slateberry said... I'm sorry you have to put up with this sort of tone. Gardenweb is usually a more polite place. Of course there are many forums on the internet where posters enjoy getting into flame wars, but gardenweb isn't one of them. Perhaps the other posters forgot where they were. Welcome to GardenWeb slateberry. OH! I see you've been a member for over a year. Yes, GardenWeb is usually more polite; however, contrary to what you may think, GardenWeb is one of the favorite places on the Internet to get into both violent disagreements and violent agreements. It is a classic example of forums run wild. There might be some that are more wild but most other forums are moderated down to a dull roar. The GardenWeb forums are not moderated until it is too late and people start getting banned without warning or second chances. GardenWeb is what it is. It used to be that people were warned about their behavior by being "Sent to Disneyland." When the ladies at iVillage took over, they just banned people. Here is a picture of Shadow Turf in its second season, growing under the shade of an English walnut tree. The location is Abernathy, TX, about 30 miles north of Lubbock in the Panhandle. The site is on the coolish side of zone 7a, not quite zone 6. Looking at the driveway gives you an idea of the density of the tree and the amount of sunlight the grass gets between the edge of the house and the tree itself. The tree canopy lowest height is about 5 1/2 feet (I had to duck). The house faces west so the sun comes over the house from the back in the morning. The lawn gets no morning sun, it gets the strip of sunlight you see back by the house, and in the late afternoon the lawn is blocked from getting sun by trees across the street to the west. This picture was taken at about 11:30 am. The thinnest part of the lawn is on the north side of the tree (upper center of the photo). The Shadow Turf was planted in 1-inch plugs. After a year, the plugs have grown to 1-foot patches in that spotty area. The rest has filled in and is very dense. In fact the 1-foot patches are also very dense, they just have not spread to fill yet. In any case this picture gives you an idea of the color and density you might expect. It does go very dormant (tan) in the winter.

Here is some info taken from Optimara.com. There is a wide difference in naming color, as you will find out. Have fun trying to figure it out. Note: Violets Which May Fit More Than One Color Classification When searching by color, keep in mind that any interpretation of color is based on subjective perception. In many cases, the color classification of an African Violet will be representative of most everyone's perception. In other cases, however, an African Violet will not be so easily classified. For instance, an African Violet which has been classified as blue may, for some, appear more purple. Likewise, an African Violet which has been classified as pink may appear more red. As a consequence, you may need to check more than one color to find the Violet you are looking for. Note: Lilac and Burgundy Violets Two specific instances of colors which do not fit neatly into the above classifications are lilac and burgundy. For the purposes of this guide, both lilac and burgundy Violets will be found under "Purple." Note: Bi-Color Violets Which May Appear Entirely White Keep in mind that many bi-color Violets are almost entirely white with just a little of another color. This is often the case with African Violets on which the second color appears only on the edge. Therefore, when searching by color, be sure that the white Violet you are looking for is not, in fact, bi-color.

This reviewed published scientific paper confirmed the usefulness of heavy plastic mulches against Bermuda Grass, and found some organic mulches that were also effective. http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/content/43/3/795.full From the abstract: "Therefore, a 2-year study was conducted under 15-year-old mandarin trees to compare the effects of rice straw mulch, cattail mulch, black plastic mulch, hand hoeing, cultivation, glyphosate, and unweeded control treatments on weed control, fruit yield, and fruit quality. The greatest control (94%–100%) of weeds occurred with the plastic mulch (200 or 150 μm) and three mulch layers of rice straw or cattail. Covering soil with cattail or rice straw mulch (two layers) gave 85% to 98% control of weeds. Uncontrolled weeds in the weedy control caused significant reduction in yield and fruit quality and decreased the yield/tree by 62% compared with hand hoe treatment. Plastic mulches of 200 and 150 μm, cattail (Cyprus articulatus L.) mulch (two or three layers) and two mulch layers of rice (Oryza sativa L.) straw treatments significantly increased the fruit yield/tree by 24%, 18%, 20%, 11%, and 12% more than cultivation treatment, respectively, without significant differences among these superior treatments. Soil mulching with three layers of rice straw, cultivation, glyphosate, and 80-μm plastic mulch treatments caused a significant reduction in weed density and weed biomass, but gave lower yield than superior treatments. Which weeds were in the experiment? " The major grass weeds present on the experimental site were bermudagrass [Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers.], barnyardgrass [Echinochloa colonum (L.) Link], torpedo grass (Panicum repens L.), and sandbur (Cenchrus pennisetiformis, Hochst. & Steud.) as a grass, and redroot pigweed (Amaranthus retroflexus L.), common purslane (Portulaca oleracea L.), and petty spurge (Euphorbia peplus L.) as broadleaf weeds."

Thinking about what mad_gallica said, the house is indeed asymmetrical if you look at it straight on from the street, as all of the pictures do, and your planting plans are all essentially a strip along the front. The house is visible though from the side as you walk or drive along the street. What's happening on that left side, with a view into the side yard, can change the whole balance of the view. Have you thought about some plantings (nice tree and/or shrubs) that will counteract the weight of the garage? These plantings could/should wrap around the corner into the side yard. Maybe there are already plantings there that you just haven't shown us? Claire