I must admit that I kind of half-@ssed the undlerlayment, so we will see how well it holds up. We are in New England so frost heaves are a distinct possibility. For a base we put down just a couple inches of gravel and then an inch and a half of sand. By right you should certainly put down more gravel than that. We didnt really dig down any as the space was slightly sloped so we just used excess from one end to build up the other. The final topsoil was spread after the patio was down and helped to level everything. Since the pictures on the webpage were taken we have had a new cedar fence installed. Its looking really great. We are right in the middle of the city and its finally starting have a nice oasis feel to it. Here is a link that might be useful: Pictures

Ewww, rats - I'm sure you'll win the war, but YICK to have them in the first place. I love the 'Silk Road' lilies. I really want to plant a bunch of oriental and asiatic lilies this fall. I had some gorgeous ember-red-orange asiatic ones called 'Avignon' at the old garden, but that variety is hard to come by now - I might have to try another similar one instead. I also had a lovely oriental called 'Bergamo,' that I think I can still find. And the "tiger" lily 'Sweet Surrender' is one of my favorites. The bulb catalogs are starting to roll in - I'll have my wish list made soon! Laurel

Thanks jeanner! There is some retaining walls to the right 2/3s and the left 1/3--in front of the house, but I would still need about 15 mts of additional wall up the second lot and to the entranceway. With all that cement and steal I could build a really nice pool--and a pool sounds so much nicer than a retaining wall for some reason. So...I'm going to try to do it as natural as possible, with some bamboos, running and clumping and some ornamental grasses. My two biggest concerns are creating a path walkway halfway down the hill that crosses it so that I have easier access, also an irrigation plan. When I finished the house the contractor told me (of course) I had to keep building retaining wall along the front and all up the entrance. Interestingly enough I didn't, there has been some erosion of course, but we can actually pick and shovel it ourselves and even it out. Planting the right things in the right places seems to help hold things together. Someday a retaining wall would be nice of course, but for now I'm keeping it simple and rustic. Luckily here no one can tell you how to maintain your property (pretty much) or what you can and can't plant (never an issue). pura vida Here is a link that might be useful: garden photo blog

Thanks donnas. You can get a free Photobucket account. You simply upload your pictures; I resize the picture in Photobucket so that it fits the page well (without expanding off to the right). You copy the tag, as shown in the picture below, directly into this thread. Here's another hummer shot; I took it at the same feeder at a different angle. I've had the impatiens there since May; I can't believe I've missed such colorful shots! Too bad it was at dusk; it came out kind of grainy :( At least I have a second male. He was also perched on the fence (the same spot that my regular frequents) while my regular male was at the feeder. I was surprised that one didn't chase away the other...