The raspberries will be about 10' from the neighbor's yard so I should be ok there. Unfortunately, I don't have a place to put them surrounded by grass but they'll have grass on one side, mulch on 2 and a wall on the other. I am planning to use the mower to keep the U-shape, mow out my center path. There will be several feet between the raspberries and anything else on the mulch side I was thinking of putting perennials on the lawn side of the fence. Probably not a good idea. So the blackberries don't send up suckers? I just have to pay attention to the tips right (as far as spreading out of control I mean)? Maybe I'll try 2 in the spot where my wintersown stuff is now and one out in the full sun by the fence. Only problem is then I have to build 2 supports. Here is a link that might be useful: Tales of a Transplanted Gardener

I have a collection of over 60 Japanese maples in my landscape. Here is a link to my photos on Flickr (spring photo tour). If I don't have the variety name in the photo, post a link to the photo and I will tell you which are pictured. http://www.flickr.com/photos/japanesemaplegarden/sets/72157632146151331/ An easy to grow (common) variety that stands up to full sun is: acer palmatum 'tamukeyama' acer palmatum 'garnet' One that holds its burgundy color well in a shady spot is acer palmatum 'red filigree' Here is a link that might be useful: Japanese Maple Garden

CEF, Molly is adorable! I want to kiss her snout. She sounds like quite the little rascal. Love it. You definitely are a busy one, I am so impressed with all this building of things. Are you self-taught? I wish I knew how to do some of that. Kitchen cabinets! Awesome. Our kitchen is original (not a good thing, 1973) and I'd love new cabinets. Reworked, recycled, whatever! Just different, pretty and CLEAN. I planned to paint ours when we moved in last year-- bought all the supplies, watched some videos... just never did it. I underestimated how long EVERYTHING would take. Every room had wallpaper and I figured I'd take a weekend or two before we moved our stuff in and get that out quick. HA!! It took 2 months, just to get it all down. And half the walls still have spackle. It's been 13 months and we have two rooms done. Two! Whatever. I'll get to it. I am a hairstylist and only work Fridays and Saturdays (til the kids are both in school anyway) so it's difficult to take time off. I do it now and then though and if I'd known about this plant swap sooner, I probably would have. Is there a website I can bookmark so I will know early next year? Our rancher is brick. I'll post a pic of it when we bought it, with the row of yews. I couldn't wait to get them out but now that they are finally, I'm a little overwhelmed at how much work it is to get that area in order, long before plants will even be concerned. Right now the dirt is all turned over and weeds are everywhere-- I pulled up all that I could see last week (almost a full day of weeding!) and then we had that crazy rain and few days later, weeds everywhere again. I posted about it on the soil forum but nobody responded so today I went out there with my pump sprayer full of vinegar and covered every square inch. I know that can kill the stuff I want as well but there's nothing out there but weeds so I figured I'd give it a go. Edge out a bigger bed tomorrow with my new edger (SO EXCITED) and then maybe mix in some topsoil and turn it over before mulching. I may not plant anything this year after all. Use containers so I can make sure the soil is good first, move things around for a bit til I get a feel. Who knows. I want to paint the shutters too, not liking this green. Medium-darkish taupe maybe? With just a hint of green/blue? Leaning more toward the brown, less the grey. I'm off to research fertilizers for my new maple, and perhaps my Mikawa Yatsubusa, if it's not dead yet. I know Al has some good stuff on here about it, found another member recommending him when I was google searching a few minutes ago ; ) oh and p.s.- you mentioned liking the weathered look, have you considered making raised beds out of pallets? Saw something on pinterest about that and it looked great, plus they are usually free somewhere.

The company replied, and told me that if I researched Ryusens, the characteristics would all be the same = same cultivar even if not same clone. Unless they thought Joe Public wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the two anyway, and since information on 'Eric's Weeping' was scarce descriptions of the other would do. Yes: it's not unusual for wholesale growers to have "their own introductions" that look a lot like existing, familiar varieties with different naming. For instance I've had a grower representative in my area use the same phrasing to characterize a conifer that had their own naming on it as was used about the 'Eric's Weeping'. That is that it had the same features as another, widely sold kind. As with the response about the 'Eric's Weeping' it wasn't an explicit admission that they had put their own name on an established variety, but... I've also had a grower here explain an unfamiliar variety name for a flowering tree they were offering by saying that it consisted of propagations of unlabeled specimens that were already on the property when they bought it. That they had actually assumed that this existing planting was the same kind as a variety they knew in the old country. But had gone ahead and made up a new name for their own sales here in the US. The way they came right out with this story made me think such looseness with cultivar names was thought to be standard operating procedure in the industry. There certainly are cultivars that have acquired multiple synonyms over time, same as with various wild species plants.