Great....Michelle received from Dianne!!! Everyone sent and everyone received. BRAVO! Well, that is a wrap on A TAXXXXING MONTH!! I see that all prizes have been received except for Vina and Jeanne (A game). Jeanne, I checked your tracking...you should receive by/on Thursday of this week. Vina and Jeanne, no need to post here when you receive...to difficult to get on here. Just email me so I know you have it in your hot little hands! Has been a pleasure ladies!! Tata, Annie

Happy Monday Morning, Nice to be home!!!! Hope all of your gardens are happily blooming!!!!! I had sent Susan an email before I left to go out of town and told her to post here. I do not see a posting from her. There was an email from her on my return last night. Susan is experiencing some serious personal problems. She stated that she can not remember everyone who sent her boxes...she tried to post as she received her birthday boxes. As well, she said that she would try to send out a June box but could not promise! She said she would try to make up for any months that she missed but it might take a month or so........................ So shall we move the swap around just one more time??? Great idea for the month of December...A swap between Deb...Debbya...Miss April Linda...Lindaruzicka...Miss June Lisa...IShareFlowers...Miss July Deb...Momcat...Miss August Annie...Canyonwind...Miss September Sonja...Happyseed...Miss October Kara...UNCGardener...Miss November And then for the month of December, we will do a swap amongst this group of seven "GARDENERS OF THE MONTH"................... Does everyone agree with this???????? Linda, last day of your Birthday month! Lisa...tomorrow your fun begins! I will post a new Gardener of the Month for July...LISA....tonight or in the morning! Annie

Ooops...after getting your hopes up, 15 feet isn't much room. I hate to say it, but you may be stuck with those tiny decorative trees. You want a vertical accent, winter interest, and a "wooded" look as opposed to a decorative flower garden look? The reason I asked about bucket trucks is if a tree is near a road they can still be pruned when they are pretty tall. If they aren't within reach of a road, they become unpranable when they reach a certain size. The reason I asked who owned the land under the lines is the power company may own it, or may just have an easement. Depending on the exact terms of the easement, you may be able to plant the sort of shrubs that grow back from the roots when they get chopped down directly under the lines. Check with your power company or the County Registry of Deeds to find out the details. You could plant: Hophornbeam (Ostrya virginiana) because it is the right size or Crataegus viridis 'Winter King' for the winter interest. You could get Striped Maple (Acer pensylvanicum.) You could get Limber Pine (Pinus flexilis) because it is evergreen and close to the right size. (Warning...I'm not personally familiar with these two trees) You could go for a narrow cultivar or a naturally narrow tree like American Persimmon (Diospyros virginiana ) or Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana). (The latter is not super attractive and looks stupid if limbed up but is quite narrow, evergreen and wind resistant)

Winconsitom, thanks so much for your advice! I am in Alberta, Canada so you are correct in saying that crabapples are a big part of the smaller trees that are grown here. Otherwise, people grow a lot of swedish columnar aspens (don't want!), maples (also don't care for as usually they are weed trees), ivory halo lilacs (I love those), hawthorns, serviceberry's, mountain ash's etc. Norway spruces and hemlocks are nice trees but too large for my yard I have found. I did plant an Picea pungens 'Iseli Fastigiata' which should be nice and narrow for my yard. I think at this point I have enough trees for my landscape as you can see in the plan below (the red x"s are trees I have moved or removed from the plan). My neighbour to the south has so many trees in his yard that is the same size as mine that I hate to see his yard in 5 years! This is what my city's drainage guidelines state. "Topsoil and sod should be placed so as to reflect the contour of the Rough Grade. Homeowners are not to change the drainage pattern, make significant changes to the elevations of the lot or block a drainage easement." So far I haven't blocked the drainage swale but I I already have a couple of trees immediately beside the swale, one of which will drop leaves and tiny crabapples. I also plan to put plants/shrubs next to the swale. If I didn't plants near this area it would be a pretty boring part of my yard that would be mostly unusable. Since my yard isn't very big that would be horrible for me as someone who loves to garden. I would prefer plants any day to expanses of lawn and rock. My back yard has split drainage. From the middle of the yard, some of it goes to my side swale that drains to the front street and the rest drains into the swale that I posted a photo of. I am also on a hill so neighbouring properties have some of their drainage water pouring into my swale. The water then goes down the hill to the storm pond. My backyard at this point is heavily compacted silty clay with a small amount of topsoil on top so I will be looking at fixing the drainage in the spring (we didn't get a chance to finish this past summer) because at this point the water just runs down the slope causing erosion and more compaction. I think once I get my grass in, amend the soil some and put my plants and flower beds in there will be way less erosion and run off during a storm. Drainage pattern (red arrows) I will look into the plants you mentioned and I also plan to plant some that can take the moist conditions and anchor the slope. Thanks again for your suggestions! Carrie