Wow thanks for the great ideas. I have to be honest I haven't heard of half of the plants you suggested. I will have to do some googling LOL. I am always up for solar powered things but I have yet to find a fountain in the height and look that I want that is solar. In the Netherlands things are slim pickings compared to the US. You really take those things for granted when you are from the US and move over to Europe LOL. England being the exception. England has everything the US does usually. The program I used to create the 3D renderings was Landscape Architect. (Free Trial) The trial gives you limited plants and flowers and decorative options to work with but unlike most programs it allows you to save your work and view in 3D. I have had the program a couple weeks now and its still up and running so I guess there is no time limit on it. I would highly recommend the program for anyone providing you have a basic understanding of computers and don't mind tinkering around in a new program to learn the ins and outs. I don't know what the full price version costs but if its under 200 dollars then I would say its worth EVERY PENNY! It even has people you can add into the decoration and they are animated in the live view LOL. I made a swimming pool for fun and put the girl in the bikini in it and she swims all over the pool I LOVE IT! Also an old woman will walk down the street too. Its really fun program! Its called Realtime Landscape Architect. I will include a link to it here. I just looked at the price since I went and got the link. Its 399 to buy it. I don't know if I would pay that but if Landscaping was my business I sure would. Its a bit much to pay for planning your own garden unless your a vanderbilt or something lol. The coolest things about the program is that you can view in perspective mode which is 3d, plan mode 2d, and live walkthrough which is obviously 3D and you can select the time of day, cloud cover, season and so on so that makes it really cool! The sound effects with it are nice too!!! It took me about 2 days to really learn how to use the program. It was trial and error. I don't mind your long posts I love to hear others opinions. Finding Flower Carpet Roses in Appleblossom over here has proven to be very difficult. I am still hoping I hear back from a guy named Hans that Kim from here recommended me to. The space is so small that it makes planning the plants really difficult. If I had much more space then I do then I could just use regular perrenials and plan for each blooming period from them and adjust the planting to keep the in bloom look but since those plant areas in the buxus in the corners are 3ftx3ft (in essence) besides for where they start to form a triangle shape It makes it really difficult to choose flowers to maintain constant color there. This is why I was thinking the flower carpet. since it would be in bloom the entire period that I would actually be outside. UGH its frustrating lol. I hate that I have to save then buy then save then buy it makes finishing the garden a long process. (I'm far from wealthy lol) I will post pictures as things progress. The picture here is a picture after our first day working on the garden about 2 or so weeks ago. It was a jungle of weeds. You cant tell by the pic how bad it was lol. 30 black bags of weeds lol. I'll be sure to post more pics as we progress. Thanks again for yoru suggestions I will look into them. Here is a link that might be useful: Realtime Landscape Architect program.

...and finally, a few terse paragraphs about the design and the thinking behind it. (I hadda write it up because an acquaintance insisted that I enter it in a garden contest, even though we're only half finished with the garden.) ===== Before the design process began we examined many types of traditional designs, including French box gardens, English cottage gardens and Renaissance gardens from around the world. We have incorporated many aspects of these traditional ideas into our edible landscape. In our opinion we have successfully captured the feel of meditation gardens, as well. When fully mature, the plantings in our landscape will be 'bio-intensive', as is often seen in traditional European and English cottage gardens. Our primary goal is to transform every square inch of the front yard into an edible landscape. In time, the sod will be replaced with edible ground covers. Other than concerns for soil compatibility and allowances for available sunlight, we are planting annual herbs and vegetables in concert with all of the edible perennials. The nutrients provided by each edible plant have been taken into consideration in the planning of this project. As a result of the design and installation, the result will be as maintenance free as is possible while remaining within our budgetary constraints. The overall design includes a labyrinth, which is more complex than it might seem at first glance. We have also incorporated a simplified rectangular mandala. A Celtic Cross, or Solar Cross, can be also be seen in the layout of the pathway. Some have asked why we chose persimmons as the centerpiece instead of the more traditional water feature. Persimmons are known as the 'food of the gods'. This concept fits with the imagery of the solar and Celtic cross(es) and reflects the overall themes and histories of labyrinths and mandalas. The longest part of the pathway lines up almost directly east/west, and conjoins with the autumnal equinox. That was a matter of happenstance, rather than planning, but it is incorporated into the design. These concepts were part of the original design and remained a part of every consideration during the process. Philosophically? (Offered as questions, of course.) Why do the green-ways in the garden narrow around the tree beds? Why did we bother with all of the straight lines, when the garden will be so 'bio-intensive' at maturity? Many of the mature plants will -eventually- constrain the walk through the garden, making it necessary to dodge branches and step around plantings as you 'dance the labyrinth' of this project. Why did we design it that way? How will the rise and fall (remember the grade and level mentioned above) of your path through the garden also reveal your path through life? In the design of this landscape, the ground is neither flat nor level. The four outer edges of the garden do allow enough grade to maintain the original drainage on the property. Each of the four 'rooms' of the garden tilts towards the center. This aspect of the design will hold and retain water and prevent excessive run-off during the region's normal rain showers. The plans include eight raised beds which provide five hundred square feet of space for 'square foot' vegetable gardening. The boxes around the raised beds will be leveled and plumbed. The shorter raised beds (fourteen feet in length) are each on the same level. The four beds that are twenty-two feet in length will sit approximately three inches lower than the shorter beds. In this fashion, by using straight lines and manipulating the grade and level, the space has become a three dimensional geometric sculpture. We kept the traditional circular tree beds in order to provide relief from (and contrast with) the straight lines. The major plantings will add contrast and beauty to that geometric sculpture with their naturally occurring 'fractal' growth habits. Although the fruit trees will be pruned and shaped, they, too, will form a component of this fractal contrast and beauty. We are pruning our young fruit trees using a combination of vase shape and espalier techniques. The exception will be the persimmon trees which will be maintained in a semi-open shape. We have double planted our fruit trees in order to provide a greater variety of fruits, vitamins and minerals in our diet. Double planting ensures cross pollination and offers more and better fruit than might otherwise be found in such a small space. The competition for resources will help to further reduce the size of the trees when they reach maturity. Budget and other considerations: This particular design is not a project for a novice gardener. We recommend that a novice utilize the services of a professional gardener and/or a landscape designer to achieve an edible landscape of this complexity. Thus far, we've invested $2,300 over two years. With our current budget and schedule, we plan to spend an additional $1,500 to $2,000 over the next two years. Costs include soil amendments, compost, peat moss, edging, stakes, sand, mulch, plants and seeds. In keeping with the idea of not breaking too many shoestrings, we provided our own labor and we used nothing but hand tools to implement this project. Most of the one thousand flower bulbs installed in the beds around the property lines were gifts. We saved money on the gravel for the walkways by re-grading and leveling the driveway, which was considerably above grade when we bought this property. We've used two tons of homemade compost in our beds, saving even more on our installation. ROI? Last year we filled two freezers with fresh fruits and vegetables and had dozens of meals of fresh produce from our garden. In short, over the last year and a half, the garden has returned our current investment. In addition, in a few short years, this garden will be valued at several tens of thousands of dollars. Increasing the equity in our homes seemed like a good idea when we began to plan and install our Formally, Informal English Garden. In view of the quick return on our investment, it seems like an even better idea, today. ===== Oh, yeah...pics... I call this series "fractals vs geometry."

Oh, does time fly ... My white Ikea kitchen was installed 5 years ago and I thought a follow-up would be usefull. I regularly see questions like: ¨Do Ikea cabinets hold up well over time?¨ and ¨Do you regret choosing white cabinets?¨. Well, the answers are quite simple: the cabinets look like the day they were installed and the drawer hardware is running as smooth as ever, even when filled to capacity. I have no pantry, so everything is in drawers, and you can stow amazing quantities of dry goods and cans. As for the colour (a white comparable to BM ´Simply White´), yes, you see everything on them, but in a positive way. Meaning that you clean them up sort of straight away and therefore ending up with a clean kitchen. I am still thrilled to bits with my hard working Ikea kitchen. HTH, Petra And totally not kitchen related, but beautiful, the garden in spring:

don_licuala ...why type in spanish ? surely you wouldn't like me to type in german, or finnish, etc. This is an english language blog. you post other random comments elsewhere in english language - i'm confused - you must be making trouble. read it again... looking for info or cuttings of unusual succulents for the Med climate. please see website to check out what we have. especially sedums and lampranthus - swap cuttings? pictures of what we have on our website http://www.dryscapes.com/