I just moved to a house with established plantings about 18 months ago, and everything had been sheared. With most shrubs this just makes a mess, as you are finding. Also, a lot of foundation plantings are put in by people whose intent is to fill the space FAST, not to allow the plants to grow to their natural size. I have been trying to allow the plants I have to grow into their shape and size while doing some judicious pruning. I have no desire to whack back plants every year. If you want to do this, I can recommend 2 books on pruning. Both are really good but very different. Cass Turnbull's Guide to Pruning will help you make decisions about whether or not to keep the plants you have. It's written in a familiar, approachable style and discusses common mistakes people make when pruning, as well as multiple ways to do it right, depending on the results you want. It will help you to evaluate the plants you have. It's got line drawings, which are somewhat helpful, but the straight-from-the-hip advice is better than the illustration. The Pruner's Bible by Steve Bradley is a plant-by-plant approach to pruning, with clear illustrations and advice on exactly when to prune. I always consult both these books when I'm about to prune something. They complement each other very well.

Thank you for these many kind thoughts. I do love the Chamaecypari nootkatensis pendula -- we put one in the front of our house -- but thought the cost of a bunch of these would be prohibitive. On the other hand, no solution will be inexpensive and at least the one we put in under similar conditions seems happy. The one hemlock I have planted has been attacked by the adelgid already, despite dormant oil sprays. Has anyone had experience with the adelgid-eating beetle, and doesn't that seem like a risky intervention? Easy to imagine bamboo escaping my control and then we'll be living on something like the set of Apocalypse Now. American holly is great, but have already had some leaf miner adventures with our two. Granted that was dealt with pretty easily. Some Thuja nigra in the front are doing well, in full sun. A mix of the trees you all have mentioned would be best, but have trouble visualizing a good "rhythm" of alternating species -- threes and fives? Some pointy, some pendula? Some colors especially successful when juxtaposed? If a particularly nice combination comes to mind that you have seen, please mention it. Grateful for your good thoughts and suggestions. Lynn

Hi Chris, I very much like having a SWG...the saltwater is softer on the eyes/hair/bathing suits, etc. I got it as an upgrade to the original contract because everyone here seemed to like them quite well. Originally, the unit that was installed 2 years ago was a Watermaid. The Watermaid runs with a higher salt content than most other manufacturer's units (6,000-7,000 ppm compared to 3,200-3,500 ppm in most units). Prior to running into the problem with the salt water corroding the pool cover, I did not particularly like the Watermaid as it tended to develop air bubbles when i switched the solar heating on and off and the SWG would often stop working after the solar was running. The unit MV replaced the Watermaid with is an Intellichlor. So far, so good (although, truth be told, I actually preferred the feel of the water with the higher salt content). As to coverstar v. coverpools, I can't say that I can truly compare the two. MV pools uses Coverpools so CoverStar was not an option. Had I wanted to go with Coverstar, I probably would have had to have subcontracted that portion out. Because I wanted it to be an inground unit, it had to be designed and built together with the pool. The CoverStar cover I had on my last pool was a much simpler system -- it was an aftermarket, deckmounted unit. It was not connected with the sheer descents, so there were no sensors to break down, no SWG, etc. Therefore, I can't really compare the two units, as it's not an apples-to-apples kind of comparison. Customer service (Alternative Pool Systems for the CoverPool and PoolSafe for the Coverstar) for both companies is excellent, though...I'd probably say Eric from Alternative Pool Systems (the one Mission Valley Deals with) would get the nod, as he has been exceedingly responsive and was totally on top of things with the corrosion issues). As for the decking, I purchased the pavers from Ackerstone in Corona. I liked their selection much more than what I had seen at RCP and KRC. Except for Friday mornings when Ackerstone sells their overruns at a *tremendous* discount to the general public (I got pavers that normally sold for more than $5 sq. ft. for $ .80 a sq. ft (yes, 80 cents!)), they only sell to contractors. Since I was in the process of a home remodel at the time I was able to use my contractor to effect the purchase. Southwest Boulder in Fallbrook is a distributor for Ackerstone, and I also bought additional pavers from them when I purchased my flagstone (they have a great selection!) as the delivery costs were lower. The coping and most of my decking, seating and retaining walls were installed by MV's mason - Uriel Hurtado. Notwithstanding a couple of issues that arose with the retaining walls owing to an over-zealous building inspector, Uriel was a pleasure to work with. He had some very creative ideas, and was very fair with his pricing. After the remodel/addition was finished (which was nearly 4 months after the pool was done), I took on landscaping and needed to make some changes to the decking (we moved a couple of doors going out the the deck and added a door to the master bath and guest bath). These were done by my landscaper as the pool had been completed and we had since moved on project-wise.

Hi Fairway Style Living, Thank you again for taking the time to help me! If I use the full width rod right across the window what happens is that it will have to be slightly higher than the actual shutters, otherwise I will not be able to open them (I don't open them much, but need to do for window cleaning, etc.). Part of what you see is the 2.5" frame of the shutter. Won't having it right across the shutter cut into the look of the architecture by having the darker colour go right through it? That is a very good point regarding the colour of the rod. I was going with the champagne so that it would go with the bookshelf that is in the room directly across (my office) from the dining room. There is a point where you can see into each of them at the same time so I thought I had to coordinate :). The hardware on the unit is champagne. I am meeting with the drapery person this week to pick another rod, so I can absolutely go with our suggestion and not change it. (That will make her very happy). However I would like to see what you say about the rod going directly across the white shutters and up slightly therefore it will go across the actual window part. I like the idea very much of the height of the drapes being at the base of the fanlight. I am not sure about the rod cutting through the shutters though?? Can you just confirm your thoughts on that part for me.