If cost isn't a problem... Then plant what you want to plant and enjoy. Trim / Remove later as necessary. Keep in mind also, depending on many factors, some trees will grow much more slowly than expected, some may grow faster. I have just less than 1/2 acre. If I just counted right in my head, I have 27 trees currently planted, not counting volunteers. Including 2 weeping willows, A curly willow, a pussy willow, poplars, river birches, all the things they tell you not to plant in a residential lot. Over half are 50+ foot trees when mature. I planted about 50 dogwood bushes last summer, now many are over 6' tall, some around 10' tall. I now have 4 Japanese Maples planted, and am planning on getting more. I also have about 60 different Hosta. I've totally enjoyed planting these trees, most just in the past year. It is a blast to watch them grow. I am particularly fond of the weeping willow I planted right by the road in the front yard. It was a 4 foot high stick just about a year ago and now is close to 15' high by 10' wide. It's fun. I find good deals on most of my trees, and the most expensive one was about $90 for a Autumn Blaze maple (10+ gallon pot) that was rather large - I would never buy a large one again, It is growing very slowly this year, while I watched a $10 maple (that came in a 1 gallon pot) of the same type just a short distance away grow to close to the same height as the $90 maple and grow branches like mad. At this rate, next year, the $10 tree will actually look larger than the $90 tree. In 5 or 10 years if I have to heavily prune some trees, bonsai them, remove them, or what not, then that is the way it is. I'm planting some sumac and a tree of heaven also (in a great big pot). I also have over 70 trees growing in pots currently. Some will be bonsai, some I will sell, some I will plant. If you later figure out a tree is a problem, try to remove while it is small enough you can do it. If cost isn't an issue, let the sucker grow and have it professionally trimmed / removed as necessary. I can manage pruning and removal of all but the very largest trees. I took down my 60' + dying spruce last summer with a sawzall. I get compliments on my landscaping from strangers that walk by, on a very regular basis, though some think I am crazy with all my trees, many appreciate the beauty of it, including me. I do vote for getting some long lived trees going if at all possible, such as the oak your speaking of. The oak is a good tree that should last more than your life time with reasonable care. Jamie p.s. don't plant any weak wooded trees real close to the house e.g. willow, poplar, silver maple. and I share ken's dislike for most fruit trees on smaller lots. Were planting some new fruit trees up north on 5 acres, which is fine on that size lot. In the city I limited my fruit trees to a single semi-dwarf cherry tree - that gets cleaned up rapidly by the birds. Thought my parents have had a apple tree in their side yard (city lot) for 20+ years with few problems, it is kind of out of the way, so the bugs don't bother them and it does need to be sprayed if you want to have good apples.

>>>So can I assume that any/all fruit bearing varieties in catalogs that state that they require a pollinator "for better production" or "for a larger harvest" are cloned cultivars? Yes, but be careful. This is not the same as when the catalog says "buy two for better fruit production" or "requires a pollinator, buy two" and there is only one kind to choose from. In this case the plants are seedlings, and are therefore genetically different. They are different clones, but not named cultivars. Now if the catalog says: "requires pollinator for fruit production" instead of "requires pollinator for better fruit production", the answer is still pretty much yes, but... 1) If the species is dioecious, where there are male plants and female plants, then of course, an opposite sex would be required as a pollinator, and both male and female may or may not be cultivars. However in most cases, to determine the sex of an individual plant, seedlings must be grown to adulthood, so practicality necessitates clonal propagation, usually of named cultivars. 2) In a few cases, different self infertile species can pollinated each other. In such a case, "requires a pollinator" does not dictate clonal separation (within the species), just species separation. Therefore, the plants of either species may or may not be name cultivars.

Yeah! Cousin came today and put in my 2 new drawers, and adjusted (reinstalled) the top middle drawer in the island vanity so it doesn't have a gap under it (but just barely "pimpled" the front where he tightened the screw too much and it *almost* came through the front! I didn't say anything b/c in taking the front off, I wasn't watching - talking to him- and let the front drop onto the 3 screws I'd already taken out that I'd stupidly laid in front of the drawer on the counter!). Next - drawer liners - all the Merillat drawers are getting worn already, though I expect the solid maple custom bottoms to wear better than laminated (paper) plywood. Sink base looks OK, but I'm buying a new trash can and thinking of setting it inside a dish pan, or at least putting vinyl tile or remnant or something under it - old dish drain board won't work since it's sloped, but maybe upside down? Have smaller can from laundry room there now. I will call laminate guy, but I think we'll end up living with this for 8-10 years since it looks like HD price for this laminate was $29/sf installed - so about $1000. Not worth it - too much else to do. Cousin said it would be months b4 he could do my crown since he's so busy now with landscaper and a big carpentry project someone finally made up her mind on. But maybe he can come back to fix my broken cabinet and install the oak shoe then if I finish it this week. I hate to have the crown sitting in DR all summer, but if he can just cut it roughly to length and do the mitred returns on a couple of pieces I can finish it and have it ready to go any time he's ready. He says (and I agree) finish the baseboards and casing first so when someone walks in my house it looks finished - no one will say anything about not having crown on tops of cabinets. I was only going to do crown 1st b/c I figured I could stain it in unfinished MBA it was so narrow and longest piece is 8ft, but that has changed since he got too busy to do it this week - we had originally scheduled kitchen work for early April. So I'm going to be spending all summer finishing baseboards and casings (not too many left), moving onto doors and window sashes (jambs and sills are all done).

lynnski - you're right about not showing them in magazines! Never really thought about that. So this customized filler (notice i still have no idea what i'm going to do) i'm assuming i would have to actually take away from the counters and cabinets that's already there? seeing as the gap on each side is only about 1 1/2". Ahh yes, the island. The cabinets are merillat. I did not expect them to have fake wood looking pieces on the ends and on the island. Here's a before pic. Had i of realized this ahead of time i would've ordered the panles. again, didn't think about it. was too busy picking out carpet colors.. :) SO the cheapest fix i found was to have my dad order some oak wood veneer to slap on it. That was just done a day or two ago and i don't like it. Shhh.... The oak is a lot lighter than what's on my cabinets. it's not like he was able to hand select it.. it was shipped. Different lightings it doesn't look so bad. I do plan on putting seating at the island. The over hang is on the largest side and the end away from the fridge. How many barstools...? i have no idea. There's only two of us and only planning two kids. Plus, the barstools i like with the high fancy backs all are dark wook. I've yet to see a barstool with oak that wasn't all country looking. I also was planning on buying these from vandykes and having them put on the corners to spruce it up a bit. yeah the island is a whole nother thread in itself. People really put towel bars on their island?