Thank you chispa- we plan on doing that and having an experienced brick mason come out and take a look this week but every "expert" I've spoken with thus far believes it is where a slightly different palette of brick was used. I'm still confused about why this patch of brick seems to take longer to dry after a rain, the difference in the brick is much less noticeable in dry conditions.

The plant list is similar to what you have described Nandina! Chionanthus is definitely on the planting list, next to the bench. Did not know it has both male and female plants. Have already planted several viburnums down below--Sargent's viburnum. And dwarf fothergilla (witch hazel's cousin) in the front, and some red twig dogwoods but I think I will transplant them, I don't like them in this setting. The larger shrubs are mostly our witch hazel collection, so Hamamelis species and varieties. We surveyed a local native high quality natural area to come up with some ideas on plants that would naturally be growing in this situation. One we are going to try along with the viburnums is pagoda dogwood, but keeping deer off of it will be a challenge. We found native currants in our reference plot but staying away from them due to lots of white pines nearby. Hence the maple-leaved viburnum choices. Debating on Illex verticullata because they don't do well with the excessive deer browsing problems around here. Am trying to solve that problem as well! I am planning on perhaps wild blueberries but so far haven't found any low growing ones and I have enough high stuff for the back. They would replace the redtwig dogwoods. The ones I got are cute, with small leaves close to the stem, so very ornamental but they look too contrived in this natural setting. I have a more formal place for them. As for the salt, YES, there are alternatives, but to get the grounds crew to coordinate and think out of the box may take some doing. I have had to re-do the plant list a couple of times. It's sometimes like searching for the needle in the haystack--native, deer resistant, salt tolerant, shade tolerant . . . I mean c'mon!! :) Our soil is limestone base so somewhat forgiving on salt. I have a huge compost stash for ammending and that helps. Also helps to counteract juglone, which thankfully is not really a problem in that area with the one walnut tree. Anyway, I will post the plant list in a bit for anyone interested. Lots of wildflowers, some ferns and grasses, not all for the rock garden, some for the hill down below. Am focusing on shrubs and trees first though. So far I've shown the two schemes/layouts to a lot of folks for feedback, some like the busier one, some like the more formal one. I'll probably do a hybrid. My MS Paint skills are deteriorating so not sure how many more versions I will play with. Eventually I will map the whole thing. Actually doing a map with grid paper next week with my class. Would love to find a site where you could download standard graphics for trees and shrubs and forbs. That would save me having to draw or try and find clip art for them.

Personally I'd want to have him checked out. If there is an issue it's better to start working on it earlier rather than later. My DD crawled at 5 months and walked at 9 months and by 3.3 was talking in sentences. I know all kids develop differently and that DD was a little ahead of the curve, but I would expect most children to be fairly verbal by 3 and also not walking on their toes.

Usualy you repair/replace damaged/lose bricks and fill deep voids, knock down the protruding mortar and run the tuck-pointer blade over the joints and stucco will fill everything else. In the 1st picture, with the amount of mortar on there, it looks like someone tried to repair lose brick or did a bad tuck-pointing job... I'm not sure how much of the wall area is in that condition but it will require lots of prep work. Your best bet is to get a few mason contractors who familiar with that finish and have them evaluate everything and see what they suggest. Good luck.