I agree with gardengal that the price quote seems really high, but it would be useful to add some pertinent information here of you really want an apples to apples comparison of what such a project might cost for a redesign. If you're satisfied with the layout of the existing hardscape and just want a new planting plan, that as already mentioned could be accomplished with just a one hour site visit to get quick dimensions and then perhaps another hour or two to come up with a planting plan that better matches plant choices to the sun/ shade exposure. Your mention of water repelling sand as soil amendment may not be an issue if the soil is further amended with a good amount of compost to add organic content. You don't mention whether this area receives hand watering, has an irrigation system or whether you prefer plantings that are drought tolerant and don't require summer irrigation. These would all be design considerations to factor in before developing a new planting plan. Let us know where you are located, the rough dimensions, maybe some photos of the area, which direction this side yard faces, and if there is an irrigation system(automatic/manual/none); if you'd like more informed replies here

No judgement can be made because we don't know the size of the photo that was scanned, nor can we see the original and a print of the digitized one to compare. The file size will be porprotional to the area of the scanned object plus some overhead. I've had good success scanning B/W photos at 300 dpi (dots per inch) and using 256 gray scale. A finer gray scale can be used but there won't be much difference in the final tonal scale. Scanning to a jpg format reduces file size and you can control how much reduction to make; jpg files are 'lossy'; defintion loss increases with increased file reduction. B/W photos can be scanned in color which will pick up any yellowing or color tinges at the expense of a much larger file. I have found that 256 gray scale is quite acceptable. I will switch to a color scan if I wish to preserve color tinges. (My scanner always scans in color. It then writes the digital file depending on user selection. It converts the color image to gray scale for writing the file. Therefore, once the image hs been scanned, I can flip back and forth between color and gray scale.) After a photo has been scanned, it should 'played back' in a photo editor to check the result and to correct the color or gray scale balance. If the technician did not take time to check and make adjustments, the result may be disappointing. This brings us back to your monitor. If you display the digitized file on your monitor, the result can be puzzling. For example, the picture when printed on your printer may not match what you see on the screen. That's because your monitor was not color corrected and needs to be adjusted to a standard. Some older CRT monitors may not have adjsutment range. In some cases, best result is achieved by adjusting the video display card. This is done by software supplied with the card, if it is adjustable. The quality of the copied photo depends greatly on the skill of the operator both in making the copy file and printing thereof. If you have only 10 pics or thereabouts, it may not pay to buy a scanner. If you have 50 or more photos to digitize, then a scanner purchase is recommended. Once you have a scanner and become familar with its operation, you will find uses for it.

No, I haven't figured out a solution yet, as I didn't have much time to think about the problem due to Christmas preparations, etc. Not that thinking about it did me much good before! Do you hsve any suggestions?

Hi Sandra, I own an Epson 4490 Photo scanner and just place my photo on the bed and when my warm up light stops blinking, I push the button, it then opens my program. Then I choose Photogragh and click on preview to scan so my picture appears so I can do my cropping (see the dotted frame around pic) and what other adjustments if needed. Then I click on Scan for my final. I pick Printer so it scans LARGE for easier editing and print outs and I can make it smaller after, if I choose to send in e-mail or post on a forum. I shall upload a screen shot with further descriptions hoping it makes sense to help in any way. By choosing Printer, the cropped picture went from 2550x3509 pixels to 900x1183 cause you do NOT want to scan the bed along with your photo making the photo tiny and all in all a humongous file. If I chose screen/web, the picture would be 297x373 pixels which is WAY TOO small to be of value. Urlee