Well, there is a reference--of sorts, Leslie! It's about 60 years worth of "stuff"--in my head! Been doing this for a long, long time! When I was only 10 or 11 years old I was out--barefoot--waiting on my parents' perennial customers and digging up field-grown plants for them! Have always loved green growin' things! Also helped in my Uncle's greenhouses, right next door, when they got busy and the "grown ups" needed help! My brother in Illinois--even older than me!--still grows/sells bedding plants and veggies for a couple months in spring! The first actual gardening "experience" I remember was when I was three years old and sat down on the grass next to our huge veggie garden to eat some peas, which were what was next to the grass---and I SAT on a bee! My first bee sting!!! But I was already helping plant the "big seeds" by then, so "gardening" goes back pretty much as far as I can remember! Glad to answer any groundcover questions you may have, but if you have specific questions you'll get more answers, from more people, if you start a separate thread about "whatever." Since everybody tends to recommend the things they like the best, you get more variety when more people respond. It's not unusual for variegated perennials to be less vigorous than "plain" ones, but that's not at all always true. Just depends on the plant and the variety. If you're looking at something specific, google for it online and look for comments from "real people." Obviously if you just look at the info from the places that sell it, they're only gonna tell you the "good" things about it! For instance! They will almost never use the word "invasive!" They'll sometimes say something about a plant "spreading," or "covers quickly," but they'll seldom "warn" you that it's going to Eat Your Yard! Same thing's true for plants that are less vigorous or questionably hardy! All they want to do is sell it--and after that it's your problem! So for things you don't really know about, I recommend posting here or searching other forums and such for "user" information. About the Euonymus! That's a woody plant that's usually sold in the nursery rather than the perennial department, so I don't know a whole lot about it! BUT, I do know this! There was one in here when I bought this house. This'll tell you what I think of it! I just looked thru all my albums for a pic of it--and I never took any! The best one I can find is this--which is really a pic of my yellow columbine! The Euonymus is the thing behind the columbine that's going up the wall and up the gutter in the background! When I moved in here, "that thing" was sprawling all the way out, half way in front of the steps in the pic! It was going ALL the way up the wall---and it grows UNDER the siding, wrecking it! I cut down most of it, but left a little bit so there'd be something there till I was able to plant what I wanted in that area. I had NO idea how obnoxious it would be! It roots absolutely anywhere the woody stems come into contact with the soil. And it grows FAST, especially in spring! It will grow thru, around, and "under" just about anything! I still have those "little" pieces" of it in there--which I hack back multiple times each year, but I MUST get new siding, and when I do--it's GONE! As a groundcover? Guess it depends on what you're looking for. When I moved in this stuff was a good two feet high, and the best way I could describe what it looked like would be" Sprawly! It IS evergreen, tho even with limited sun, mine tends to sunburn quite easily in winter when it's dormant. I don't know what variety it is, but it is definitely Euonymus fortunei, and since it's variegated it might very well be 'Emerald Gaiety". Based on my experience I wouldn't recommend it unless someone wanted "something" somewhere like on the edge of a rather large yard to just fill in space--and even then I think it would take considerable effort to keep it from spreading all over the place--unless that's what the person wanted. Also, I had no idea about this, but when I was looking up the variety you mentioned I ran into this. Apparently it's considered to be an invasive species in the Midwest and East. With the drier climate I doubt that it would ever get that bad out here, but I really don't know anymore about it! Have I talked you out of Euonymus yet" LOL! Not really trying to if it happens to fit the situation where you were thinking of using it! For cracks in paths/patios, the easiest to grow and most-likely-to-succeed plant is woolly thyme, Thymus pseudolanuginosis (tho it's been reclassified as other species every now and then, over the years!) Easily identifiable because it has leaves that look more grayish than the other green-leafed thymes, and is slightly "fuzzy" compared to the other thymes. It is definitely the most drought tolerant of the thymes, which is a main factor in its being the easiest to grow in cracks. Tolerates foot traffic very well when it's established. Besides that any of the other creeping thymes would work and take foot traffic well, and while Turkish Veronica, Veronica liwanensis, would work, it's usually considerably less "dense" than the thymes, and it seems to me it wouldn't "fill in" as well, or at least would take a lot longer to do it! The leaves on Turkish Veronica are spaced much further apart on the stems than thyme! Depending on how big the cracks are, you could even put something like the 'Chocolate Chip" Ajuga in them! It will definitely tolerate some foot traffic, but would get ratty looking if it was walked on a LOT. There are lots of other things people recommend, and a separate thread I'm quite sure would get you other recommendations. One important thing when you're planting in cracks is to be sure you have some "decent" soil in the cracks that will hold moisture and nutrients. If your cracks were filled by brushing sand into them, you're gonna have a really, really hard time getting something started in there! With the deadheading/cutting back I recommend with the ground covers, it depends on what it is--and what you want it to look like. I have a small yard, so I'm not really trying to "cover ground" so the "groundcovers" I have are kept in fairly small patches here and there--I have them because I like the way they look! I love to walk around my yard just to LOOK, I do it a LOT, and I like it when things look neat without a lot of dead foliage/flowers or sprawly stems, so I do what I need to do to keep things neat. (I also love sitting out there "doing things" so I enjoy doing it! And--it gives me things to give away at the swaps!!!) If someone had a large area that they just wanted "covered" and wasn't too concerned about the up-close-and-personal appearance of the plants, most of the ground covers can just be left on their own to do their own thing! All the pics I posted above are of plants that have grown out after being cut back. Here are some samples of some of those things when they're blooming, showing how floppy looking they can get! First here are some "before" pics of the one area showing the different "winter evolving to summer" color of some of the sedums. 02.23.08 04.08.08 04.25.08 The sedums in those pics were cut back in late summer or early fall. Now here's what the Sedum hybridum against the fence in the second pic looks like when it's just starting to bloom, and as it blooms more, the flowering stems keep getting longer and longer--and when it's done flowering, the dead, brown flowers stay on the stems unless they're cut off. And here's what the 'Dragon's Blood' looks like when it's just starting to bloom. And here's the other little "succulent garden"--the first thing I planted when I moved in here--because EVERYTHING else was covered by either ROCK or sod! This is when everything still pretty much had its "winter" color! I think this is the only pic I have that shows how PINK the 'Tricolor' sedum gets in winter! And here are a couple with the 'Tricolor' blooming. You can see how they're flopping all over everything, and if left that way they would pretty quickly EAT the things growing near them! If the floppy, sprawling look works for you, you don't mind the brown "leftover" flowers--and there's nothing in the area for them to eat, I say let 'em go au naturale! But I don't have the space, and definitely don't like the "left overs" when they're done blooming. So, like everything else, it just comes down to personal preferences! Boulder people are very definitely welcome at the swap--EVERYBODY is welcome at the swap [except for axe murderers! Inside joke from the first swap!], but if you haven't checked in on the swap thread yet, post to let us know you're planning to come--and you MUST PM Bonnie so she has your address and can send you her address and directions to her place. Darthr, if you have questions about ANYTHING I've posted above, please let me know. Skybird

It looks like you don't have enough corn for good pollination. My understanding is that you need at least 4' x 4' of corn for decent pollination. Do you have a plan on how you will get to the plantings in the back for care & harvesting? I think you might want to consider some stepping stones at least. Consider also that your plants will bush out - when we grew cukes & beans on a trellis in a bed 2 feet from the fence they bushed out so much there wasn't much room to get behind them. Also, I have never grown okra, but I've heard the plant can be irritating to the skin. I think it gets pretty big, too. You might think about putting it together & somewhere you won't have to come into contact with it until you want to. Why are you mixing things up? Are you trying to avoid cross pollinating varieties, or going for aesthetics? Or is it for another reason? I would consider putting same plants together because they will have the same needs & you can more easily deal with them as a group. Beans are great & can be very productive. You could substitute them for the corn along the back. Perhaps you could do a block of a short variety of corn (so it doesn't shade other things too much) if you move things around a bit. I am not familiar with your growing area, so I'm not sure what else to add. I see you have cukes growing on the fence, but you have a line of them down into the bed. Will those get a trellis, or are you putting bush varieties in front? Definitely (IMO) put as much organic matter into your soil as you can. We have terrible soil here (sand), but my small gardens are looking lush. We found a local coffee shop that gives us bags of their compostable material regularly. We add that straight to the garden beds (coffee grounds, veggie scraps, egg shells) with some manure (we use quail because it is inexpensive & convenient). Also, we added in some peat moss & vermiculite the first couple of times we were turning over the beds. Hopefully someone with more expertise will give you some good tips. Best of luck!

Nice house! I wouldn't want to hide architectural details, so in general I would do much of the planting as low masses. If you use ground covers, shrubs, and mulch to fill in until the groundcovers spread, with some tough low care perennials you should be able to keep it attractive and low maintenance. To the right of your front steps along the porch, I would use your hostas in a bed that comes out as far as the base of the front steps. If you have some other plants that are shade-loving and can provide either evergreen or contrasting foliage interest, such as ferns, Heuchera/coral bells, Tiarella/foamy bells, Polygonatum/Solomon's seal, etc. those would be a nice additions. To tie the left front corner bed in, use some hostas there also, and if there is a plant that you use in the large corner bed that would work on the right side of the steps, that would make it all look part of a whole interrupted by the steps rather than separate beds. Looking at your second posted photo of the front of the house, I would plant something on a diagonal a few feet out from the corner where your husband is standing that is about his height. It could be a vine on a trellis or a medium tall, bushy shrub. That will help distract from or hide both the downspout and the HVAC unit form the street. I would also plant a couple of shrubs that are just taller than the HVAC unit but won't get closer than a couple of feet from it to hide it from other angles. The rest of the bed I would keep under 3'-4' maximum to show off the house. You want some evergreens in the front bed for winter interest. Even if the ground is snow-covered for much of the winter, there are often times in spring and fall where the ground is bare of snow or just has a bit, and having something attractive there will be nice. It looks like there is fair amount of shade, so you might consider some of the smaller mountain laurels/Kalmia latifolia if your soil is suitable (acid and reasonably well-drained.) Other options would include low growing conifers such as others have suggested, but I would plan to make choices that only reach 2'-3' perhaps with some judicious pruning. Microbiota decussata AKA Siberian cypress or Russian arborvitae is one of the few conifers that will grow in a good amount of shade and it stays low, so this might be a good choice here. You could also choose something like one of the really small red-twigged dogwoods such as Cornus sericea 'Kelseyi' which has nice fall color in addition to the bright winter twigs that would look stunning against the masonry. One of my favorite evergreen flowering ground covers is Veronica 'Georgia Blue' which blooms in spring and has tidy green foliage all summer. With cold weather, the foliage takes on mahogany tones, but it returns to green when temperatures warm again. It will grow around the feet of other plants but isn't thuggish, and I have it growing happily in beds that range from full sun to full shade. I like the look of Yardvaark's sketch for your back bed. Notice how the plant on the end extends past the end of the building, and I would plan on having the bed over-reach the end of the building by a bit. You could plant something taller off the corner like I suggested for the front, but it's fine with something lower here as well. If you look at this bed in the winter (for instance if you will use your porch 3 seasons) use at least some evergreens, but otherwise it won't matter much. Some other plants I've not already mentioned to check out because they are easy to grow, look nice most if not all of the year, and have a long blooming period include: - Hydrangea paniculata which likes at least a half day sun and has cultivars that range from around 3' like 'Bobo' to way larger than you want. Look at a medium sized one like 'Little Quickfire' or 'Little Lime' to distract from the HVAC unit if there is enough sun there. Bobo and LQF will start blooming around early July and continue until frost, starting white and turning shades of pink. LL will start about 3 weeks later and continue for the rest of the season, lime to white to very pale pink. - Rhododendron 'Checkmate' has stayed within 3' in my garden for over 10 years. Blooms well with little sun and has mahogany winter foliage. Needs acid soil. - Helenium/Helen's flower 'Mardi Gras'. Bright red and gold mix that blooms from July-September for me and stays a bit less than 2'. - Fothergilla 'Mount Airy' as mentioned above has early spring flowers and gorgeous fall color, especially if it gets some sun, but isn't super attractive in summer, just a green blob. My solution is to grow a hard prune clematis (cut to two bud pairs per stem after fall freeze) to ramble through it for summer bloom. Look to see what is available in your area or mail order - you want a type 3, not a type 1 or 2 prune since they bloom earlier in the season. - For a sunny groundcover, look at Sedum and Telephium (both commonly referred to as sedum). Some are taller or die back like the 'Autumn Joy' that Doug mentioned, but others such as 'Angelina' are shorter and stay evergreen. My 'Angelina' looks great whenever it isn't under snow, but they don't do well in much shade. - Daffodils, planted behind hostas or other perennials. Daffodils provide spring color, and if planted behind perennials, the emerging perennial foliage covers up the dying bulb foliage. Once planted, critters don't usually disturb daffodil bulbs since they are poisonous. I know you didn't ask about this, but IME in all probability you have soil that needs work before planting. Often top soil gets stripped away or mixed with subsoil during construction, and regardless, foot traffic and machinery will have compacted soil. Gravel or sand may have been used for backfill, and I've even seen contruction sites where the outwash from rinsing the concrete truck or mortar buckets ended up in garden or lawn spaces. You sound really anxious to start planting, but if you take care of the soil first, you will be far more likely to have healthy plants and a low maintenance garden. I suggest that you get a truckload of compost and turn it into the garden spaces, removing any construction debris that you uncover, and then grow a densely planted cover crop such as buckwheat for the season. It will be a mass of bright green, a bit over a foot high. When it flowers, cut it down before it goes to seed and turn it in to add more organic matter and nutrients to the bed. Give it 2 weeks to a month until it starts breaking down and then you can start planting. Late summer into early fall (or even midfall - I have had no issues with planting well into October here) do your planting. Being near the lake, your soil will stay warm quite a while into the fall, but days will be shorter and air temperatures cooling, so the plants will be less stressed than if you plant them in cold spring soil with days that get hot quickly. After planting, lay down a layer of corrugated carboard or several sheets of newspaper and cover with shredded bark mulch. This will prevent all the weed seeds that were turned up during construction and planting from sprouting while the soil settles and your plants fill in. For now, start taking photos of actually how much sun hits these garden spaces. We just passed the spring equinox, so if you take photos from now until June 20, the longest day, you will have a clear idea of how much sun is in each part of each bed throughout the growing season since from June 20 to the fall equinox; the light will be a reverse of the spring photos, though all summer will have leaves on the trees to account for unlike spring. The shade you have will all most likely be fairly bright, from high trees or alongside buildings, not from close overhangs from what I can see. For summer color this year, plant a few large pots of annuals.

yes the lawn is within the zig-zag space There is a problem with this design, probably a compromise can be reached. The problem is that the circle sectors need to be as close as possible to the trees or edges otherwise that will make the area left for plants way to big. If the center of all the circles used to do this design (center which is currently placed close to the edge of the patio toward the backyard) could be moved toward the center of the patio then these circle sectors will be narrower and what you say could be done. It is lawn plus three trees why I am here..I need help to add things there to make it look great. From your comments I take one valid point, try to make the space outside of the zig-zag space continuous. The edge can be hardscape..I think it will look better but it will require more work initially. The trenched approach will need more maintenance