Anyone else have an earlier-than-usual cold? I haven't had a sore throat for years. I do this morning. Tired, too. Where's Mom with the tray of hot tea and juice? "I never get colds," I've been thinking to myself as friends at work tell me of unseasonably early sniffles, sinus headache, stuffiness. Ah, well, pride goeth before a flue Isabella, I do have some hesitation about grass under the maple and elsewhere. In my mind's eye the simple composition seems to work best with the scale and style of the house. It also rather helps with the 3 year horizon. I am left with the following reservations: 1. In a simple composition it does seem that it better be "nice" grass. There are very few tweezer lawns in my neighborhood. You know the ones where a guy runs out with a mortified look on his face to tweezer out a tiny weed from an immaculate lawn then finishes by pulling sharp scissors from a back pocket to do a quick tidying trim here and there. I don't picture that level of care, but grass will have its own demands, and I'm not sure how well I'll meet them. 2. I am also somewhat put off by the mono-culture of grass. It pleases me that birds, butterflies, pollinators visit my yard more than just about any other along the street, or so my husband and son tell me. For the first time this year we had swarms of hummingbirds. They went for the hosta plantaginea stuck under the purple sand cherry (refugees from elsewhere) and 2 caryopterus in the island bed which finally received enough sun this year to bloom profusely. Mentally, I like the cleaned up direction that these discussions are taking, but it also feels a bit sterile and lifeless. Inkognito, my husband enjoyed a grand laugh on reading our exchange about hoses. He checked your suggested web address for a picture of something similar to what you are thinking, but it didn't make sense to him. Wish I could see? Perhaps I need to follow up on the Eichler lead and the reading Brent suggested. Brent, I have been a bit of a mystery. That was sort of on purpose. Someone once wrote that an ordinary mystery is a "comprehensible uncertainty". Once the uncertainty is resolved, the mystery is no longer of interest. A "holy" mystery was, by contrast, an "incomprehensible certainty" and thereby forever fascinating. I don't think that I fall into the second category. Bahia, love playing with all these ideas in my head. Kind of like vicariously reading a garden magazine. Your suggestions for plant material are ones I've considered. Where to put something remains a question. Reading back through this thread, I find the following: 1. My own suggestion to put a small specimen in front of the line of the maple. I see now why that doesn't work. 2. Replace the purple sand cherry at southwest corner of house. Is that something that still makes sense once the foundation bed is gone? 3. Exterior to the wall to provide shade to the development of a courtyard. 4. Interior to the wall. Tricky between house and driveway. Also, husband hated the holly tree in this position. 5. What about somewhere on east side of drive? Tired, friends, and I now realize that I've spent an inordinate amount of time writing this response. I have Mondays off, so perhaps soup, a read, and a little nap. Wellspring

Many years ago, when China was a forbidden country, one of my customers suffered acute appendicitis while on assignment there. Surgery was required. An instructor sat by his side teaching him a method of self-hypnosis. During surgery he was awake, no anesthetics and felt no pain. Upon his return to the States he wrote widely of his experience. This is when I began my search for a teacher of meditation and self-hypnosis. And, as the Yoga saying goes..."when you are ready, the teacher will appear". What is overlooked in general overviews of Zen gardens is the understanding that the act of maintaining the garden itself is a form of meditation. One can meditate anywhere and also in any type of garden. Slow down, see the light and shadow, feel the sun's warmth, the evergreen branch bowed with snow, the tactile touch of mulch running through your fingers, listen to the sound of shovel on stone, rake on gravel.

BONSAIST : ....I HAVE JUST SUCESSFULLY OVER-WINTERED THREE "ATREANO" TREES. ALL THREE, 5 FOOT TREES, ARE GROWN IN A VERY LARGE CONTAINER (20 GALLONS), AND THE TRUNKS ARE TIED TOGETHER, MAKING ONE BIG FAT "COMPOSITE TRUNK". MY STORAGE-SHED IS UNHEATED, AND I DID NOT WRAP MY TREES BEFORE STORAGE. I ONLY WATERED THE TREES TWICE OVER THE WINTER, JUST TO KEEP THE SOIL FROM GOING BONE DRY. I THINK IT'S EASIER FOR ME TO HANDLE CONTAINER-GROWN FIG TREES, AS I'M NOT INTO THE "WRAPPING-OF-THE-FIG-TREE" ROUTINE. I RECOMMEND THIS VARIETY WITHOUT RESERVATIONS, AND I'VE LEARNED THAT THIS VARIETY DOES WELL IN OUR SHORT SUMMER GROWING SEASON. I HAD DOZENS OF DELICIOUS, SWEET FIGS LAST YEAR, STARTING IN LATE AUGUST, AND GOING INTO THE FIRST WEEKS OF SEPTEMBER. I HAD NO SOURING, NO SPLITTING, JUST SWEET, STICKY FIGS !!! (LET THIS VARIETY HANG ON THE TREE FOR A FEW DAYS AFTER TURNING GOLDEN-YELLOW, UNTIL THE FIGS BECOME VERY SOFT, AND ALMOST FALL INTO YOUR WAITING FINGERS. AND, DO NOT, REPEAT, DO NOT, OVERWATER TREES WHILE FIGS ARE RIPENING !!!!!) SEE SOME OF THE PREVIOUS POSTINGS FOR THIS VARIETY. IF YOU HAVE THE ROOM, PLANT YOUR TREES IN CONTAINERS, OR, VERY LARGE STORAGE TUBS, AND OVER-WINTER IN AN UNHEATED GARAGE, OR, SHED, AND YOU'LL BE DONE WITH THE WINTERING-OVER PROBLEMS. MY CONTAINER IS ON A DOLLY FOR EASY MOVING AROUND. GOOD LUCK WITH YOU CHOICES. KEEP US POSTED, PLEASE. FDV

Salmon: Thanks for your great work in compiling this. This link shows how to create a link within a document. A few things I'll add: 1. Another "where to buy" place is ABS Wood. I worked with Jeff at East Teak. 2. The decks.com guide is good. American Wood Products also publishes a good code reference. 3. I bought several deck books, and the most useful (starts with the basics, lots of photos) is Black & Decker's. It's updated for recent code changes. 4. I sketched out my plans and used decks.com's $99 plan drawing service. They did the load calcs, produced a framing plan, footer plan, and materials list in 24 hours. A great time saver! 5. Tools: I love the Bostich metal connector nailer, and have the Paslode framer and finish nailers (love them too, even if the framer took a nip out of my finger). I buy all my expensive power tools on ebay, and prices are generally 30-50% off retail for tools in good condition. If you're only using them for one project, you can put them back on ebay and probably recover most of your expense.