I love your place!! It has so many possibilities!! You mentioned that things look better when viewed from one side only. I would suggest forcing the perspective. Design your walkway, patio, etc. so that it runs along the good "one side". Unless the shape of the walkway is ridiculous, people usually prefer to walk on established pathway. Another idea is to use the focal point. If you want people to look "here" but not "there", use plants with brightly colored foliage or interesting form "here". Use plants that catch my attention. In the "there" spot, plant boring things. You mention that June is the big month for your garden. For other months, add bright color artifically with a brightly painted trellis or other small wood structure. For example, in my front yard, I want people to look at my door and porch. I don't want people to look at the 4' tall utility box in the corner by the road. So, I introduced contrasting color, form, and texture by the door. The utility box is surrounded by boring indian hawthorne shrubs. (I thought about not planting anything there, but the utter lack of landscaping actually attracted attention.) I hope this makes sense and helps!

I've been going up and down and up and down just taking in all your lovely flowers. The garden shots are great, since there is so much green in addition to the flower colors. Those of us in the no-rain zones are pretty tired of burned out brown. I do love all of them but I'll just mention Dancing With Sandra, Late Round, and Pinhill Claret Symphony. Hope there are still more late bloomers to come. I'll be watching. Avedon

karate Sorry. I don't know how to post pictures. Maybe soon? I have asked a young person to show me the ropes. Ha. I'm in OH. Our woods is small but it has always been a mess. And we've lived here 20 years! The job just seemed overwhelming. I've had it cleared a few times, and it reverts to junk in a years time. Poison ivy, grapevine, and lots of black cherry ... and pear. Ugh. One part of the woods is about 100' x 25' on the side yard. The first 50' overlooks the neighbors roofline. (I want to block that with hemlock and remove the blue spruce that were put in 5 years ago.) The the next 50' abutts deeper woods that is "visually" ours. Behind that first 100'? is another piece of land running another 100' x 50' sited on a slope. That also abutts woods that we "visually" own. We are starting to work on the slope now. Up on top is a big wild cherry that will stay, hickories, and a few other nice trees. The rest? are big old scotch pine and austrian pine leftover from a Xmas tree farm years ago. HUGE. And not my favorite. Now there are dozens of pine volunteers on the slope that are approaching 8'? high. I'm hesitant to clear them ... because I don't have a replacement plan, yet. For the time being, they give some structure to the slope. Otherwise, there is a noxious weed rose running all through the slope, more poison ivy, thistle.. BUT ... there's crown vetch, wild impatiens, and other weeds that I think I like, for now. Plan is to edit it day by day. I have real good yard help right now, or this project would not be on its way. What a relief. Finally. I will definitely be back here to post pics ... as soon as my young tutor gets me on track. Re forsythia? That's similar to my dilemma with the volunteer pines. I don't want them long term, but for now? They at least take the eye off the solid weed hill. Once we get a little further along on the slope by removing the wild rose bushes? I may consult a landscaper. Maybe have some BIG flat rocks layed into the slope? Hemlocks along the property line where we need some screening. Get some Maxima rhodos in? Have you considered some sweetbay magnolia? or the native rhodo "Maxima" that blooms in late June/July? The trick is doing the clearing ... and THEN getting a plan into action so that the whole area doesn't revert again. It's going to be a test, for sure. I'll try to get some pictures posted in the next couple of days. ML

Stoney...they have one of those planes at Offutt Airforce Base in Omaha... For some reason they fly it all the time. It goes over the park where my husband works to make a mock landing at the airport in Omaha . It doesn't touch the ground but almost then goes back up and on it's way. When it goes over the park, which sets on the opposite side of the Missouri river from the airport, it is very very low. It nearly parts the waters as it goes over. Quite a site to see. There is a deck out there that you can sit on and watch the planes come in. You can almost count the rivets...lol I want to try to get a picture some day. Denny explained to me why they fly that huge plane in and out all the time with no one on it...but I can't remember ....lol patti