Thank you gardeninggrandma for bringing up the utility easements issue. I live on a corner lot. The utility easements are on the east side of my property. No easements what so ever on the "screen" side. The only power line pole sits on the NE corner, the lines just happen to go over the area that I want to plant in, ugh. Also, I did call someone out to mark for anything just in case. They said we are good to go. I do not like the bamboo. That one is off the list. I have a really old house that will one day have its exterior restored (been working inside the past many years) and it will need a more formal look than what the bamboo would have. I went to several nurseries today. I was hoping to see some of the Techny trees, I thought those sounded good. Every single person that we talked to at the nurseries recommeded Leyland Cypress. I would ask "but won't it get to tall?"......everyone of them said NO! One guy said they only get to about 20-25 feet tall here. Another lady said they get 30 feet tall. One guy said that they won't bother power lines...I'm really not sure what that meant. A couple of places also recommended the Green Giant arborvitae. Once again, saying it would only grow to 20 feet tall. Only one person suggested a holly tree. When I asked about a male for the female, she said that I did not need one. As long as a male was within a mile, it would be fine. But every one of them always first suggested the leyland cypress. So now I am really confused...and frustrated...and mad. Ugh! Another thing I noticed at all the nurseries. The tags would be different. For example, one nellie stevens holly tag read that it would be 15 - 20 feet tall...and another stores tag read 25-30 feet tall for a nellie stevens. I love the idea of a berm, now that I know what it is. Not sure if that much dirt is in the budget though. I love the idea of a mixed planting that is staggered. Or staggered with the same type throughout. My real love would be the hollies. I just love them. As for my budget. I don't really know how far it will go. I have $1000.00 set aside for this. I'll go as far as I can with it. I can always add more later. Once I figure out what kind of trees to plant I can then pick out the size. I would like for them to be at least 2 feet tall, preferably taller. Anything shorter than that will get trampled down or ran over. The maximum heighth for a mature tree would be 18-19 feet. We measured that up to the cable line. All the other lines are taller than that, but they are the power lines, so we figured the cable line was a good guide line. After the hell trip to the nurseries today, I told my husband that I was about ready to just hire a landscape designer for this. He agreed, but a few moments later said "What if they tell us to plant leyland cypress?" LOL

OHmygosh! And here I am whining about the squirrels - already chewing on one of the houseplants I set out on the deck and trying to get into the attic. We do have an owl that I hope is getting some of the squirrels - and I thought that was pretty wild, too. Of course I live in the middle of town, so I still think the owl and raccoons and everything else that shows up in my yard is pretty unusual. I had one lovely iris bloom greeting me when I walked out the side door to take out the trash this morning. They have spread and have buds all over them, unlike last year, when I got only one bloom. I was all set to move them because I thought they weren't getting enough sun, but I guess they like it there after all. My cannas have not come up yet, and I'm afraid I may have planted them too early. Reassurances, anyone, or do I need to replant? I spent the weekend rebuilding and painting a rotting trellis that was about to crumble under the honeysuckle and trumpet vine previous owners planted together there. Much more work than I expected, but my sweet son came home yesterday afternoon and said "Wow, That looks really good!" I don't know about that, but at least I've stopped the rotting for the moment, I hope. Correopsis finally showed its shy self. Gaillardia is getting TALL. And I think the caladium that was growing in the shade bed last year is coming back. Not positive yet, because it looks a little like the hosta that is also planted there, but just a little different. It was pretty well protected, and the winter wasn't real cold, so I thought it might try to come back. Boy, nothing grows better in that spot than caladium - so far, anyway.

Is the trunk thicker than when they were planted? If not then you might have a strangling root, one that curled around the plant pot and wasn't straightened or trimmed before planting. Are they small enough still to dig up and replant? I know mine took about two years to get established and were trimmed twice a year during that time to help force root growth. After the 4th year they took off and they get shorn once a year now at the end of December. Take a photo of them and bring it to your local tree/shrub nursery (not the big box home improvement stores that also sell plants).

The testing company sent 3 to map our home and ground on all sides. Inside they took pictures of the cracks. Using water mounted atop a tripod with a long connected plastic tube they checked all rooms on the bottom floor to see if they were level. Also asked if we had noticed any hollow sounds in any of our 900 sq. ft. of porcelain tile floors. We haven't but in 2002 there was big hollow areas in the broken quarry tile floors we had then. We replaced that with porcelain tile. This company is owned by 3 P.E's that also have taught at a Florida university. Outside they checked the top 12 feet of soil with a ground penitrating ?????. They used many many long tape measurers to make a grid of the grounds---marking (took measurements) every few feet. I wanted to ask them from their testing did anything show up but they left before I could ask. Two facts I had not considered before. ONE---a couple years ago my daughter thought our in ground gunite pool was loseing water (faster than normal evaporation). Had a leak detector guy out for $300.00 who said he patched a couple of small cracks near the tile along the upper edge. If there is still a leak it is very small. SECOND---about 20 feet out from the cracked corner of our home the roots of a big oak tree rotted and the tree fell falling away from the house. The incharge guy today said as the long roots, that remain in the ground that we don't see, rot the soil around them can become less stable. If the tree roots created the problem I hope our insurance covers it. Next Tuesday (April 28)is the day they drill test holes. The company subs out this work. Will report later.