My words are nebulous, yes -- I think so too. Thats one of the reasons I was trying to find out what sort of words *are* useful. Heres what I am starting with: (These panoramas are distorted; the sidewalk is essentially flat.) Zone 7, Shenandoah Valley Virginia town. 70' x 40with a gentle slope from sidewalk down to house. Mature maple. Somewhat overgrown boxwood foundation planting. Short white picket fence (neighbors) on SE property line with 4 deep "little-of-this, little-of-that" perennial border on our side (which doesnt appeal to us). Mature dogwood between maple and house (enjoyed from side screened porch.)Our basement is presently nice and dry, and we want to keep it that way. I agree that the backyard is traditionally the place for seclusion in these parts. In our case the backyard seems less suitable than the front yard. Its noisier (due to an alley) and more overlooked by neighbors (due to the slope) despite mature hedges, and is dominated by what I call the LOOMING deck. The deck is often heavily shaded by the house and we only enjoy it a few months a year. The back is a great open place for the kids (almost 5 and 7) to play; they dont seem put off by the alley or the spectre of the looming deck. By contrast, the front faces a quiet dead-end street and has good south-southeast exposure. Both my husband and I work at home. When an minor remodeling is complete, my office window will face the front yard. The land slopes up slightly from the house so the yard is very visible from inside. We leave the front door open on sunny days in all seasons and let the light (and summer air) pour into the stair hall. We carry lawn chairs out there to sit in the dappled summer shade and warm winter sun. We'd like it to belong to us and not to the street. Amazon, much of the above I didnt know 19 months ago when we moved here from the New Hampshire woods. I think there were some good reasons to wait to plant. If we had done what we were inclined to do our first summer here (find a place to park the car!) we would be regretting it now. And though of course only a mature garden will fully meet my needs as you said, gottagarden, theres a reward in waiting and watching it grow. Ink, I do have a taste for woodlands. I used to live in a woodland, and now I spend an hour a day walking in woods not far from town. Thats how I get my "fix;" but here in town I feel I want something different: some formal lines, an obvious geometry, a few clipped shapes. The house seems suited to that, too. I close my eyes with the sun on my face and imagine Im on a narrow, low-walled terrace in Italy with my back to a vine-covered wall, facing an intimate enclosed garden punctuated by cypresses and great mounds of evergreen, and with just a glimpse of a distant view. I dont have the right climate or environs for that dream, but it gives you another idea of my taste. Though I like flowers, I really want the green and some hardscape and texture, scent, a beautiful artifact of some sort, and the red flittings of cardinals (the birds, I mean, not the red-hatted kind). Ive already put a lot of consideration into some things: the circulation, sitting terrace, etc. But perhaps I should put that aside for the moment and free up my mind to consider alternate possibilities. Please feel free to comment on anything.

Some VERY DETAILED FYI info follow up: I removed the garbage cans, etc., setup yesterday on both my in ground fig trees. I live in Hardiness Zone 6 with a last frost date of May 1st, but I prefer to use May 15th. I do not have ready access to weather data as to how many days in April the temp will drop below freezing (especially during the daytime), or what the local record is for the low temp for April (a previous post addresses what my plan is if that occurs). I had filled the leaf mulch all the way up to the top (which was actually the bottom of the garbage can since I inverted it since the real top had a wider diameter and would be more stable in the wind); the leaf level dropped about a foot over the course of the winter (so next year I will mulch the fallen leaves earlier, and store them for a while so they will lose some of their "fluff"). There were some wet leaves, but NO frozen clumps of leaves (which occurs every year in my compost bin which has a much larger capacity and thus takes a longer time to thaw internally). Perhaps the lack of wet leaves, that were at one time frozen, is due in part that the figs are in my front yard which gets the most sun, and the contractor type garbage bags being black, absorbed the sunÂs rays, and dried out some of the wet leaves (the possibility of the sun's rays turning my setup into a miniature oven has NOT escaped my attention). One tree has a branch (there are only 3 short ones on each) with an obvious new bud; the other not so sure if what I see is a new bud. One tree has some light grey, very thin, like patches that I have no idea as to whether that is mold. One thing that I noticed is that the area of the ground around the trees was very damp. I suspect that over the course of the winter, and we have a great many freeze-thaw cycles, and rain as much as snow, the ground under the garbage cans froze, & when it thawed it became very damp. And obviously, the garbage cans do NOT create a seal around its perimeter, and IÂm sure that when it rained some water flowed around and under the garbage cans. I know that there are rodents about, but zero signs of any attempt to get to my fig tree. And there was zero sign of any attempt for a mouse to get to my bee hive; that is a chronic problem area for beekeepers in all areas (along with the entire genus of rodents). No real idea why I was so fortunate. Thanks to all of you who responded to my original post; hope this FYI helps someone else out there.

Well, I received Gary's HUGE package today! I felt like it was Christmas! LOL! He shared so many beans, you should all thank him for his generousity! And please GARY, let me know of some varieties that you DONT have so I can send you back some good ones in return! sugarshane, gardenmom2, and Zebraman, if you do not mind, could you just send me an email or post to let me know that you are still in this and if your beans are sent out yet? No problems, just wanted to double check with the people who I have not seen active on the thead lately. Christy ***bonechickchris~Christy ***dirtdiggin~Toni ***booberry85~Becky sunnyk~Donna ***highalttransplant~Bonnie gardenmom2~Nichol ***grymntl~Bruce ***tormato~Gary sugarshane1313~Jim sassybutterfly 2008~Wendy ***dem pa~Don zebraman ***Daniel aka dirtdiggin Jr. luvgardening2/Nancy ***remy ***arroyogardener/Jamie ***reynal/Danny (*** seeds Received)

Do you have a local craft/hobby store nearby? A lot of these stores now carry soy wax-- it's cleaner & isn't a pain in the butt to work with. All you have to do is heat the wax (most are microwavable or can be done on the stove top in a double boiler), add the scent (also obtainable at craft stores) at a rate of 1 oz scent to 1 # wax & pour into a heat-resistant container. Let it "cure" for a few days, then use in your warmer. Obviously, if you're not going to light it, you don't need a wick. If you think you're going to go through LOTS of scent, here are a few sites I've found have good results for the price:(search them as I don't have exact names) Gelluminations, Cajuns Candles, Save on Scents, and Candles & Supplies. I think all of them also sell soy wax, but it's heavy & you have to take into account shipping costs if you can't find it locally. Good luck