Gardner - I adore the four bed wall! I'll have to print that one and keep it for reference. Sandy - My father grew up in Greenville, FL. We lived 6 hours south of there but went up about once each year or every other year when I was a child. My grandfather designed and built the farmhouse himself. I sat down with my dad a few years ago and we sketched out the floorplan. There were no frills, mostly just a series of bedrooms connected to a kitchen. No dedicated living space and no indoor plumbing. Most of the socializing was done on the front porch. There was an outhouse out back and a well with a bucket that we had to draw water from. One year we went up and the had installed an old iron handpump beside the kitchen sink so they could draw water directly into the kitchen. A year or two later and they had upgraded to real running water and indoor bathroom. We would visit during the summer and they had no air conditioning. At the time, we didn't have A/C at our home either but it always seemed much hotter there. I still have cousins that live there but I wouldn't know them if I ran into them. I would have to visit now, as an adult, to form an opinion. One last bit of trivia about the old days, I remember there was a spot just down the road from their farmhouse where there was large lettering painted at an angle on the asphalt that said "QUINCY" and a big arrow underneath. They said this was painted on the road in the days before modern navigational beacons and was meant to guide airplanes. Later today I will be driving past a newer, very small home I spotted a few months back. It's in a rural area aobut an hour from my house and I don't pass that way often. I have prepared a short letter inviting contact and will be pinning that to their front gate. Let's hope we can meet them and draw them into our circle. Scott

Scarlett, sorry about the off topic diversion. We do that every now and then around here. (I'm probably the most guilty of all) Snooks, yes, many do not understand how integral math is to color. I had that epiphany about 20 years ago when I got my first graphic design job and I just about peed my pants -- I was so in over my head, not even funny. Color math is a gajillion times more crucial now than ever because digital color is so pervasive. Never, ever did you have to consider digital aspects to the degree that you do now. Used to be rather separate - you had digital color over here somewhere and analog color other there and the two only ever met at the output end of a closed professional workflow loop. That's all changed. The loop isn't necessarily closed - or maybe it's better to say every consumer of color now has their own color loop to work with. Every step in the color pipeline has to be precise. Precision can only come from measurements - either controlled perceptual or device. Hard core color sh1t has officially hit the fan and we're all down wind taboot. As a result, I see very good things coming for the consumer. Exactly what anele was talking about as far as systems completing the color loop across products and industries - it's coming. Which is why it's imperative we embrace color families and the order systems that stem from spectral order.

My first thought, even before your budget constraints, was board and batten. It's difficult to determine where the misleading post actually is. A birds-eye view (from above) would help a lot. is the entry recessed, is the misleading post connected to the entry or the right gable, does the right gable stand out? I do like your planting scheme, but I would like to make two suggestions. First that the large trees on the left are not too close to the house. For the tree in front of the gable, I would suggest a flowering cherry or some sort of small flowering tree, that is, again, set out from the house that area could be landscaped to 'surround' the tree so from the top view, the tree is a medallion focal point -it's a very pretty way to offset a focal tree. The reason for the flowering tree, is that you will see it through those two windows. With the planting you have, I think that doing stone work around the entry only would be appropriate. Having stone on the lower part looks wrong, and it won't be seen much behind the bushes anyway. You have a horizontal line through the gable, with differently spaced battens on upper and lower. It seems that this line should be raised higher and I would put it at the gable roof line. I would also make the vent disappear by painting the same as the house color, not the trim. And lastly, the area with the three low windows on the right, might look nice with a park bench in front of them, even if no one ever sits there, it would make sense of that planting and section of the house and be a welcoming lawn ornament.

Hope my post isn't late, and that it's a little helpful. I used to live in Augusta, GA, but I wasn't an extensive gardener. If I had to start with what you have, I would first reference all of Walter Reeves' advice on The Georgia Gardener. He'll have great grass recommendations, especially for grass. I know you'll want to start soon because you're entering the spring rainy period when the grass can establish. Then, I'd figure out what others above have asked: How do I want to live in this house? For example, we have four kids. That means we spend significant time just driving in and out of our driveway. So, the driveway area gets attention because we see it all the time. It makes little sense in my opinion to put a garden bed in a place that "looks like a bed would go there" if it's in a spot you will rarely enjoy. We inherited a bed like that in this house, and it provides little pleasure, so it is being turned into a 100% pollinator bed (at least they'll enjoy it!). Do you use the front door or back/garage door? If you only use the back, the front door might not be an early priority for planting. Next, consider what you see from inside the house. Any place near Augusta means summer is spent mostly indoors in the air conditioning. Why have summer flowers if you never see them from your windows? Think about your views out the window during the hottest days of summer when planning. (We have the opposite problem. Summer is nearly perfect for being outdoors, but I have to think about my winter viewing.) One issue with lawn is getting rid of grass if you want to replace it with gardening beds. Certainly it's done all the time, but it's a pain, in my opinion. If you can decide how you want to live in your yard and where some future beds might be enjoyed, instead of planting grass there now, just turn them into a simple mulched area. No grass will grow to become a head ache to remove, and the beds wait for you whenever you're ready to plant. I have had some areas of my yard just mulched for over a year while i was waiting to plant things there. One reason mine were just plain mulch for so long was because I was killing grass and weeds, but I would have done just mulch to preserve the area for future planting just as readily. This technique also allows you to spread out the cost. You can put plants in slowly over time as you can afford, and as you decide what you want there. Lastly, if I lived in the south again, I'd plant these things in a heartbeat: Rosemary as a hedge: Why plant boxwoods when you can have a row of fragrant Rosemary? It is so beautiful with the fine blue-grey foliage. Camelias: So nice to have them blooming in January, which is when they bloomed for us in Augusta. Such a great color during the brown time of year. (Now, per my comment above, if only the blooming Camelia had been placed so we could see if from the house!) Gardenias: Oooo. Such an amazing smell. I miss the fragrances you can get from gardenias, wisteria, and honeysuckle. (But wisteria and honeysuckle are supposed to be invasive, I think, which makes me sad!) Lantana: Lantana is so nice they sell it as an annual up here. It's perennial for you, and the color variations are beautiful. I especially like 'Miss Huff,' a variety that Miss Huff herself discovered in Athens, GA. Butterfly bushes: Place them where you can see from a window and you'll get the pleasure of watching scads of butterflies feed. Southern Magnolia: Talk about beauty, fragrance, and structural interest. Such a winner! Crape Myrtle: Another beautiful small tree that produces flowers when the color is very welcome. Dogwoods: I know I'm in the south when I see dogwoods blooming everywhere!