I don't remember if I told you, but make a skimpy dashed line with the paint with the first walk through. Appraise the results and make corrections with a heavier dashed line. Appraise again and when you think it's right, go over it with a solid line. Depending how good you are about it, it can be fairly straightforward... or it can get messy. So take your time appraising it from many angles before making the corrections. If it gets really messy, a second, different paint color is useful. Once you get the line as you want it, mark it in some permanent way (cut with shovel?) as the paint will not last long. After a couple of weeks of weathering and mowings it may be so faded you can barely make it out. If you want the line reviewed, post a picture taken from a high elevation. I know you're making changes to the concept plan I showed you so I just want you to be thinking through the planting arrangements as you make the changes. Since you're doing this work yourself, I have the feeling you're going to become good at evaluating what you've done and the way things are fitting together... especially after you see a year's growth. Now that you're a transplant expert, you'll be able to make adjustments when you see some are needed. The hibiscus is more a shrub than "tree." It looks like something that should be within easy view of deck or pool area. Since you're new to so many plants and trying to save some $ by doing the work and putting this together over time, you might consider creating a temporary place where you plant various perennials that are under consideration...a regular perennial garden. You could collect plants with zero worry about what goes where, just stick them in. See how they do. Get to know them. You could place such a garden in any place that's not ready yet to be landscaped (so it's not in the way for a while.) As you evaluate plants, you can increase the stock of those you like. Some perennials multiply so rapidly that if you buy one, from it you can make all the others of that kind you need. If you do it, add 1/3 volume of peat moss to the planting soil so it is better to work in and better to grow things. Another thing I meant to mention, where you have like groups of plants (say River Birch) when it's all said and done you'll want these plants to match as though they came from the same family. It will not be pretty if one is a 5-trunk multi and another is a single trunker... and one branches as 8' above the ground, and another at 12 feet. They need to look like they're all from the same planet and got their hair cut at the same salon. What to do about it? This year, nothing. Just see what they do and try to make them as healthy and fast growing as possible. At the end of next winter, you'll want to do whatever pruning (before spring growth occurs) that's required to make them be matched. But never fear, even if it has to be severe, as long as they're healthy they'll bounce back and keep going.

Hi Kiwinut + other Kiwi enthusiasts, I read your great posts in the kiwi section of garden web and was wondering if you could answer some questions for me, keeping them as simple as possible as I'm a beginning gardener( in the past I have grown in pots: lemon trees from seed, plus some herb and ornamental plants and they have not died, but have no experience with exotics and edibles; I have recently got Pitaya/DragonFruit plants but do not know yet what my success will be with them). I have tasted the Golden Kiwi(which I believe you call the Yellow Kiwi) at Whole foods and Ralphs, and would like to grow the variety of this plant that will fruit the soonest and most abundantly: 1). Will it grow that way in my growing situation described below? 2). If so, what is the name of the variety I need? 3). Can I grow it/buy a plant now? 4). Where can I buy the most mature/largest plant now? I'm assuming that is the most successful way to grow for quickest fruit and greatest chance at survival, or is a cutting better? 5). Are there stores which sell that I can walk into, or do I need to order online? 6). About how much does it cost? 7). In my situation would you recommend getting/growing 1 plant or 2( for the fruiting and abundance help of pollination...?). 8). I can trade large Pitaya magenta or white fleshed Dragon Fruit cuttings if anyone lives in So Cal and wants to do a trade, do you know of anyone? Here is my situation: I have an east facing balcony in West Los Angeles which gets direct light from early morning til 10:45am then indirect light after that; I am less than 3 miles from the coast so have coastal moisture. I need to grow in a pot. You mentioned a Red variety... In the photo link you gave in the forum I saw a green flesh with red flesh at center, I also saw a sort of orange fleshed fruit: Are 1 of these the red flesh, or is the red flesh entirely red? How does the taste compare to the Golden/Yellow and the conventional green? If you do recommend my getting a 2nd plant would you recommend it being a red as much as a green? Thank you so much! ~Diana(310)936-3150 I will post this also in the forum to make sure it gets to you, and to help anyone from my zone who may also be curious in the answers to these questions, or have answers.

Oh my. What is a passionate rose lover like you doing in that glacial hell hole? Reading about your endeavors has exhausted me and I haven't even lifted a shovel. I admire your grit and determination, but would love to see you rewarded with thousands of blooms on your rose bushes for all your hard work. I bet they could use engineers in zones 7 to 10!

I have a Royal Star Magnolia that I fell in love with at Home Depot and brought home about 10 years ago. Had I done my research I probably would not have purchased it, but I was fairly new to gardening in CO at that time. I ended up moving it to a new (more protected) location after a few years, even though I read that they don't like being moved. Moving it seemed like a better alternative to leaving it in the exposed area where it wasn't thriving though, and it has done better in its current location where it gets wind protection, morning sun, and a later afternoon sun in the summer. It does suffer from some chlorosis and rarely has a lot of blooms in the spring, but it's still a beautiful tree and I don't regret purchasing it. Over the years I've seen plenty of stores (especially the big box ones) sell a lot of trees that don't do well in our climate. There's obviously a market for them. Having grown up back east with a front yard full of dogwood trees, I've come pretty close to purchasing one here when I've seen them for sale in the spring, but have resisted the temptation because I know better.