How big of an area is this? Black plastic anything is not good. Removing it will cause what soil is there to settle into the rocks, so more would be needed. I would still do it (remove the plastic), add more soil and let the rubble stay where it is. If you make compost, add an inch or two layer evey year after and there will be plenty of organic matter for the plants you've chosen. tj

Ken, My old bench rotted away so I thought I would make a 4 foot bench in this style. I went to a salvage store in New Bedford which has thousands and thousands of items (New England Demolition and Salvage) but no lumber. He told me to call a guy in Middleboro who had some 3 foot by 3 foot timbers about 30 feet long that he said was from a 350 year old building in Fall River. He had the 'scrap' piece 102 inches long left over from the flooring he was cutting from the timbers. I said I needed 4 feet. He said the 102 inch piece was $20 and a 4 foot piece was $20...so I ended up not wanting to waste the lumber and developed this design instead of a straight bench. One thing I have plenty of around here is stone but the thought of collecting and sorting out enough of the right size for the veneer didn't appeal to me so I ordered the beach stone. 4 bags @ $15 a bag @ Home Depot with free shipping ($41 value for the shipping; $10 and change per 40# bag). Moccasin, What a great story on that cypress. You must treasure that coffee table. The board I used was pine, I am pretty sure. The beams identical to the one my board came from were black. It didn't look painted. I think it was oxidation from a few hundred years in a mill (???) The piece was remarkably light having fully dried out in 350 years. I use a Sikkens WRO sealer and stain which was rated best by Consumer Reports. The adhesive is Titebond III which is a waterproof adhesive OK for marine use under the waterline. I don't have a table saw so I had to lay out the cuts and clamp a straight edge and cut it with a 'Skill" saw. I used 6 pocket screws on he underside of the joint along with the adhesive. Routed the edges and sanded the rough sawn wood smooth. 16 inch square by 3 1/2" deep concrete pads under the columns, 1/2 inch rebar through the pads and into the ground and the hollow of the concrete blocks, 8 inch galvanized lag screws into the bottom of the seat (2 per column) which are imbeded into type S mortar filling the concrete blocks. This bench is not going anywhere. I'm probably going to cover it for the Winter. Bernd, I have some PJM small leafed rhodies that I can divide a few plants off. I also have about 6-7 large leaf purple rhody clones from a couple of larger plants. I pruned the plants up in late Spring. Some of the lower branches had spread out and rooted themselves. On the ones that seemed to be growing upright, I cut their 'umbilical cords' to the 'mother' plant. They wilted back a little at first, but then popped right back up. Sort of a natural air layering. I will probably transplant them soon or in early Spring. I also have a real nice rhody that I successfully air layered 2 new plants off of (staying where they are), but I have several other rhody varieties that I may start some air layering on. Some are very difficult and require a lot of patience. Some are simply a matter of chopping off a branch that has rooted itself and plant it somewhere else as a new plant. Jan, Be careful what you wish for :0>. Jon

Strange, all the ideas I had have disappeared, my soil based in-the-wildlife-pond-bog (soaking wet soil) is home primarily common rush, yellow flag, ragged robin and some mints. The soil-tops-out-slightly-above-pond-level-bogs/plant bays around the fish pond are home to common and curly rush, marsh marigold, lobellia cardinalis, skunk cabbage, brooklime, ragged robin, carex japonica?, a primula or two, kaffir lily, something califorinicum like a mini iris, cotton grass and some others that I forget at the moment. These bays were only planted last autumn so I am not sure what will have survived the winter and what wont. Oddly the marigold is quite advanced compared to those that are in the water and the lobellia hasnt died as I expected it to. With a bog that size all I can really say is think carefully about the heights of the plants that you choose so that they dont block the view and any clump formers like common rush and carex that may block animal access. Any plants with invasive root systems, eg rushes, reeds and yellow flag, should be placed in SOLID not perforated pots to contain their root systems. Ivy leafed crowfoot did well last spring along the shoreline of the wildlife pond bog and is a nice plant with a nice white flower, I am not sure if it survived the rest of the year. I also have a pink and green something 'parsley' that is doing rather too well on the shore of the wildlife pond bog.

I have used Roundup around the base of many trees and it has never harmed the trees. I would never (again) use a weed barrier like plastic. I believe the rule-of-thumb for mulching around trees is no more than 6" deep around the tree.