take a step (any step) in changing it comes from. The main things I want to clear out are the vines and other prickly things. For instance, the wild blackberries, which appealed to me at first because of the novelty of picking fruit I didn't plant, and they do have pretty little white flowers, but they've started springing up everywhere with large stiff canes. I don't know if you've ever dealt with them, but it is impossible to get them out of anywhere they are without getting stuck, and it hurts. You can't walk past them without them catching on your clothes, or worse, your skin. If I don't get them under control, give them 5 years and I won't even be able to go outside. It's a shame they have the stickers because the birds seem to love them. The wild muscadines don't produce anything much - I only know what they are because I saw some brownish grape-like things once, the first year I moved here. They are extremely prolific, and cover the ground in places and try to climb the trees. To their credit, they don't have stickers, and they're not quite as bad as kudzu. I'm very mindful that there may be nice native plants growing, and I would certainly want to keep anything that's native but not common. Anything I keep is something I don't have to replace ($$). I really need to get with someone who knows native plants and have them walk around and point out anything that I should keep. I occasionally find something that looks different and I try to identify it. This year, I found some interesting little white flowers that look similar to fuchsias, hanging down with flipped up petals (5), but instead of the fluffy, skirty part of fuchsias (the purple part on those red/pink and purple ones), this flower had a mass of yellow stamens. It was growing on a tree or a stemmy bush, and it may be a bush honeysuckle - it smelled heavenly - but definitely was not the invasive japanese honeysuckle so common here; these were short and more rounded. I have the japanese kind too, and although they're said to be invasive, they're just part of the south to me, and I'm not so intent on getting rid of all of them. The other new plants I found this year are striped wintergreen. At first I thought they might be a variety of trillium, but they weren't. I may post the white flowers to the Name that Plant forum to get an ID on them. I would hate to pull up something and then later find that it was the only known specimen of a rare native plant. ;-) With regard to the flood plain, the house is at least 12 feet above where it ends, and there is a lot of lower lying land that would have to flood before water got to me. My property is essentially 3 levels - the street level (highest), the house level (middle) and the lakeside level (lowest, obviously). The lake is actually a stormwater retention pond, but it's been here since at least 1982 because I saw it pictured on a 1982 topo map. It has life, so to me, it's a lake. :) This explains the red clay area you see in the photo. If I poke into it, I probably will find old bottles and other assorted junk, but most likely, it will be from litter that has washed into the drainage system from somewhere else. I hunted around for a topo map of the area and found a county GIS mapping system, with different layers I can turn on. I basically hit the motherlode of data for the property. I took screenshots, and will be adding this info to my overhead plan. I now have topo in 2' increments, drainage inlets and outlets for the water, sewage pipes, and the soil type. The water comes through a big pipe (3 or 4 feet in diameter) into the boggy area. I didn't get this from the GIS info, I saw it down there. There is a culvert under the across-the-lake neighbor's driveway which spills into a lower lying area on his property. Only one time since I've been here, the water has covered the lower lakeside level (the flood plain). The culvert had gotten stopped up (don't know how), and the neighbor was most alarmed and hurried and got someone to work on it that night because it didn't have far to go before it spilled over his driveway and into his yard. His house, and the subdivision that surrounds it, are lower than my house. The beaver seems to be building somewhere toward the left side of the lake (on the plan view). I've seen him carrying limbs from the near the boggy area (right side) to the left side, then coming back for more. When I first saw him, he was going after some from a dead tree that fell into the lake years ago (before I got here). I think he's more likely to be building a home than a dam. I have, however, bookmarked the Clemson Beaver Pond Leveling System - my neighbor may need it more than I. Also, from your suggested reading up on beavers, it said they leave their parents in their 2nd spring and set out on their own. I haven't seen him before this year, so I think he must be 2 years old. All the water wildlife I've seen, at one time or another, has gone to the dead tree to sit, fish, sun, preen, flirt, or whatever else wildlife does with their spare time. I have seen (regularly) turtles, Canada geese, mallard ducks, seasonally visiting hooded merganser ducks, blue herons, belted kingfishers, and (not so often) an otter, the beaver, and a green heron, all attracted to the dead tree in the lake. I'm sure the fish and frogs love it too, but I can't see them as easily. And that's just the water life. I have also seen all kinds of birds, including red shouldered hawks, vultures, blue tailed skinks, eastern green anoles (saw a couple making out, took photos; he was a gentle but agressive lover, and she didn't seem to mind - and he stuck out his red throat afterwards), tree frogs stuck on the windows at night, some kind of little splotchy gray frog that matches the concrete on the patio almost undetectably until he moves, gray lizards of unknown variety, deer, something that may have been a fox, and I've probably skipped some critters. Oh, and dragonflies, lots of dragonflies and damselflies. Lots of other bugs. (sshhh... let's don't talk about the scorpions.) I will keep the forum posted on future developments with this project. I'm planning on contacting the designers after the spring rush is over, and will update y'all once that happens. This is something I would like to see more people do, so I'd better make sure to do it myself. :) Drtygrl, thanks for the complement. I've seen log steps, and I like the look, but I'm afraid they would rot out here after a few years, with termites and other kinds of insects (and beavers) eating on them. If I do wooden stairs, I was thinking I'd use concrete deck piers to minimize the digging to several spots, and have the steps about 6" above the ground. This would keep the wood from having contact with the ground, and make replacing parts easier as it became necessary. Kind of like this, but with the piers instead of the posts directly in the ground, more rustic, and no handrails. I'd like to have enough plants growing around the sides to keep the piers from being visible. Getting the stairs built (and I am planning on hiring that out, not doing it myself) will probably be the single most expensive thing I will do. I'd prefer stone, but it will probably cost a lot more than wood, but then on the other hand, if the wood costs half the price of stone but I replace them in 10 years, I haven't saved any money, have I. I have no idea of how much any of this costs, or really even how many steps will be needed. This is part of why I want a designer, so I don't end up spending all my time researching - first, what I should do, and second, to find someone with the skills to do it well. I should be able to calculate the number of steps after I assimilate my topography data, though. More stair ideas and comments are welcome. I really think they are the first thing that needs to be done, before I decide what to do with the hill. I like these A LOT: Thanks, too, for the book recommendation. I've seen it, or something similar recommended before - I've lurked a good bit on the Woodland forum as well. I'll see if I can get a copy. Ideashare/Designshare sent me a link to one of her designs also, for the front yard. She must have been inspired by the fountain. I'm reluctant to share it without her permission (well, that, and I don't want to draw karinl's wrath, lol), but I do think maybe she is getting better. She just needs to understand better what a person is looking for, as far as style goes. It wasn't bad (no giant broccoli), but I'm not looking for so much hardscape in my natural woodsy setting. Thanks just the same for the effort, Designshare. I hope I haven't bored everyone with my late night rambling about wildlife and drainage. :)

Thanks Maryland.... So, the ones they have are like mine, Fragrant(unlike the pink/rose/red ones), but require some maintenance to keep them smallish. The burgundy/red leaf ones, var. rubrum, do also, unless you purchase a dwarf cultivar. Mine is located in the "White" garden, not designed that way, but right now almost everything blooming back there is white, Loropetalum, Azaleas, Pieris japonica(regular size & dwarf) and several Dogwoods. A few pinks and reds, Camellia, one Encore Azalea, and one Native Azalea (R. canescens) and 2 yellows, Magnolia x 'Elizabeth' and a R. austrinum. That will change next year, as I will be adding some more yellow flowered Native Azaleas, that is, if my water barrels hold out! I never download the PDF version, as it takes up space on the hard disk and since they update the Availaibility list each day, it may be outdated tomorrow. Thanks! Rb

R. x 'Admiral Semmes' usually blooms in April-May for me, about the same time as the Florida Azalea, R. austrinum and Peidmont(Hoary) Azalea, R. canescens, but bloom time of native Azaleas can be influenced by hardiness Zone, elevation, sunlight exposure, microclimate, etc. and may bloom several weeks earlier or later. Here's a look at bloom times of the ones I grow, courtesy of the Azalea Society of America... Native Azaleas (in order of bloom)  Hoary Azalea Rhododendron canescens March 25-April 25, pink to white, most common species Florida Azalea Rhododendron austrinum March 25-April 25, yellow to orange, fragrant, native to GA, AL, FL Pinkshell Azalea Rhododendron vaseyi April 5-22, pink to white, upper Piedmont & mountains [ note: 3-4 weeks later in the mountains] Oconee Azalea Rhododendron flammeum April 15-May 15, orange to red, withstands heat, drought Alabama Azalea Rhododendron alabamense April 22- May 15, white, blooms before leaves Coast Azalea Rhododendron atlanticum April 22-May 11, white to pink, midlands-coast, spreads Pinxterflower Rhododendron periclymenoides April 22-May 16, pink to white, does well statewide Hybrid Azalea Rhododendron x bakeri May-June, natural hybrid between canescens x flammeum, native only to Upson County, GA (proposed species) Swamp Azalea Rhododendron viscosum May 16-June 16, white, fragrant, likes wet sites Flame Azalea Rhododendron calendulaceum May 28-June 25, orange to red, Piedmont & mountains Sweet Azalea Rhododendron arborescens June 15-Aug 15, white, fragrant, very smooth all over Plumleaf Azalea Rhododendron prunifolium June 25-Sept. 10, red to orange, smooth foliage, Georgia native Hammocksweet Azalea Rhododendron serrulatum (Syn. R. viscosum var. serrulatum) July 12-Aug 30, white, fragrant, often forms colonies. (compiled and provided by Mike Creel, Azalea Society of America) Update Dec. 2008 Rb The dates shown are for plants grown in Zone 7b/8a and can vary due to location, as noted above. A Merry Christmas and a Happy & Prosperous New Year to all! Rb  Â

Putting down a mulch after you weed can prevent some of them from coming back from roots left behind. I use a lot of straw mulch, because it's cheaper than bark mulch, but I live on acreage so it's more acceptable than it might be on a city lot. I will also lay down newspapers or cardboard with a mulch on top to kill off weeds, much easier than pulling them all and it benefits the soil too. It won't stop blackberries, though. They'll just come up through it, as will thistle. Be careful of what you let go to seed. Birds will transport them to other areas and some can be invasive, choking out native plants. Your rhododendron won't have blooms next year where you trimmed it, just to warn you. It will the following year, though if you don't cut it back again. A lot of people whack them back to get a fuller plant. You'll learn a lot through successes and failures along the way, just as I still do. That's what's nice about gardening, you never quit learning. If I'd had the internet when I was gardening in my youth, I'd be way ahead by now! I started gardening before I was ten. My grandmother lived with us and she let me have a little plot in her garden, so I spent a lot of time tending that little piece of land. Then in my teens I took over the vegie garden. My grandmother had a small greenhouse that I grew cacti in too, so that was a fun diversion from the outside plants. Enjoy your days in the garden and take some pictures to show us your progress.