Hey guys I'm back! I added a picture showing a fairly to-scale layout of my lawn. Sorry, but the directions are with West on top! I realized this at the end because I guess that's the way I mentally view my lawn. I tried doing a very ghetto surveying job, but I'm not sure how accurate the info was or how useful it is, haha. But anyhow, the lowest point is the northwest corner, with the highest point is in the southwest corner of my lawn which is 6 feet above that. The slopes meet a few feet in front of the deck going down to the front of the cement area, then draining back down to the northwest corner (pretty much on top of the underground drain). The water pools on top of the cement, and all areas adjacent to the building are very muddy. This is a link to me dropbox folder with pictures (taken Saturday 5/17/14) of my lawn: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/lsv5az5r4qek70w/AACyXCMI_ZfuxwcgqC8TZFE4a I tried naming the photos in useful ways, and any help identifying the Mystery Grass (MG#) photos would be appreciated! I particularly like the strain growing near my drain outlet (MG4), and am now thinking I might just try to overseed with whatever that is once I get my drainage problem fixed! Update on progress: Since those photos have been taken, all I've done is remove the trees along the South fence, mow through part of the weeds growing along the treeline, sprayed some Roundup on areas where nothing but weeds were growing, and try to remove all the excess thatch that has been flattened into the soil in some areas. I had forgotten about this drain I found in the Northwest corner of the yard. My father told me that it's a plastic PVC pipe that is connected to a storm gutter, as pictured in the layout. There's a sewer drain along the north fence on the neighbors side, manhole being right along the middle of my "yard" area, which drains out into a ditch area behind my property line to the northwest. The pipe is not perforated and i'm guessing it goes to about 2 feet deep. It appears as if nothing is surrounding the pipe but the soil, but i'm not sure. After coming back and cleaning up a bit, I realize my yard isn't in as bad a shape as I had remembered from the weekend before, but the drainage problem is still very bad. We had some heavy rains on Thursday, but the ground is still very muddy in the areas noted on the layout today (Sunday). The area along the south fence is now bare because of the removed trees, and everything along the tree line is bare. Any ideas on what I should do? If you need more clarification on any of the pictures, please ask and I will try to clear it up. Thanks guys! This post was edited by Oneiric on Sun, May 18, 14 at 19:34

There have been a number of recent postings about moving to the area - mostly eastern NC, but some for other areas. If you check back through them, you will probably have a number of your questions answered, and learn of a few good books for reference. I have 2 gardenias growing now, which have been in the ground 2 years this summer - I got a few blooms last year from the one, and none yet from the other. A friend, in a slightly warmer microclimate, despite being 5-6 mi. further west and huigher up, has a very large one that she may have to prune severely this summer, it's starting to 'eat' both her driveway and the front door area!

welcome to GW tape them ... like old dirts current post... and pot them ... i could get about 20 in one large pot ... do not think they need to be individually potted ... it all depends on how long you need to hold them ... and of course.. how big they are ... i would NOT do straight peat .... except for very short term ... its hard to manage water in it ... and i would not just dump a bag of media on the ground... it leaves you no options... back in the day... i might 25 to 50 .. in a plain old wheelbarrow with moist media.... it was early spring.. i could take it in and out of the garage for temps.. take them for long walks around the neighborhood... etc ... kud said: and it's moist enough that it can be moderately tamped down so you don't have air pockets around the roots. ==>>> lets be very clear ... most pot peeps.. include big chunks of bark/wood chips.. to INSURE air pockets.. as roots of most plants need air.. as much as moisture... do NOT allow big pockets of air... again.. a water management problem ... but do not get the idea in your head... to tamp soil in a pot.. so tight ... that it ends up worse than your soil ... some ot this depends on the size of the plants you are getting etc .... but its not all that hard. .. you have gotten some good ideas ... just dont overthink it all ... my best suggestion .. is to make a small nursery bed ... say 5 by 10 feet ... whatever ... maybe get a yard of good soil dumped in the driveway.. and they move it somewhere.. and make a foot deep bed of good soil ... on top of the clay ... and then spend the rest of the summer... making some other beds ... and then by EARLY fall ... move them to more permanent homes... or even next spring... i had a friend with horrible OH clay ... HE BUILT ALL OF HIS BEDS ... with good soil.. on top ... he just heaped up about 2 foot of good soil.. so that by the time it all settled... he had 12 to 16 inches.. right on top of the clay ... be sure to understand.. clay is a wonderful growing media... much richer than my sand in nutrients.... and if moisture is maintained ... good in that regard ... the issue is ... AIR ... roots... and water management .... so get them nestled into some nursery situation... and start building long term beds ... ken ps: yes.. you can even dump the truck load of soil on the driveway.. and grow the hosta there ... lol ... pps: build twice as many.. and twice the size.. of beds.. as you are already well enabled ... lol ...

Is that moss growing naturally. It looks very nice, and definately looks like its their naturally (unless someone placed some on the trees and the spanish moos did the rest). I dont think they would survive much farther north than VB (just like sabal palmettos have a hard time doing), but maybe during warmer winters it would survive by me. I just got some, so maybe next year ill leave a little outside and see what happens. I know that some people have tried it in zone 7s and actually had some success during warm years (and by water features where the humidity is high) only to have birds rip it all apart during nesting season. Also... Do you get any ball moss around there or is that confined to warmer parts of the south. I know ball moss is almost as cold tolerant as spanish moss and very invasive (its so much so, that it can kill trees just by shading them out from the sun).