Masses of calendula for spring - maybe blue batchelor's buttons or blue Larkspur and something white for contrast? Four'o'clocks, Balsam impatiens and nicotiana for an abundance of fragrant flowers in summer, along with edibles and herbs. Hardy hibiscus. Helenium, malva zebrina, and/or strawflowers for late summer and fall. I'm in awe. What great ideas (and I didn't think of ONE). Questions: Why four 'o clocks? I don't know much about them. I have a few seeds from trades - broken colors, butter yellow, pink. Should I look for particular color(s). Any recommendations about yellow flowering calendulas? I did think about how to connect the long BES/rud driveway bed to the front bed so there is a continuous bed, with breaks to get between and through them. I thought about Lynda and how she designed her front and side yard beds - creating many beds with plenty of space between them. But when I thought about what to plant, I went blank, then thought --poppies! THE END.

This is really a great thread! I just wanted to chime in a bit. I just finished planting 140 trees on about 1 acre, and it went pretty well. I planted: 25 Common Lilac 15 Manchurian Crab 25 White Pine 32 White Spruce 10 Bur Oak 5 Paper Birch 5 Silver Maple 5 Black Cherry 5 Red Oak 5 Rugosa Rose 2 Red Maple 5 Red Pine 4 Hybrid Poplar In addition, this summer, I planted 4 larger trees... a bur oak, an Autumn Blaze Maple, a Siouxland Cottonwood, and a Red Splendor Crab It will be interesting to see how fast everything grows. The clone of Hybrid Poplar I planted can grow anywhere from 5-10 feet per year.. while the bur oak will grow at a glacial 6-18" per year over its entire life. In 1996, about 60 red pines, 10 white pines, and 10 black hills and blue spruce were planted on our land. In 2007, the tallest Red Pine is about 15 feet tall, the tallest White pine is about 12 feet tall, and the tallest spruce is 7 feet tall. Of course, these were all started from seedlings with no weed control for the first 3 years, and only mowing after that (when we moved in). We no longer mow the eastern portion of the property, where red pines are growing. There are a few clearings among the trees, and some shrubs are starting to become established. Among them are Rugosa Rose, low bush blueberry, chokecherry, and American Hazelnut. To date, not one hardwood tree has seeded. Under our deck, however, about 6 Boxelder seeds germinated, and one vigorous and desperate sapling is about 4 feet tall in its second year. I will transplant it to the edge of our property when the leaves drop... Otherwise, the land we own on a lake is already forested... and it's more of a question of management than anything. I desperately want to clear some of the underbrush (it's nearly impossible to walk through the woods here... so thick with underbrush). Between the Beaked Hazel, tree saplings, fallen logs, grass clumps, and various other shrubs, if yo'ure not tripping and trying to regain balance, you have several small branches trying to enter your head through your eye sockets. You basically have to close your eyes and bore your way through the woods with your hands in front of you, shielding your face.

Scott: You have a wonderfully clear understanding of the deer overpopulation issue. Thank you for adding some extra clarity. I also like your idea of the use of salt licks for "birth control." That way no one has to shoot "Bambi." Pam: The cages are quite easy to make, except for one or two points. First, the rolls are terribly heavy. At Southern States here in Winchester, they load them in my Suburban with a forklift, but a very strong young man can lift one. I jockey them back and forth to roll them out and am careful to get out of the way when I get them to tumble out. I never buy more than two rolls at a time to leave room for this maneuvering. I brace them in the Suburban with bricks. After that it is pretty simple. Find a place with some room to piece-by-piece unroll them for cutting. I use some small bolt cutters to cut the wire, securing the free end with weights to keep it from rolling up on me. The next step might be difficult for you, depending on the strength in your hands/fingers. That is twisting the cut ends--just 3/4 of a turn, really--to secure them. I do this at only three points--more is not necessary. I do the top in one direction, the middle in the other, and then the bottom back again, to add a bit of stability. And each side at each level I twist in the opposite direction. Wearing heavy gloves makes this easier. I am 70 with some arthritis in my fingers, so I am not that strong either. My guess is you could make the same number I do, but it takes just a bit of practice. Of course you could use some kind of soft tie wire to secure them--that would not take any extra time. The way I do it adds some stiffness and makes the rolls keep their round shape better. But using the tie wire with a one section overlap should be just as good. That would just require about 5% more wire per cage. I cut each cage at the 19 section point--that makes cages about 3 1/2 feet across at the top (although I am not completely sure the sections are exactly the same with all brands of this wire), which is wide enough to give protection. A very few times I have had deer put their head/tongue through and nibble anyway. In a few cases I have put extra wire--chicken wire around the upper part to prevent this. I also put the larger openings at the bottom--to accomodate the anchoring rocks and to make the openings higher up harder for the deer to poke their heads through. Finally, you really need the taller wire--anything less than the 46 inches will not be enough. Yes, I put these around the trees and just leave them there until they are not needed. Keeping in place them until the trees are 6" caliper is perhaps overdoing it a little. The risk is less after they are 4", but I have had some scraped minimally up to 6". If the bark gets thick, that affords some protection a bit earlier. Black Walnuts at about 4 inches are fairly safe. Tough lower branches at the "rubbing level" can add extra protection with hardwoods. With pines the deer will simply strip all the lower branches off to get to the trunk. --Spruce

WantToRetire, I appreciate your input, but the thought of renting an apartment (kids and other unruly types) is abhorrent at my age. But you are correct about retirement developments being expensive. Even "independent living" facilities apartments (1+1) start at over $2300/month rent only. Some 55+ developments in Southern Maine where one might buy a stand-alone condo charge low six figures as a buy-in fee, then there's the cost of the actual condo itself - from the high $200Ks to over a half million. HOAs and remaining utilities are extra of course. One 55+ development I investigated charges two monthly fees for those who buy stand-alone condos: the first is a "land rent" fee of $500/month, then there's the usual HOA fee of $300 to $400/month for utilities, outside maintenance, etc.