My husband and I want to put in a bed extending from the northwest corner of our house. Zone 5, full sun area, clay soil. We want to block some of the strong winds from the west and create some privacy. The bed we have planned would be about 15x30 feet. I need some ideas of what to plant. My husband wants the plants to only grown to about 10 to 15 feet in height at the most. I was thinking of using one dwarf Alberta spruce, maybe a small flowering tree, perhaps a few arborvitae, although I worry about deer. I haven't seen any deer for a few years, but they devastated our arborvitae at our last house so I know they can be a huge problem. I've also read arborvitae don't like windy areas. We want privacy and wind protection as soon as possible so we plan to fill in areas with shrubs, grasses, and perennials until the main elements grow large enough. Can anyone recommend some plants? Or see potential problems with the plan so far?

bedeilia congrats on your chickadee nest. I would advise putting a wren guard on the chickadee box until they are 9-10 days old. I am glad you do not let the wrens nest. I would like to invite you to share your story and join the blue bird nut cafe forum. It is similar to this website but much more active and if you post your question there, you will get more help and answers. Hope to see you there. http://bluebirdnutcafe.yuku.com/ -Tyler This post was edited by tmann05 on Thu, Jun 27, 13 at 9:41

It's been quite some time since I have bothered to even mention the "L" word here at GW Apparently it's not a very popular suggestion here amongst the GardenWeb'ers, but none the less, the most reasonable, safe, secure, oh yeah,and free too answer to: >>> Should I renew my membership or should I use something else. I would like good protection without having to download 5 different things. Is to get yourself a good user friendly, and after personally installing and trialing over 30 something versions of the Linux OS, I think it safe to say that they're just about all a much smoother and easier and quicker install than any MS OS......And I have been connected to "the web" for as long as 8 months continuously 24/7 and have NEVER had any security/crack/intrusion ever I would suggest Vector or SimplyMepis or Mint or Pardus for newbies....but then again there are lots more to choose from.... Feel free however to follow the rest of the herd. Using and understanding Linux OS's is certainly no harder, and IMHO based on what friends and associates are always saying about how much better MSWin OS's are while they spend lots of time and money and goodwill attempting to fix issues and stay "secure",much easier and simple to have around.... And while you might be inclined to yada yada yada on about how wonderful MSwin OS's are, run 5 browsers 21 windows 123 tabs and 19 programs all at the same time for days on end, stay online 24/7 for 8 months and run the same didtro for 1.5 years w.o. ever an issue/reboot/registry-error/intrusion/anything under any MSWin OS and then I'll listen to whatever yada yada yada you might have to say.....Until then.... I remain absolutely correct Here is a link that might be useful: the

I just read your posting and thought, maybe a sheet of plastic ? above all you want to keep this away from moisture. Sealed on all top sides it should be able to breathe from underneath. I'm almost sure you thought of this, just thought I'd mention in case you didn't. Dontcha just love these people that will take your money and screw you ?