Hello RedShoe, I'm not a designer, just an amateur, but I grew up in a house built on empty prairie in the SW suburbs, so can relate to the photos and here's my 2 cents. I lived in the Western burbs for decades, and wonder if your last home was in a more built up area with established shrubs and trees. You said you just moved to this one in November - perhaps the contrast of a previous suburb with this open setting is getting to you? Although a long open side on a corner lot can make you feel like you are over-exposed, you might come to like the unconfined visual sweep of a prairie setting. My mom still likes it that way - my fenced yard gives her claustrophobia. How is your area set for access to water? Are you on wells, city water or what? This may make a difference in how close to plant your trees & shrubs, especially with such a big lot. If you can give them an adequate, regular water supply, a Norway spruce can grow pretty fast up there in Chicagoland, but if you are on tight rations, like a lot of the suburbs have been in recent years, the size increase will be much slower. Your present and future ability to keep any plantings watered has to be considered in any design. Even the native plants and drought resistant trees have to get established first before they can be left on their own. Is it possible that your designer thinks the eventual size of 'Prairie Fire' is too small for your large lot? Or does it grow in a ball instead of the more graceful spreading form? I think it's a 15 X 15 size. Maybe that's what 'urban' means. I would want a clearer reason on this one! Maybe he just doesn't like the flower color. Good luck, Annie

By having depth of bed I don't mean to imply that one must plant and maintain it with a "jungly" appearance. It's just that any shrubs one might plant along the foundation are bound to easily eat up 4' of depth, even when maintained to modest proportions. Then, one would probably have something low -- perennial or groundcover -- growing in front of the shrub and it, too, could easily take up an equivalent amount of depth. start adding up the numbers and it becomes apparent that 4' seems stingy. Of course, if one plans only on a single row of shrubs, then 4' is workable. (But this seems like a less pretty solution than shrubs plus groundcover, perennial or some such thing.) It is not depth of bed that makes a difference between a "clean" look and a disheveled one. If you want a raised bed merely because you want it, then no more need be said. I get the impression you will, at least, do its construction justice. "... it would probably be better to let nature cover like it's going to try to do no matter what I put there." I'm certainly not suggesting that you allow weeds to take over. That is the death knell to any landscape. There are attractive groundcovers and perennials that can be maintained in a weed-free state for a clean, attractive and interesting appearance. Keeping the design simple leads toward a "cleaner" look. If there were weeds in the area previously, it requires diligence in maintenance until the ground-covering plants become fully established (then they become the "mulch.") In most cases, one mulches fairly heavily at the beginning, which helps keep weeds down. Pre-emergent herbicide can be very useful, too, but follow directions carefully, as you wouldn't want to also kill plants you bought and installed. One must put out the most anti-weed effort during the first year. (The main objective is NEVER let a weed flower and produce seed within the bed area -- which some will try to do within twenty-something days after sprouting by seed --as it will prolong the weeding process by another year, at least.) If one keeps up with it right along, weeding is less trouble the second year and after that, minor to nearly non-existent. What plants you use to cover the ground of the planting bed would depend on where you live and what grows well there, and what the design requirements are calling for in terms of height, interest and personality.

Okay, so here's the deal... Natural bogs are caused by a paradox of sorts in areas where there is both good drainage and constant moisture. This washes away excessive nutrients leaving a very clean environment. Looking at a natural bog, you might just see a wet area covered with sphagnum, but beneath that there is always a very slow constant water flow. In fact, in a trip recently to cape cod, I saw a bog between the dunes with sundews growing in pure sand. There are lots of different kinds of bogs, ranging from seeps to kettle bogs. So the first thing to do is examine your site and determine what kind of bog you wish to emulate. I see you are in NJ, so you may want to visit the pine barrens to look at CPs in the wild. That will give you some great inspiration. Okay, secondly you need to think about your water source. For water to work in a bog garden cannot have much disolved salts or minerals, and cannot be alkaline (in which case it would be a Fen instead). A conductivity test should tell you where your water is naturally. If you're only limitation is nitrogen, then you can seep the water through biological treatment areas first with high nitrogen using species like cattails. Otherwise, you might consider collecting rainwater off your roof in a rain barrel then slowly seep it out into your bog garden. This also has the benefit of naturally treating runoff from your property. My bog gardens are modeled after a mountain bog, imitating natural seeps/springs where streams begin. I design them on a gentle slope to provide drainage with a curved basin wider at one end, and the other end open pointing down the hill. You can model a bog after any kind of natural system though. Go see some different types in the wild, and give some thought to how they work. After all, Nature is by far the best landscaper and should be your #1 reference for how to do things right. Through observation you may even decide to do a kind of bog no one has done before. Hope this is helpful.

It's been quite a while since I've posted here. Just thought I'd post an update. My gf's son moved in with us in early July. He had to sleep on an air mattress in the living room for the first month and a half, because we were in a one bedroom apartment and waiting for a bigger place to open up in our complex. That said, it was still a major environmental upgrade for him. Grandma's house had a scabies infestation, drugs and screaming matches that went on all night long. This is the reason we moved him so quickly - the more we got to know about his living conditions, the more of a hurry we were in. And, we wanted enough time to try and stabilize his mood and behavior before school started. As of now, he has his own bedroom with new (or new - used) furniture. His mother and I don't get into screaming matches, although there's occasionally enough passive aggressive tension in the air to cut with a knife. We had a pleasant enough summer. We gave him the kinds of privileges we thought he should have, and that I took for granted when I was a kid. He could go out until the street lights came on, we gave him a cell phone, he could use the computer, play video games, watch TV, etc. He has chores to do, and an allowance (which we were compelled to promise we wouldn't steal back as his grandma did). Aside from his chores and bedtime, he didn't have much responsibility. He was and is still afraid to go anywhere by himself. I find this trait to be strange, as when I was his age I rode my bike all over the place and grounding was a torment I couldn't tolerate any longer than necessary. Similarly, whenever we go anywhere together, he is pretty much right at my side the entire time. This isn't as bad anymore, but I do find it quite irritating from time to time. I imagine this is related to some abandonment issues he may have, so I usually don't say anything. We were preparing him with conversations and reminders, on occasion, that he would be expected to put forth an effort when school came around. He had been told that he had failed the 6th grade at his former school. I don't have a very high opinion of the school. It was a charter school in an old office building where a lot of trouble makers go. And, I'm convinced that the place was in business to soak up state school-choice dollars and didn't really care about the success of the students. During the last week of school, we had a conference at school during which it was decided that he was a special needs student, and that he would need additional resources for the following year. Regardless, between his teachers' attitudes and the kinds of other students which were attending, we decided to put him in a different school. Apparently, due to "no child left behind", and his status as a special needs student, his former school told the new school he should be in 7th grade, despite his academic performance in the 6th grade. So, he started the new school year at a new school, in a new home and behind academically. Now, he is a bright kid. He can learn the material, and I help him. But, because he was behind to begin with, and the fact that he learned that it was OK to act out at his old school (they would just send him home if he talked in class too much), the beginning of this year has been horrible. He doesn't want to look stupid, so he just acts goofy, pokes other students and is generally impossible to quiet. We got two calls home from the teacher on the first two days of school, and that pattern has more or less continued since then. He was suspended for a day after the teacher had had enough. We met with his teachers and principal the next day. Instead of threatening expulsion, as I had expected, they said they were determined to do whatever it took to help him overcome his behavior problems. I knew then that we had made the right decision about changing schools. As far as life at home has been during this, I would say unpleasant would be an understatement. Though, It's not any worse than it would have been for my parents. He lost all of his privileges. I have been wrestling with this issue, because I cannot, in my mind, cede any of these privileges to him without improvement. At the same time, I know how tedious life can be with nothing to do at that age. Plus, given his history with his mom not being around and his dad abandoning him, I'm afraid of what too much time alone would do to him.As an alternative approach, I decided a few weeks that instead of taking privileges away, I would have him do work. I took him up to my parents' house and had him do yard work for a few hours on Saturday. This, I figured, would at least get him outside for fresh air and sunlight (not that he's locked in the basement or something - you know what I mean). Finally, mom and son started psychotherapy. Both have a lot of issues to work through. He thinks she hates him, and that he was a mistake. He doesn't understand why she left him with "those crazy people" for so long. This is what comes out in abbreviated 13 year old exclamations, so I'm sure it's more complex than that. She's angry with herself, with her mother who convinced her not to give him up (she believes he would have had a better life with a different family). She has anger issues in general which, while significantly improved in the time I've know her, are still a challenge to handle. And, occasionally, these feelings boil over onto him. She loves him, but whenever he has problems she is reminded that he might not have them if she had done the right thing. So, in essence, he is occasionally a reminder of her failure. At any rate, the combination of help at school, counseling, consequences for bad behavior and rewards for good behavior have started to pay off. I'm still not 100% confident, but he has had some noticeable improvement over the last couple weeks. His daily reports from the teacher have been less severe, and today he brought home a report with only good remarks and corresponding grades for behavior. He has earned his cell phone and TV privileges back, and for today's report, we gave him a Bears jersey (although why he likes the Bears, I'll never understand, we live in Wisconsin.) If we can get the behavior under control, he'll hopefully absorb more classroom instruction, and we can get his grades back where they were a few years ago (he was an A student). It's a rough road, and I'm sure we'll hit some more potholes along the way. But, I think we're on the right path. I'm still not sorry for my decision to do this. I think that, although there were pros and cons for removing him from his grandmother's "care", the pros far outweigh the cons.