I've so enjoyed reading through this tread. My thanks to all who contributed and who take time to plant for the wildlife. Sherry, couldn't help but relate to your story regarding your blackberry canes. I, too, have been fighting the spread of Blackberry canes. I don't know if they were planted by the prior owner or by the neighbor behind me but even with me cutting each cane over and over during the growing season, they had spread so badly they were even beginning to show up all over my small grassy area in the backyard, not to mention the garden beds. Strong canes with terrible thorns that catch at fabric and skin, no matter how carefully the canes are handled. Last year I could see I was losing the battle so I purchased brush killer and carefully sprayed in the spring with the first spring flush of growth, everywhere I could spray without hitting other plants (I used a tall hollow cone to try and contain the spray to each cane). I managed to set back the growth somewhat but couldn't eliminate everything and managed to also kill spots in my lawn. Didn't want to attempt that process again but with this spring's blackberry cane again sprouting all over, I decided to try something new. I cut each growing cane I could reach down to about 6 inches above ground, soaked a cotton ball in full strength brush killer, placed the cotton ball on top of the fresh cut, covered it with a plastic sandwich baggie and used a rubber band to hold all in place. I am proud to say the cane's are dying, even the ones growing up into my neighbors flower beds, where I couldn't place cotton balls. I'm hopeful that with a season of doing this, I can get rid of the underground roots that spread so far and wide. Blackberries are wonderful but for a small city lot, some can be terribly invasive and destructive. Of course, I would not place these covered, soaked cotton balls in an area where pets or small animals might roam. I don't know if wild animals would sense the danger but I doubt if domesticated pets would know to leave them alone. I've wondered if an inverted flower pot placed over each cut cane, with a heavy rock on top, would be enough of a deterrent to keep animals from investigating? My hope is this season will see the end of the blackberry canes on my property! :-) Mary

This country is so into an over abundance of laws in all areas of modern life. It is becoming impossible to be a law abiding person. We can't keep track of them all. I just learned that it was $150 fine for not turning ones brights off accidently. This concept of changing to a white list was supposed to be for nurseries shipping in and out between Canada and the USA. All natives were not on the white list. So there was to be no trade of native between countries. What was weird about that white list was that Whole plant families were Xed off of the White list for no reason at all and only 12th of known plants were on it. It had only the normal trade type plants and nothing very unusual. I took Sally Waszowskis book on gardening with Texas natives and over 2/3 of the plants mentioned were not on the list. I looked and many invasives were on the list. It was crazy. I am amazed that this concept of White list versus Blacklist is becoming the norm. One gets lost in the detail and can not focus on the true problem plants. I am really concerned that I won't be allowed to grow my natives. It was not originally to be turned on the populous but be a import export vehicle. A way to control the professional growers. I agree, it seems so arbitrary , so draconian and unenforceable. We are now all possible criminals. Guilty till proven innocent. That Ruella (chi Chi ) is a monster. I got hit in the I eye by some seeds. I won't be sad to see that one go. Some plants should have warning labels. The fact that we make plants illegal that are inhabitants of this world shows how nuts we have gotten.

romeisburning 16 years ago (I was 57 then) I purchased a home in a retirement community - I KNOW I KNOW but it is lovely. The property had some crepe myrtle, some overgrown evergreen shrubs. I got rid of those overgrowns. Hard work but rewarding. Patience can be your best friend. I really do love the idea of a boardwalk path. You just blow or sweep the leaves off onto your plants and it is free food for them. I saw a picture not too long go of Annabelle hydrangea in a woodland area - beautiful -- I would stick with your landscaping friend. On this property, there was a beautiful rhododendron just outside my sunroom - I had trees removed and you know what happened to that rhodo? big mistake. Now I have two rhodos under the 8 long needled pines and they are very happy there. Deer - oh yes they usually leave rhodos alone but they ate the BUDS. Grass in the pine barons is possible.. Just some advice. I paid lawn service to help me with my grass - feeding the grass just made happier weeds in the grass. So much for that. I told myself I can learn how to combat my grass problems - and here goes, Had great success with fertilizer coated grass seeds - then covered the seeds with a little topping of compost with manure on the seeds - and watered between rains -.came up in one week and still going strong.. Also compost all your new plantings you will be amazed at the results. I would forgo any hosta because the deer love them. But check with your friend he/she would know. Oh yes on youtube ther is a great deer inhibiter - fishing line on small posts surrounding your garden attached to empty cat food cans on top of a bucket. When the deer trip the line the can fall off the bucket with a racket and scare the deer off. Check that one out - I am trying it - saves money for more plants and is harmless to deer. Good luck. When I learn how to upload a picture I will upload one.

Where does your property end? As you said it's protected, you can't do major changes. In a wetland it's illegal to use chemical herbicides with few exceptions for such things as professionals with permits removing invasives, and similarly you probably don't want to use something like weed-n-feed since it may harm the wetland. In reality, your yard won't look like a standard suburban yard because it isn't. Fluctuating water levels along the edge will influence what can grow there, and generally it's best to let grow what will grow there happily rather than looking at it as weeds. I'd mow to the edge of where you want the lawn, put down a buried edging to keep the herbaceous wetland plants from creeping in, and then plant on the lawn side and mulch native shrubs or herbaceous flowers that won't mind the fluctuating moisture levels near a wetland. You don't say where you are, but here in central NH (acid sandy soil over a deep clay base) in a borrow pit that was used to supply road material many years ago, I've used a bunch of water tolerant natives that will also survive dry spells in an effort to improve both the appearance of this degraded area (previous owners used it illegally for mud vehicles) and to improve its habitat value. Clethra alnifolia - (summer sweet) late summer flowers and bright yellow fall color; suckering growth Rosa palustris - (swamp rose) single pink flowers at this time of year Rhododendron viscosum - (swamp rhododendron), with sweet smelling flowers in the next few weeks, deciduous with nice fall color tall wild blueberries in the less wet/higher areas Huckleberry (Gaylussacia baccata) has white flowers and edible blueberry-like fruit Cephalanthus occidentalis (Buttonbush) has sputnik-looking white flowers in summer, much loved by pollinators Chamaedaphne calyculata (Leatherleaf) low-growing evergreen with white spring flowers Labrador-tea (Rhododendron groenlandicum but used to be called Ledum groenlandicum) white spring flowers on semi-evergreen plants Some of them require acid soil, but the clethra, rose, and buttonbush should be fine in many areas of the northern half of the country. You could also look around for native wetland wildflowers (be sure to confirm ID - the Name that Plant forum would be useful so that you don't spread invasive non-natives like purple loosestrife) to add seed along the edge to enhance what is there. There are a range of striking wetland perennials that look lovely for much of the summer that include native Joe-pye-weed (which used to be Eupatorium, but has changed names at least twice recently to Eutrochium and Eupatoriadelphus, so you might find it listed under any of them), boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum), Ironweed (Veronia sp.), some of the wetland goldenrods or wetland asters or other similar plants. Many of these are large, statuesque plants, and could be used in a mixed border of shrubs and herbaceous plants.) There are a range of resources to use to find native plants for your area that will be happy in a wet area. The New England Wildflower Society has gardens, a nursery, and info online. The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center has similar on the ground and online resources, but since it's not in my area, I don't know much about whether it has a plant nursery. There are most likely similar organizations in other parts of the country. If you want to add your location to your profile so we don't have to ask: Go to Your Houzz in the upper right of every page, click Edit Profile, and on the left side click advanced settings. Well down the advanced settings page is a blank labeled Climate Zone for Garden Forums along with a link to find your zone. If you add info on your state or the nearest large city you will get even better information since zone only relates to average coldest winter temperatures. Then return to the top of the page and click Done Editing.