KSRogers, Sir! I never claimed to be an expert here. I just provided the defition which was a direct quote from Webster's dictionary. The point was and still is that there is a commonly undestood class of vegetables that are called herbs. It was not my purpose or intention to show that Webster's was the ultimate authority on the subject either. You can be REALLY scientic about it, sure go ahead. We have many things in our everyday life that are scientifically and technically wrong but people do say them, Example: sunrise, sunset, guts feeling, heartfeld thanks, knowing by ones heart, moon shine, act of God.. We know that sun does not rise or set;moon is not the source of light, we know that our guts and heart don't feel or think or comprehend anything. We know that storms and earth quake... are caused by natural forces and are not ACTS OF GOD(S). I can go on. Cyrus

By the looks of the grass you are getting a lot less drought than some other people out there, so that is a good sign... Try looking up some plantings along similar colored walls and see what tickles your fancy. There are many issues to address, like how deep of a bed or whether to mix in small trees, annuals, perennials, etc. I've seen some office buildings with Annabelle hedges going 100 feet along walls. Simply amazing! You'll get earlier results with Annabelle and the blooms last a pretty long time. They tend to grow, expand and develop a lot quicker than macrophyllas. Thus flop wouldn't be extremely noticeable after a handful of growing seasons.

More important than the compass-facing is the daily hours of sun and if the garden area is in a depression where cold air can collect at night. If your east site gets 8 hours or more of sun from April-October and is not in a hollow, it should do fine, as long as the slope does not create shadows before late afternoon from the sun swinging around to the west.

Well, thanks to you folks at the ETN Plant Swap, this side of my house has an official theme! It's going to be a Tropical Garden! The dimensions of the garden are 14' x 15'. It gets sun from 9am to 5pm nearest the deck, and 10am to 6pm at the east edge. I've graded the area to be as close to level and flat as possible. We just tilled 5 inches of decomposed leaves into this bed. Actually, the leaves were so deep we didn't bring up a lot of clay... so it's mostly just finely mulched leaves, sticks and coffee grounds and an occasional hunk of clay at present. I stomped all over it thoroughly to try to compress it, but it's still a little spongy when walked on. Is this an acceptable medium for planting these plants, or should I be adding something? Here's what I have to put in it: Varigated Hibiscus (need to dig up?) Versi-peach Brugmansia (need to dig up?) White Brugmansia (need to dig up?) Clerodendrum thomsoniae (Bleeding Heart Vine) Cestrum nocturnum (Night Blooming Jessamine) Cannas in many colors and foliage colors! Buddleja (butterfly bush) Hibiscus syriacus (Rose of Sharon) Crocosmia Touch-me-not Grasses Tomatoes Colocasia esculenta (Taro root) Angel-wing begonia (B. x superba) Tamarindus indica (Tamarind) seedling (may not live, but if it does it will be a tree) Dracaena fragrans (Corn plant) cutting (need to dig up) Ponytail palm Yucca Daylilies Irises Kniphofia (Red hot pokers) Gladiolus Calladiums (need to dig up?) Castor bean Red honeysuckle I'm also getting: Musa basjoo sapling (Hardy banana) Now my question is, design! I'm not sure of the best way to lay all this out. Do Bananas give much shade? How tall should I expect it to get? If it does provide shade, perhaps it would be good to place near the deck so the deck gets some shade in the hot part of the day? A friend suggested getting a yellow locust for next to the deck, and planting the banana elsewhere. I'm interested in your opinions on this. I'd like some privacy from the neighbors to the east. What to plant on that border that won't get too tall and block the sun for the other plants? I'm thinking 12 feet maximum. Are Buddlejas and Altheas good for this? I'd like a nice relaxing area in the middle of the bed, where I can do a little sunbathing without feeling like people can see me. I have lots of cobbles of all sizes, and quite a lot of marble pieces. Would either of these be useful here? Another thing that would be helpful to know in planting this is heights and space requirements. It's a long list so I'm going to start researching it, but it would be helpful if you know offhand what heights, widths, spacing, and other requirements or restrictions I should know about - I'm so new to tropicals!