Intherosegarden has got the answer! "Weed flaming" was once a popular technique that is being revived, with excellent results and organic approved. The reasons why are: it is cost and labor effective, can be done when fields are wet, it does not bring dormant seeds to the surface, and does not set anything on fire, as it simply 'boils' the water out of the cellular structure. Use the torch to melt ice on walkways and driveways. Always use the Red Dragon Brand or you will be sorry. You can get a flamer squeeze valve with a pilot light on the handle, a backpack kit or a dolly. Heavy duty torches are available. I can do 100 acres of fence before lunch.

Sorry; I was wrong about thinking that the Corintian Rose and Mauve cultivars as being new developments. Did some checking and now realize that a few years after more nurseries began offering the Ornamental trees, I must have seen a photo of the Corintian Rose which appeared to bloom more red colored. But the latest photos I have seen of the Corintian Rose seem to reveal that tree's blooms being more true to what reported descriptions of it have been turning up. Dr. Dennis Werner had successfully developed these Corinthian peach cultivars, and reports of them started showing up in web perspectives back over the winter of 1998-99. Those perspectives projected that nurseries would be making these trees available by the winter of 1999-2000. I have not seen the standard nurseries in my area offering these trees, but after I inquired about them to my favorite nursery on the northwest edge of town. They fairly easily found some being offered to the wholesale markets from a local regional grower. My extra research about the development of the different cultivars has reminded me of what I had obviously forgotten when I posted what I replied above. The truth is that Back in the winter of 1998-99; the cultivars which had already been developed were Corinthian, White, Corinthian Pink, Corintihian Rose, and Corinthian Mauve. With the Rose and the Mauve cultivars just now showing up more often on various web sites, must mean that now those cultivars are catching the eye of people more than the White and Pink cultvars are right now. One thing I do know is that the photos on the web of these trees do not capture the dynamic beauty that one is surprised to see in any of these trees that are thriving out in their planting beds. Must be something about the camera shots being so far away that the size and shapes of the flowers appear more non-descript in the photo's and also the amazing way that the sun make the colors of those flowers to appear so stunning must be an aspect that the camera's missed capturing in those photos of these trees that I have been more recently seeing on the Web. I know that the Pink cultivar blooms certainly are such, simply because a friend of mine planted four of these trees along the narrow strip along her front driveway and that boarders her neighbor's yard. The first Spring that her trees burst out in bloom, her husband who never seems to say much about the items at her house that we have planted, well even he, was taken aback at the sight of how stunning those blooms were. At first sight he rushed to get his camera and quicky attached that photo to an email and sent it to me to let me know how amazed he was at first sight of those tree tree's bloom. That was 3 years ago, and the only other item he has reacted the same about was after he first saw blooms, on the hardy, Blue Satin Hibiscus that I had trained up in a tree form and helped my friend plant at her house. Those clear blue...

some- but you would need a NATIVE moss to do so- meaning a local one that was growing in similar conditions. you might look in to creeping speedwell, lamium (dead nettle) or even creeping phlox, which won't flower as extravagantly, but will make a nice carpet. bugleweed/ajuga is another option, they come in green and bronze leafed types, and the purple flower spikes are one of my favorite parts of my lawn :)

I like fewer, more sweeping curves if any at all, both for aesthetics and for ease of mowing. Notice that Doug's sketch is basically an S curve that follows the fence line and has added depth only where there are larger plants. I am not fond of random wiggles to a bed edge since it looks contrived to me, and some of my beds are basically straight with just rounded ends. You would want the shallower parts of the bed to be the 60", with any curved out areas wider as opposed to the widest areas being 60". Depending on what you find appealing, you can group perennials and smaller shrubs in large sweeps of a single kind so it has the effect of a groundcover when it has grown in some. Or you can have smaller groupings that repeat down the length of the bed. What you want to avoid is one of this and one of that with no repetition at all to give it some coherence. Which kind of repeating of plants you choose depends on what appeals to you. To figure out what you like, start looking at gardens with a critical eye. Find neighborhoods with plantings you like and wander around or visit a Botanic garden or demo garden at a nursery or look at online landscaping photos here on Houzz or elsewhere. Is the whole garden underplanted with a single groundcover to tie it all together? Is a particular color of flowers or foliage or type of plant repeated down a bed or around a yard? Are there gardens that look disjointed or don't appeal to you and if so, why? You asked about under the teees. You could use the same ground cover in both places for some repetition or use different ones if you have strong repetition elsewhere. In the corner behind the little maple on the right, you could plant something like daffodils and hostas, so the daffodils bloom before the tree leafs out and then the hostas camouflage the dying bulb foliage and are shaded by the maple while the Veronica GB will grow anywhere there is space. VGB plays well with other plants to cover the ground but lets other plants grow also, something not all groundcovers do. Some are more aggressive. You may end up with not a lot actually growing under the tree since maples tend to have shallow, dense roots that don't share space with other plants well, so I would plant any groundcover there near the drip line and then let it wander where it can. Generally, I like to keep the groundcover beneath a tree low so that the layers are distinct rather than letting the lower level of plants growing up near where the branches are. And in general in a garden that is only viewed from one side like this one, (except under trees) you will want taller shrubs and perennials toward the back and shorter ones toward the front so that sight lines aren't blocked to the shorter plants. This photo illustrates much of what I am trying to explain, though with a border that's mostly shrubs and both the border and the plants are larger than you want being perhaps 60'-70' and 15' deep with a height limit of 15'-20'. Notice that each of the larger evergreens cultivars is repeated along the bed in more than spot. Less visible at this time of year, but there are also evergreen rhododendrons repeated; one kind has 3 scattered along the length, and the other has 4 or 5. Their rhythm really shows up when they are blooming, but they fade into the background and just provide fill the rest of the year. I really value having evergreens (both the conifers and the rhodies) since it makes the bed ornamental in the winter when viewed from windows, as well as serving the function of blocking the background work area better. There are also a few kinds of deciduous shrubs or small trees that have multiples, though not at all visible when they have lost their foliage as in this photo. Towards the front of the bed are a mix of taller, shorter, and groundcover perennials and spring flowering bulbs in good sized masses which when in bloom show the same repetition down the bed. At this time of year it is less apparent since some have died back and others just blend in from a distance. There are also some individual specimens since I am at heart a plant nerd, but for me having the rhythm of repetition down the bed gives an organization that suits my tastes and rural area better than something like Doug's sketch. What you want should be what appeals to you, and only you can make that decision. Regardless, you would want one or perhaps two layers of woody plants and the rest perennials or short woodies as in Doug's sketch. Be sure you check out ultimate plant sizes rather than just what the tag says which for shrubs is often 5 years. I like the MOBOT Plant Finder where you can search for plants that have certain requirements to fit your site or you can search by name. Either way, leave everything else beside what is important to the search blank on the form.