I meant to say that the third picture was from the fence, facing North, I'm not sure why I said East. I don't really have a drainage problem, I have a problem with the water not soaking into the soil. The current water is coming from the sprinkler head near the whiskey barrel. The water isn't washing the grass away, it just simply isn't sinking in due to the clay soil. Coupled with the all day sun, the grass is doing terrible. As the slope levels out a little towards the middle, the water is able to soak in better. I agree that the drainage is a good thing, as most of the heavy rain runoff will go from the NorthWest portion of my lawn, down to the South next to the fence. Trying to get the grass to grow well is difficult, so I figured I'd just get rid of it. The area probably won't be used for much of anything other than a place to look nice and remove grass. I am also contemplating adding steps to the deck next to the roses, and maybe making a little sitting area. However, I don't anticipate using it very often, what with the giant deck and all. I'm new to gardening and keeping plants alive, but don't mind the weeding/pruning/watering aspect, although I don't have enough time to spend hours each day on it. Learning how to maintain every other aspect of a house is rather time consuming. I imagine I would be an informal gardener, to the poster who asked. The heartier the plants, the better. Perennials would probably be the best idea, especially since the previous owner placed a lot of them in the front yard. Dwarf evergreens sound like an acceptable choice. If they stay small, I doubt they would bring up any horrible memories. I do need a walkway through there, at least large enough for the lawn mower and wheelbarrow to get through. My concern with the snowball bush, is it's getting rather large, and I'd rather not have it much larger than the shed it's hiding. I've been reading up on that, so I don't think it will be too much of an issue. I also think once I move the shed back towards the fence, it will leave a strange open spot. The flowering vines are a good idea. Making the two beds was one of the ideas I had come up with as well. I was concerned with the one next to the fence, since that is where any drainage would be. I wasn't sure if it would be a good idea to simply place any sort of dirt or mulch there with plants located throughout. I contemplated putting in raised beds, but the drainage issue comes into play again. Building it up with rocks, and having a type of rock garden next to the fence crossed my mind. And, once it has been decided what to plant, I was wondering with how to edge it up to my lawn. Having grass and then a hard border into the plant/walkway area seemed abrupt. Maybe having a flagstone type walkway through the planting area, and "breaking up" once it meets the lawn portion of my backyard. The ideas thus far are helpful. I'm very open to any others. While bizarrely over the top, the first poster did give me an idea or two. Thanks for the help!

It's true that you can't make an ID from just the flower, however there aren't that many yellow composites blooming this early in the year around here. I'll bet it's one of the Groundsels (Packera spp, they just changed the name recently so it's listed as Senecio in older books.) Scroll down for some pics very like yours. There are a bunch of different species, so yours might not be this exact one. WW Here is a link that might be useful: Ragwort, Packera (Senecio)

I don't really have any photos that provide more context. These flowers were in scattered patches and there were a lot of them. Others plants from the area are Trillium that were out of bloom for about two weeks. There was a Putty Root in full bloom. Lots of nettles, Violets, Dwarf Larkspur in season and others. Dracocephalum has similar flowers but the leaves are lanceolate and these are more heart shaped. Here is another photo that shows leaves better. Thanks for the help, Charles Here is a link that might be useful: West Virginia Wild Flowers

As a retired teacher, I have to echo purpleinopp's post as far as knowing how to use different resources (and people are a resource) and finding info. An additional skill that is much needed is knowing how to discern whether or not the info is true, and remembering that just because you read or hear something, it isn't necessarily true. If the OP is an advanced biology student worried about his/her grade, the first thing that student will most likely do after getting info from this site is to confirm it. And therein lies a lot of learning. If there is a true desire to help learning and not just spoon feed info, it would be useful to provide one reason for each suggestion...that would give the OP a place to start with a confirmation. #5...I'm sure I'm off base since it hasn't been suggested, but the first thing I thought of looking at #5 was an oenothera...based on the shape of what I think is a flower bud or seed pod, and, again what I think I see, the stigma. As others have said, it is difficult to discern details when the flowers have been dried and pressed, and in these photos, even colors.