There are a couple of issues here. I see what you are saying about the junipers and cotoneaster feeling "heavy" in relation to the rest of the plantings. But they do provide a purpose--they screen what would otherwise be an uninteresting blank wall and help to soften the corner of the house, making your eye turn the corner more easily. I would not remove them, but let them be a backdrop for a garden area similar to the one closer to your front door--in other words, to expand your smaller planting bed to the front of the evergreens, using similar soft lines to the current bed. Look for foliage hues that will show up against the dark evergreens--ones with chartruese greens or barberries with their red foliage. In order to connect the new plantings with the bed by the front door, you would need to plant something of the same variety or color in your current front bed, so you may have to move things around a bit. A new bed with contrasting colors will help to break up the dense-ness of the junipers, while allowing them to perform their function.

I suggest you read some info at the following site. It is PA info, but the Cornell, NY site was not as easy navigable. http://tfpg.cas.psu.edu/default.htm You have a wide range of choices, but generally you need two varieties to ensure pollination and a good fruit set: http://tfpg.cas.psu.edu/default.htm fwiw, bare root fruit trees are often priced in the ~$20 range plus shipping, but you wantto make sure you have both the correct variety and rootstock (you will seldom see rootstock info at local sources).

Amanda, Sorry t take so long to get back to this, I've been thinking on it and I think your issues are a lot different to the ones Bernergrrl refers to. By the sounds of it you actually have a degree of flow in progress already, if you used to have a natural stream and it's the disruption of this that has caused the damp patch then I think it should be quite easy to create a mini environment that has a lot more to offer than wet feet! If as you say you already have clayey soil you may find that as you dig you meet more of this. One way to make a pond before the days of fibreglass pre-formed pools and butyl liners, was to "Puddle" clay, this literally is to line your excavation with compacted clay, so I would guess you would not need a liner. Also if you have a lot of ground water in the area, a liner can have problems with the ground water rising beneath it. I would guess you should go at least 24" deep at the deepest but that you should do the inverted hat style, ie a wide brim and a deeper centre. This gives you lots of scope for plants and wildlife. Once you get established, the larger insects within the pond take care of the mosquito larvae. I wouldn't bother with fish, that's a whole different ball game, fish eat everything damsel fly, dragon fly larvae, spawn, newts, frogs etc. then get busy on the plats so you end up with a big fish bowl. You mention that the damp patch extends into your neighbours woods. Is this where the natural stream ran to, if so that should be ideal as you can create an overlflow channel that drains off there. It may be that you are seasonally dryer at some stages, it's quite easy to top up with tap water, but check what chemicals get added, or whether you have hard water, even so normally it just takes a couple of days to settle down again. Get to the library and read some books on pond planting, remember you are planting firstly submerged plants like Canadian pondweed (Elodea canadensis), Myriophyllum aquaticum(parrot's fether), Myriophyllum spicatum(spiked milfoil) and a host of others to oxagenate the water, check with what you have locally that is not considered invasive. Next you have deep water plants like your water lilies, nuphar, Hottonia, Orontium, Aponogeton, that all grow from the bottom of your pool and float their leaves on the surface. You also have floating aquatics, like stratiotes(water soldiers), Trapa(water chestnut), Hydrocharis(frogbit) etc. Then you have your marginals, ranging from those that like to be in water with their crowns covered to those that just need to be near water and have a constant supply of moisture, there are literally hundreds of these, try and avoid any that are going to be a self seeding nuisance, and you sould please your wildlife. You can add non natives as you want but again watch out for those that may escape and become a nuisance. Again, the overflow area and run off channel can be planted up as a bog, making the most of the feature. I read a good few books before building my pond. I work at home, and my office window looks out onto the pond, believe me it's alive all year round and is great fun. I do about 2 days maintenance on it a year, usually thinning out the faster growing plants, or collecting seed before dispersal, other than that it's entirely self maintaining, a lot less work than the equivalent patch of grass! Hope this helps! As for Bernergrrl's mud, I think that's a harder situation. Again, is this a sump?? has it been there for a long time, is there any flow, sounds like a whole heap of rotten vegetation has built up. Best to excavate it out and get some oxagenating plants in there, mixing soil and grit in will help a little but won't cure it. Give us a bit more description of what the surrounding area is like and waht has caused this?? Cheers Greenmanplants

How much room do you have? Is there an ideal mature size plant you want for that area of your yard? Magnolias have comparatively shallow root systems, so you want to be able to plant it were you won't trample/compact the soil around/over the magnolia's roots by foot traffic, vehicle or mower wheels.