Gracie, It is OK. Perhaps, if we are successful, we will help you grow into a gardener. You know, as beautiful as any home is and can be, each home needs a lovingly planted and well-maintained landscape to showcase it to its' best advantage. If you are in the Oklahoma City area, you are in zone 7. If you have clay soil, the absolute best thing you can do for your plants before they are planted is to amend the soil so that it both holds water well and drains well. To do this, add the following to your soil: peat moss OR compost, composted manure and finely shredded pine bark (or cypress) mulch. You don't have to add tons and tons, but at least 2 to 4 inches as a minimum. Till it into the soil (if you don't have a tiller, perhaps you can rent one or borrow one). Then, rake and level the soil, and plant. You will notice that the improved soil is mounded up somewhat higher than the surrounding grade, and that is a good thing. Improving the clay even a small bit will help your plants to grow faster and to maintain good health. If you want to go one step further and make the area low-maintenance, cover the prepared soil with a cloth-type landscape fabric mulch. Peg down the ends of the fabric mulch with the landscape staples (U-shaped metal things) or plastic pegs (usually green, they look like large green plastic nails). Cut an "X" shape in the fabric and plant in that spot. When you're done planting, cover the fabric with the mulch of your choice. This extra step will repay you many times over by making that area low-maintenance. The plants will benefit because they won't have grass or weeds competing with them for moisture or nutrition. Now, about the plants. In order to decide what you want to plant, figure out what you like. I'd rather plant shrubs and vines that have a look to them that I like seeing, and not just a plant that someone recommended. If you don't know what you like, go to local nurseries or to the Botanic Garden or to the Myriad and look at the plants. When you see one you like, try to find out what it is. (Hopefully the plants are well-labeled.) BEFORE you buy, research the plant and make sure you understand its' needs. For example, some plants need full sun, some need full shade, others tolerate partial shade/sun and some (especially the holly family shrubs) can grow in either one. Also make sure you understand what the plants mature height and spread will be. It can be tricky. The red-tip photinias, as Randy and I have already said, can get very large. I have seen them get 20 feet tall and 10 feet wide in less than a decade. Since most people plant then only a few feet from one another, they begin to crowd each other out. Pruning them works for a while, but after several years of that, you have pruned them back to the point that all you have are huge limbs with lots of stubble covered by leaves. They are also overused, and I like using plants that aren't as commonly used. Your clay soil may be a faster-draining clay because it has some sand or loam, or it may be a heavy, thick clay that bakes brick hard in summer and holds pools of water in spring. Take the type of clay you have into consideration when choosing your plants. Last year,I compiled long lists of clay soil-tolerant plants for Emily. I'm going to go to this forum's back pages and find those and bump them up to the top for you. You might find some additional ideas there. You'll know them when you see them as they are titled "A Tree List for Emily....", "A Shrub List for Emily..." etc. Good luck and keep communicating with us. We'll do our best to help you. Dawn

I posted the topic "a bulging brick wall & star-shaped bolts!" and got a great reply from you. It sounds like you can SAVE MY FACADE, and I need your help. Other masons want to rebuild it which will damage the historical integrity of my 1870 Philadelphia rowhouse and cost me a fortune. Please get in touch, send me an email and let me know if you can help, thanks: jayme@fastmail.us

If I were to go with the 3x6 subways that have the appearance of a beveled edge, I don't know how to end it where my cabinets, counters end. I would definitely NOT want to end it o full and half tiles, because you'd end up with an edges that was not constant, due to that heavy bevel o the full tiles. What you might look into is Schluter's Rondec bullnose strip. I'm not a big fan, but it's the least of all "evils", if you will. Here is a link that might be useful: Schluter Rondec

What about finding a finishing carpenter in your area who might be able to do a small job for you. If you have friends/family who are doing some renos they might have one on site that you can contact. Go to your local lumber yards and ask them if they have any who come in on a regular basis buying supplies. That's how we found the best house painter ever. We went to our local BM dealer and asked them for recommendations. They gave us names of those who they knew personally and who always paid their bills on time.