I'd seperate them for sure, even seperate the moms from each other. Chickens can be unpredictable, especially the 'mean roo'. Chances are more than good that he'll kill the chicks. I once felt comfortable enough to leave two little chicks with their mom (a pretty darned mean banty hen) in with the flock. All was well for an entire week, then at seven days old I guess the hens got to fighting over who would get to mother the chicks and they were trampled to death. :( I learned the hard way. Mom can't be everywhere at once, and while she is chasing off one or two attackers, another just swoops in. I'll never leave chicks in with the flock again, no matter how much I trust them. Velvet ~:>

I just found your post today, after coming home with my first hen-and-chick purchase. I'm so glad you posted some pictures, so I will know when mine is ready to bloom! It isn't ready yet! Your rock garden is really neat!

You didn't like our advice on the other thread to wait to plant? ;>) I do understand that you want a beautiful view NOW if not yesterday. As a newbie, it's really really easy to spend money that ends up being wasted . . . wrong plant for the spot, or your tastes in plantings haven't really developed so that 3 years from now you wonder "What was I thinking?!" or you order from a nursery that sends out almost dead twigs though their photos looked lovely. I've done all these and more. I am sending you an email with a website that you can use to check out the reliability of a mailorder or internet nursery. (I can't post it here as GW views the other website as competition.) I know it's difficult, but until you know how much sun you have there during the growing season you really can't decide on what plants to put there. You also need to know what kind of trees you have since some trees aren't likely to let other plants grow under them due to root competition (maples in particular.) An unhappy plant (spindly or diseased quite often) is worse than no plant in my opinion. Both Nellie Stevens and Green Giant like full sun to part shade and it looks to me like there's a good chance that you won't have that, but you won't know until you've actually observed it. I've known several folks who put up a temporary light weight bamboo fence until plants have grown up enough, and something like that between the big tree and the corner could get you through the first season, along with some large potted plants. How tolerant of salt are Nellie and GG? Being alongside the road whatever you plant will need some salt tolerance unless you are in an area where salt isn't used, especially since at an intersection more salt may be used. Around here, the salt spray thrown up by tires does damage to evergreens' foliage. Your yard is higher than the road so you may not need to worry about root damage from salt. You commented at one point in the previous thread: "Maybe our main goal is more about creating something beautiful and also adding a little privacy than just about closing ourselves in." I agree with Steve that Molie is giving you good advice in recommending a berm set back a bit with a variety of plants that are evergreen but shade tolerant. Check out hedges of all of one kind of plant vs a mixed planting by driving around areas with plantings you like. Look at different plants used to block unsightly views and how they are used. Do you need a whole wall of green and do you like that look? (One of the problems with this is that if one dies or grows slower, it can look unbalanced, like a mouth with broken or missing teeth.) Will a mixed shrub border work better? Will tall grasses or a clumping bamboo work better? (though neither of those will work if you have too much shade.) Would just 3 or 5 shrubs and a couple small beautiful trees be enough to pull your attention away from the road and let your eyes rest in the yard? Are you willing to prune to maintain height or width? Would a relatively low fence (to block headlights and some sound) be enough if it had plantings set back from it on one or both sides? Have you figured out if you want to use your front yard or just look at it? The Missouri Botanical Garden's Plantfinder has the option of putting in plant requirements, and I'd look at plants that are happy with part shade at least. Get a soil test done so you know what your soil has now and may need added. It will also tell you what will grow there, since some plants will only grow in certain conditions (like acidic and high organic content or lots clay and moisture.) It's good you are asking questions, since it will save you problems in the long run. Here's link to a thread on a mixed border I created for full sun. You would want different plants, but it might help you start thinking about whether you like a mixed planting vs a planting of all of one type of plant. I planned mine to distract from a utility area, partly by adding interest and partly by blocking the unsightly view. There are photos at both the beginning and at the end. http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/neweng/msg1208322318994.html Here is a link that might be useful: Missouri Botanical Garden Plantfinder

Lol right Rina! I love the top dressing and I believe I read somewhere about it causing water retention too but still decided to go with it because it makes it so much easier to get the plants how you want them. There was a lot of good advice given on my first post which I followed except for the potting mix which I know is one of the most important things but I did make very sure they drained well before planting them I would like to clarify I got all but the first pictured of these plants the day before posting these and repotted from their damp 100% soil, after letting all but the jades roots dry out because I just cleaned their roots off today ( and learned I actually have 3 jade plants YAY ) Rina - Sounds like I'm going to be re-potting again, The layer of rocks is just to keep the soil and smaller rock layer from slipping out of the fairly large holes I drilled in myself and making messes, but like I said It almost drains too well for my liking I dumped 2 cups of water in the layered pot I put mama in to test it out and it was like I just dumped the cup out without anything to catch it.. I'll have to get a video next week if this humidity ever goes away. But I put <2 handfuls of soil in the entire mix for mama which really wasn't much I am most confident in her pot I may have to find and put a healthy semp in with her just to see. Most of the rocks are about half the size of a Canadian dime. They we're in full sun where I bought the new ones this time, but I do have them on the far side of my patio set which doesn't get dappled sun but is half shaded and I slowly moved the mama there and the baby hasn't quite made it outside yet. Thank you for the advice about the jade, I just took it out of the soil which was dry but I'd rather be able to see how its coming along anyway. Chef - Glad to hear your plants are on their way to being happy and healthy :) I'm still pretty new to Germany and I'm not sure what turface might be called here I'll have to see if the PXtra sells it but I've been using "granulat" which translates to granules, they're about the size of Himalayan salt, Lava rocks which will fit into a bottle cap and small rocks like I said earlier are pretty small. The thought of not having soil just blows my mind lol, I understand very little mixed well into something but none at all... but you are the experts and it's been really wet the last few days which is fairly common here unfortunately, so as soon as I can I will be uprooting them again to sift though the soil and looking for some turface or another equivalent.