Well, Pam...not 'that' far from you and here in Buckroe Beach, VA (Hampton coast) we got hit pretty hard like they predicted. But I had not believed it since we rarely get it!! But i sure is beautiful !!!! Boy oh boy, the birds are going nuts at my feeders out front. I guess since they're used to me, I awoke with doves sitting on my table and couch on the porch, and cardinal, too -- just feet from my BR window. I put a few seed trays and water down and now, can't tear myself away watching the doves, cardinals, dark-eyed juncos, sparrows, catbirds, and a few others I'm not sure about. And of course, the starlings !! Those little pigs. But no squirrels, thank God. Hadda go rescue my cat from the snow. He's never seen it before, tried going out the back door and shot right back in again. But then he bolted out the front door at 8AM. Typically during colder weather, he's out and right back in (just to go do his business) so by the time lunchtime came and still no "Pinkey," I HADDA go looking for him. He was all huddled up under my neighbor's house, just a'crying all pitiful, scared to come out. I finally had to trick him with treats, then grab him, all the while he was screaming. That is, until he was safe in "momma's arms. But now the dumbass wants out again. No way. I don't want to have to perform a 2ND rescue....LOL

What a lovely gift!! As Ginny said a bit more info about where in the state would help. One thing to be aware of is that spring is prime time for ticks in NH. Some of them are relatively large, but the small deer ticks are the ones that carry Lyme disease. When working in brushy areas I tend to wear long pants tucked into my socks, a long sleeved shirt and a hat, and when I am done working, change all my clothing and check myself thoroughly for ticks. Spraying clothing with bug repellent containing DEET helps also. Any ticks I find go into a vial of alcohol and clothing goes outside or into the washing machine after a quick check to find any obvious ticks. Lyme disease isn't something you want to pick up! Here's a link to a thread from last year suggesting several great NH nurseries (I am pretty sure all the listed nurseries are in the southern part of the state, but range from E to W,) and it also has a link to a 2006 or 2005 list of New England nurseries. Some of the northern MA nurseries may be close to your sister's place. Where you are in the southern part of the state will make a difference as it's probably about 2 hours from Keene to Portsmouth. Also, where you are will affect the seriousness of deer problems you have. In more suburban areas with less hunting and habitat, feeding from deer can be a problem. I'm in a rural area just a few minutes north of Concord and although there are lots of deer, the only plants that I can't grow due to deer are yews and Tricyrtis/Japanese toad lily. There are so many other food sources available that they don't bother to visit my gardens except to snatch a real treat. The seacoast is zone 6, but most of the southern part of the state is zone 5 with some of the hillier areas around Keene and my river valley location are probably on the border of zone 4, but all are in the southern half of NH. I mostly plant for zone 4, but sometimes zone 5 for things I really want with the knowledge that if we have a particularly cold winter and poor snow cover, I may lose them. I don't know what type of budget you have, but often soil improvements can be found locally relatively inexpensively. Many cities and towns have composting programs that make it available to residents. Local dairy farms will often deliver a huge dump load of manure, and horse manure can often be found for free if you are able to pick it up, but it will have more weed seeds. Mulch can also be found from various commercial suppliers by the dump load, which will probably be an important part of the low-maintenance aspect of the garden. Three acres is a large space, so you may want to consider some smaller heavy equipment. You may also be able to find someone to run a tractor for you for brushhogging, moving rocks, moving dirt, etc or if you are comfortable with machinery, bobcats and tractors can often be rented. We have been happy using Carl Mattews equipment in Boscawen. (I laughed when DH bought a small tractor many years ago, but as I age, the ability to move things with that tractor instead of my body makes it one of my favorite gardening tools now.) Some general thoughts on gardening in NH: Depending on where your sister's house is, you will probably have lots of granite (this is the "Granite State" after all) though on the coast and in the Merrimack Valley soil is sandier (or on some areas of the coast there is a layer of marine clay a few feet down) and there may be less rock in general. For building walls, rough field stone is often used while edging, patios, steps, etc are frequently made of dressed granite. It's something you have to keep in mind in planning a garden, that you will probably have a goodly amount of rock mixed in with soil and you may have shallow bedrock or boulders too large to move that you need to work around. We buy dressed granite from Swenson Granite Works in Concord, which is our local granite quarry for items like steps, but that may not be the best choice for you if you are looking to build something that needs dressed granite if you aren't close to Concord. With good planning fall color can last for 6 weeks or more, with the red maples starting the show in September and the blueberries, Fothergilla, Viburnums, oaks, and beeches ending the color at least a month and a half later. It is my favorite time of the year and well worth planning for in the garden. We are lucky to have many natives that are stunningly beautiful in autumn. Because so much of our year my garden is deeply snow-covered, I do try to grow plants that extend the season of interest and plant gardens that can be viewed from the house in winter. Herbaceous plants and short shrubs that stay green in cold weather usually aren't of huge value in my yard during winter since we often have more than 4 feet of snow on the ground. I try to plant a few things in warmer areas on the south side of the foundation that will bloom early like snow crocus, reticulated iris, and snow drops to get some early flowers. I plant taller evergreens (larger shrubs and trees) along with woody plants having interesting bark (beech/Fagus, birch/Betula, Stewartia, Acer griseum/paperbark maple, red and yellow twigged dogwoods/Cornus ) or interesting branch stucture (Pagoda dogwood/Cornus alternifolia) to provide winter interest. I also leave up my clematis obelisks year round since they tend to look nice against the snow. Many folks have bird feeders and bird-friendly shrubs to bring in some extra winter (as well as other seasonal) activity as well. I don't since we have blackbears emerging from dens in just a few weeks and they enjoy birdfeeders a bit too much. Tell us a bit more about your goals for your sister's garden beyond low maintenance - do you want easy or wheel-chair friendly paths or good visibility from a patio or porch? Does she have someone to help with basic mantenence such as an annual cleanup of easy care perennials like type 3 (hard prune) clematis or Baptisia? Will she want chair-accessible raised beds near the house for a few veggies and herbs? Is the garden all on one level? Are you looking to put in almost all trees and shrubs? Are flowers or scent or colorful foliage important? Hope that wasn't more info than you wanted or needed! Here is a link that might be useful: NH nurseries thread

Ouch, Jane, you really won the jackpot! I didn't reschedule my Friday morning appointment; after all, the forecasts were trending towards mostly rain with just a little snow overnight and then rain again by midday Friday. It's true, there wasn't that much snow overnight and I left the house with minimal shoveling - just a few slushy wet heavy inches here. I figured once I got off the local roads onto the highway all would be well. Not so, the local roads were OK, but route 3 was awful. Slop all over the roadway, strong wind gusts, and snow aimed at the windshield. Every passing car or truck threw more slop at me (I was driving slowly, very unlike my usual habit). The local roads at my destination were worse - DEEP slop, hiding who knew what under there. I figured by the time I got out and headed home, the snow would have started turning to rain. Not so, the slop and strong wind gusts were still there. I have better appreciation now for the local Plymouth plow-people; my rural road was better than the highway and I pulled into my driveway unscathed (but extremely annoyed). There's probably two inches of wet slop here and the snow is still blowing sideways. So where's the rain? Claire

Gardengal, I have several different cultivars of M. grandiflora..., along with lots of gorgeous pics of them covered with snow (all from previous years)! I can tell you, that I see big time differences in their vulnerabilities to snow loads (and this in a climate where ALL cultivars have more than enough heat for adequate ripening of the wood in the summers). Our snows also tend to be very weight heavy, but freezing rain and ice is usually not as common. Can't tell you how heartbroken I felt when we had some damage done to them under extreme accumulations of the sticky and heavy sort. Even so, differences were noted. I had little damage to 'Victoria', and 'Edith Bogues', even not so much for Little Gem (and they are not the hardiest as you know). My worst damage is on more vertical growing cultivars of Alta or Teddy Bears (with the DEER also prefer btw!). Snow seems to get trapped on these while in the more horizontal sprawling varieties, the branches merely bend down. As the snow melts, branches right themselves with no issues. Even those varieties that do get hit by the snow, they usually show excellent recovery in the next growing season. Curiously, the very worst damage I have ever seen from snow occurred several years ago when there was a freakish snowfall on Halloween and the leaves were still on broadleaved evergreen trees (including deciduous Saucer Magnolias). I saw many trees splint down the middle of their trunks. Southern Mags were curiously immune and I had no issues! Bizarre.