Thanks, idig. Except for the smaller "trimming" plants such as the salvia and rosemary, maybe the roses if they like being transplanted, the "after" will really take a couple of years to look good. The Italian cypress and boxwood are more structural plantings which must mature to give their intended effect. And th row of plants on the SOUTH border, well, I am much more comfortable with these tropicalesque types. They grow very quickly to become massive, and will screen our side sunporch very nicely from traffic coming up the street. Those old azaleas did screen that exposure, but mercy they were ragged and dead in the middle. The ones I cut back last year are ready to bloom this year. Our cross-street neighbor brought over another rose for us to plant, her third such gift. The first one she gave me is now tall and graceful with new red leaves and beaucoup of buds getting fat and tinged with deep red. Many people are cheerful givers, like my husband, but do not know how to receive graciously. When folks do not have much to give, accepting their offering becomes magnified in importance. It would be easy to say, "I don't need that in my garden," like her latest offering of thornless blackberries, but giving her a place in our garden seems the thing to do. She has bad health, cannot work in the yard any more, yet each spring she gets the itch to plant something. I hope someone does the same for me in a few years.

Ohhh, MamaGoose, I am dying laughing at the orange jumpsuit! And that alarmed me when I saw it too, especially when he ducked down out of signt immediately after I called the dog. I knew the fence guys had the option of working Saturday, and I checked the front drive again to see if I'd missed seeing their truck, but no they did not come to work. That meant someone else. I suspected who, but had to return to the back door and wait for about two minutes before he finally stood up. Yep, orange jumpsuit and a white head of hair, just visible from shoulders up above the shrubbery along that property line. And orange jumpsuits signify prison to me too, Mama. But the white hair meant the neighbor. And his presence there was not on his property, but on his back neighbor's property, which he is treating like his own. The owner is the niece of the lady we bought the back forty from. And she had to put up NO TRESPASSING signs facing HIS HOUSE in attempt to keep him out of there. The house is vacant. He does cut the back yard up a ways, but not all the way to the empty house. He is doing to HER property what he once did to OURS, expanding his space, even planting hydrangeas in places. Well, it is better than weeds I know. But also in the tall weeds up near that vacant house is where he was secreting his infamous burn barrel. On someone else's property, so he could deny it was his. But that was stopped too. I have no idea where he hid it this time. But now and then, I do smell burning stuff late at night on weekends. And Scott, we had a survey done and we paid to have both our lot and the neighbor's lot totally surveyed. Money well spent. The old survey markers next to this neighbor had been removed. Well, one of them had been cut off below the ground out by the street, and it was located in what I thought was HIS YARD by about 6 feet. After he backed his trailer up our driveway and across our lawn to haul away huge tree limbs and boles, I popped a line and built my rose bed to prevent any such future occurence. No fence on the front yard portion of this property line, but I did make the flower bed pretty on both sides as viewed from both our yards. I dare say it is the best flower bed in the neighborhood, and it is out in view of God and everybody. LOTS of compliments on it. I installed a line of brick flat to the ground on his side of the line (still on our property though), so he could put the wheel of his mower on it. As to plants growing in the Back Forty. No poison ivy, which really surprises me. But thank heaven it is not there. And no one has tossed any pot seeds there. I had not thought about that. A grandson lives with them, a college student, so I appreciate the heads up about that. It would definitely cause us some grief if such seeds thrown in our new space suddenly grew. The authorities would be notified and we would be turned in you betcha. And I'm not so attentive to WEEDS that I'd notice any strange things dropped into a basic overgrown place. We've cut back the major overgrown stuff, but not fine tuned it yet. That will come after the fence people quit stomping around back there. Even their presence for one afternoon has made a big difference in the open ground. But I am careful walking there until all the stobs of cut-off tree seedlings are removed. I cannot afford a foot injury with my diabetes. Oh yes. I revisited the spot where the neighbor was seen. He's pulled out some grass along the old chainlink fence, but not significantly so. I suppose he was doing his own survey of the post locations--for what other reason could he be so fascinated to go so far as to HIDE his presence, and not stand up until he expected me to be moved away from the door? But the new posts are inside our property markers. Good Sunday morning to you all. Lovely day.

I might be a little late but I think you owe it to yourself to check out Hefners Red Select. Mine has held up very well in full sun in zone 8 and has only shown the slightest hint of green on the underside of the leaf, the tops are still red. Here is a photo of the parent tree of mine. They are available in single or multi trunk. It is USDA rated for zones 5 to 9

Bloodgood is not one to put right up next to a house. You can keep it dwarfed by keeping it in a pot and root pruning it, like a big bonsai tree. Keeping JMs in pots will take some know how, but seems less risky IMO. Lots of people who post on this forum do it, and will advise you. If you do want to give that spot a try, seek out a maple known to be very hardy and stay small, and don't spend a lot because we all screw up at first. It should be a good learning experience no matter what you decide.