Thanks, I appreciate the links! I am familiar with the area (grew up there) but prices are all over the place. Sparsely populated area, economically depressed. Watched a farm auction last year, 400 AC split up into large and small parcels. Of course better crop fields grab a better premium. But there are some that were smaller sold as building sites. Crazy thing (that doesn't make sense to me) is that the smaller the site, the higher the price. Minimal road frontage on both, well & septic necessary on both. The 9 AC parcel going for $2600/AC, double size 18 AC parcel with nearly identical layout (woods and cleared field) going for $2100AC. But only on the market 6 months and slashed 15k already, probably due to the economy and no draw for newcomers. I check tax records as well, for deed changes in the area.

In the past when RPS updated their website (it is now nicer but much slower to browse) my account was deleted with all my past orders. They did not move any past orders or any customer accounts to their new site. The seeds that take about 2 months to arrive since they wait a month to charge a card and then another month to deliver arrive continuously partly or mostly not viable, shattered or they germinate in very low percentage such as 3% or none. I did have some very limited success with RPS seeds in the past, but a lot of misidentifying is going on, even now I realized the couple of palms that germinated from the batch are different species than I purchased. Take your chances. If you have no other source for specific seeds, take a chance and good luck. I am now ordering seeds, germinated seedlings and palms directly from suppliers even that I am just a collector and even if it is harder to achieve that.

You can get ideas for what you want by looking at your current living space, and any house you've spent time in. Needs are things like number of bedrooms and bathrooms, an office, a play space for kids (at their current age and as they grow), highlighting a lovely view or hiding a lousy one, dining space for large family gathering, storage space for (fill in the blank - in our house it's camping equipment). Wants are things like a fireplace, a double oven, walk-in pantry - things you'd like to have, but can maybe live without (if there is a good reason to not have it). Think about what you really love about your current space - and what you really hate. Think about the house you grew up in, and what worked there, and what didn't. Ask friends and family what they like best and least about their homes. This will help you determine what's important to you, and those are the things you relay to a residential architect.

"-are these new trees all in one line, or are they staggered -have you considered how their shade impacts your other plantings -have you considered impacts on mowing the grass (my DH insists on me leaving smooth lines around any plantings, no little fiddly bits to work around)" Staggered. Anything can be moved. Yes, that's how I lay out beds. "(except I would have the tree inside the fence, so it appears as a part of the garden instead of outside it)" To be fair I did mention several times that the fence is being moved back to include all new trees. I'm fine with my plan, it's just that I always rethink things a year or two down the road- this whole corner is relatively new and yet here I go changing it up already. To complicate things, in my yard wanderings yesterday I noted several 5 year old or so Japanese Maples that I could move, a Kousa dogwood, another Cercis, many Crape Myrtles- I have a lot of options even without spending another dime on new trees. Too many, that's my problem. One more shipment yet due, I'm gonna wait until they all get here, line 'em up and judge their condition, maybe scoot the Ginkgo a bit farther away from the structures. I know I can't rely on it for any sort of fast growth, so I'll locate it for posterity instead of for me. Then use all the Acers and Cercis for my personal lifetime privacy.