shoot stilllll no picture. sorry.

Today I spent a couple of hours at the US National Arboretum in Wash DC. Even though I have never been interested in conifers I did spend some time in their pinetum. I looked it over carefully and finally asked for examples of Chamaecyparis lawsoniana Not a single specimen in the Gotelli Collection nor anywhere else. We had a thread some time ago about this. For some reason Lawson Cypress doesn't like central & eastern US. No doubt that's why so many of us in the US were clueless as to the proper ID. In the pics, Lawson Cypress seems right at home on the Emerald Isle, no blarney.

Maybe I'm missing something, but there seems to be schism in what you report, Splats, that being between your apparent liking for what you have in that wild yard, and your apparently major efforts to undo it. I do understand you probably are seeking some kind of balance between the wildness of the yard as you inherited it, and the desire on your part for a yard you can "use". I get that. But what I always tell folks who are moving into an existing landscape is to spend some time just learning about what it is you have. There seems to be a good bit of uncertainty on your part as to the ID of many of the plants, yet you've got 7 dumptruck loads of material gone already and still going after more. Maybe I'm missing some key bit here, but I'm confused as to what your overarching goal(s) is/are. +om

Triadica sebifera - Chinese tallow tree.