Hi, I'm new to the site. Looks like fun! I'm looking for stakes that stick to the brick wall. They have twisty ties attached to hold the vines until the vines can attach themselves to the brick. My friend got them at a local nursery, but they no longer carry them and don't know where to find them. Anyone know where to find these? Thanks!

Tuesday, you are so awesome to help me! So, based on the idea that it's the color of my brick that is the problem, I looked up images online of dark mortar, and when I was out driving, looked for homes. I could find pretty much NO pics/IRL homes with dark mortar. Would you say that, esp. since yours is outdoor, it WILL fade, whereas mine being indoors (in a dark room), will just stay as-is? Anyway, I have yet to see a pic of dark mortar that I like. The room is narrow, so I think the enormity of the FP combined with the unattractive B/M is a problem. I am not sure what my options are, though, given that I want to maintain it as a working FP and that my budget is teeny! (Many DIY projects are done w/non-working FPs). I am thinking drywall or stucco would be the best options. Dunno.

We are building a Victorian style farmhouse and are using the cement board as described above. We also wanted brick but just couldn't figure-out how to get the look that we wanted, so we are going with cement board but will have a brick carport attached toward the rear of the house This sounds weird, but it looks really nice and allows us to incorporate the brick for the steps and the bottom portion of the home. Maybe something like this will work for you?

Thank you Yardvaark! It never occurred to me to check and see what the neighbors had in their yards! We have neighbors to the north and south, with the east side of the property bordered by a public hiking trail. There is a cement wall and fence separating us from the trail, but only chain link between us and the neighbors. The southerly neighbor's lawn is mostly grass, but the northern one is VERY overgrown with all sorts of climbing plants, vines, and who knows what else. Anyway, I did a little recon this morning to see what we currently have growing in our yard. I'm not sure any of this qualifies as groundcover, though. In addition to the following, we have ALL sorts of ivies and creeping vines growing over various areas. The slopes are mostly grass and weeds right now, which is problematic because the grass grows enough to need mowing, but you can't mow up there, so DH has been having to basically hold a weedwhacker over his head to trim the area. This plant occupies a large chunk of the backyard currently, although it's actually in an area I would like to use for herbs, so it may get ripped out. No idea what this plant is, but it is reasonably attractive and seems not to need much in the way of maintenance. Another view of it (lower left corner): We also have several large patches of this this paler green plant growing throughout the backyard - it's definitely mint of some sort, but not sure what kind. Probably not something to use as groundcover since I know mint can be invasive. The flat lawn areas tend to have a lot of this next plant (weed?) poking up, especially in areas that don't get a lot of sun: And finally, there's this guy, which occupies a chunk of the backyard as well: I'm not at all opposed to spending a little money on something new that will really suit the area, but there is quite a lot of slope to cover (I would estimate 1000sf). Never having to worry about trimming those slopes again would be worth a pretty penny, though! Any thoughts about these current residents?