I don't mean to scare you. When I read your original post, it sounds like you had a vision near the bottom where you itemized 1-4. One and two sound like you had a comfortable direction. The post seemed like you worked together with the landscaper to form a "vision" and then started implementing it. It now sounds like it was much looser than that, so there is a difference and with that difference there is reason to believe that you can have better results. You asked if I am a design professional. I am a registered landscape architect. "However, you scare me a little bit, Laag....as a novice gardener I wouldn't expect that the execution would be immensely difficult. Depressing to think that a lovely plan on paper could be spoiled in the brown-thumb hands of the wrong person." Implementation of landscape plans is actually highly variable. A layout plan of plant placement may not be that way so much, but you have a lot more in the mix than plant placement. You have topographic changes which brings a third dimension that spurs off a number of other issues. Sticking to just the aesthetic parts of those issues, you have the steps, terracing, retaining walls, and how the elevations affect how the plants visually interact (which is very different than if they are in a flat plan). A very good design can be drawn that takes all of this into account. But having that good design does not get you out of the woods just yet. The execution is very dependent on the ability of the person to layout the plan. It is much more difficult to do on varying terrain. That is not really easy for people who do it all of the time and is quite difficult for someone who has never done it. That is an area where a good plan can be horribly compromised in the implementation. Let's say that both the design is good and the layout is done accurately. Now we have the sculpting of the terrain to deal with. This is not easily drawn on a small scale plan with contour lines and very difficult for inexperienced people to convert from lines on a piece of paper to the actual contour of the ground, so a lot may be left up to the person doing the work to try and make it work. Let's say that is done well. Now you have the actual construction of the steps. You may have some well drawn construction details that show you what needs to be done, but a lot of garden designer's are not experienced in drawing up construction details and the added ability, time, and liability would drive the design cost up. But let's say the designer has provided good construction details. You still need the skill set to build them. Some things are fairly simple to do such as forming and pouring concrete. But putting together a stone wall takes more than being able to read a construction detail. It takes real skill. It is true that a not all walls have to be masonry masterpieces, but there is a point where rustic crosses the line to crude. Crude will detract from the intent of the plan. Let's say that the skill set to build the walls and steps are good. Now we can move toward planting. A #5 Nikko Blue Hydrangea might be called for on the plan. If you call three nurseries and have them each ship you one, will they all be the same? I can tell you that it is unlikely that they will be based on my own experience. This means that selection of a nursery can impact the implementation. Let's say you have found a good nursery. Now, plants are living things and they are handled at nurseries. This means there are variations from one plant to another. Someone has to know which plants are the healthiest, the right shape, and otherwise the best choice for this particular job. This does not mean that any other #5 Nikko Blue is not going to work, but it does mean that it adds a quality variation in implementing the plan. Let's say that we are able to do this very well. Our land form is shaped, steps and walls are well laid out and well crafted, and our beautiful plants are on site. Now there is the digging of the holes. Some will make them bigger and some will make them smaller. Some will amend and some won't. Some will amend with xyz and some with abc. Some will bury them 2/3 and then water them in and finish burying them after the water subsides. Others won't water them in at all. So, yes, implementation of a plan can take a great plan and turn it into a lousy landscape. ... or not.

I think being frugal with earth's resources is something we try to do in many areas of our lives, not only the garden. -we compost (of course) whatever we can altho we try not to waste food -we buy many plants at yard sales and charity sales - not only are they much cheaper but they are proven in our cold zone 3 climate -DH spreads the wood ashes from our stove in the coniferous forest to reduce the acid soil so the grass will grow better -we yard sale for whatever items we can use, I love finding garden decor, but also a lot of household items which are cheaper and may be saved from a landfill -we use CFL bulbs in most fixtures - I know they are controversial because of the lead but they do take a lot less power -I know many are concerned with the depletion of the peat bogs but I have read that the peat in Canada is being replenished faster than it is removed so not sure if that is a concern -we are making fewer trips to the city since the increase in gas prices I think we need to question some of the common gardening "facts" as many of these have been devised by the companies which sell products, for instance, how often does one really need to fertilize their lawn? We try to be organic so have done so only seldom and the lawn is nice and green. I may feed it some alfalfa pellets this year but wonder if that is even necessary. We use no fertilizers other than compost, mulch, and alfalfa pellets. We use no chemical insect sprays but do feed the birds year round so have few insects. I saw a few aphids late in the year last year but ignored them and I think they went away with the first frost! :) I thnk it's important to believe that every little bit helps so whatever we all do lessens the burden on Mother Earth even tho it may seem insignificant sometimes.

Hello terrestrial_man ........... THANK YOU for your reply to my "potted moss" - as I'm looking for tight compact hardy moss and will live as overyears as I am looking for compact moss thst wont die as it was every summer. "Potted moss - I need and am looking for looking for tight compact hardy moss that wont die.......and is a Brilliant green under the winter snow. I'll seach ASk.com, google, DogPile, wikipedia on "Native Moss of Utah" as well as eBay that might have come wild colected Utah moss up for auction.... I found a thread in this forum from....."moss/some green & lots brown/alive or dead" - and the thread was originally started on July 17, 2007. The link dated July 1tthe,2005: 2007http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/crypto/msg0716235718221.html?\hey ....as they mentioned about a fungus infection caused from too much water during hot summer over 90°F dormant moss...........and the fungus will permanantly kill moss turning it brown .........the only remedy it to throw out brown moss as it will spread. ........and the main culprit of this killer??? Misting/watering the moss during it's dormany period in the hot summer heat (90 degrees F and above) ....and watering moss in 90 degree °F that is SUSEPTABLE to hot humid fungus. Now that I think of it, I don't think I've ever let my collected wild native moss go totally dry during the REALLY hot summer when moss is in its peaked dormancy...and I always felt bad during a dry heatwave here and there, and have misted/watered my potted moss. My FAVORITE type of miniature "tight-knit" compact native bonsai clump moss here in Massachusetts that is the type that grows between the cracks of rocks and stone walls..... .....and the soil that I favore that I find wild "bonsai-type brtween rocks" compact moss grows in tight clustered in between the cracks on neglected roof tops and rocks/stone walls is the dirt is 'pitch black' soil (with no mulch, no wood chips) dark rich compost like dirt that of a .....out in the summer. Maybe rock crevises keeps the

Near the end of winter, when New England gardeners are sick to death of snow and mud and dead vegetation, they despair of spring ever coming. The catalogs are worn, more plants have been ordered than the budget allows, yet the garden just sits and sulks. And so does the gardener, who can get unbearably whiny and pouty without green stuff to play with (just ask the spouse and family). Then one night comes a chorus of "peeping" from the distant woods that brings hope into the heart, and knowledge that there WILL be a spring this year, and SOON! Even New Englanders who've lived in the middle of a city for 20 years will respond joyously to the words "WE HAVE PEEPERS!" And so the word goes out each spring, and different localities of New England excitedly report the return of the peepers. And invariably a newcomer will ask "What on earth are they talking about? Is this a joke, like a snipe hunt or the search for a left-handed wrench?" Yes Virginia, there really are peepers, and they're frogs, not birds (no, this is not a joke). THE SPRING PEEPER: The critter is a tiny frog that used to be called Hyla crucifer, but has now been renamed Pseudacris crucifer. Frog taxonomists have the same mercurial habits as botanists - can't leave names alone. The peepers are still considered to be in the tree frog family; however, the herpetologists in their wisdom have decided that the peepers have more in common with the chorus frogs (Pseudacris species) than with the classic treefrogs (Hyla species), because of the size of their toe pads and the fact that they don't like to climb very high. Whatever you want to call it, the northern spring peeper is only about 1 1/4" (18 to 33 mm) long, tan or gray or brown with a dark cross on its back (whence comes the name crucifer). Like other frogs, it goes through a life cycle involving mating, laying eggs in water which hatch into tadpoles, which then metamorphose into frogs who head off onto dry land. The frogs overwinter in soil and can actually survive freezing. The peeper is found throughout the eastern U.S. and into Canada as well. THE CHORUS: Only the males sing, to attract the females. The males gather en masse, but each male stakes out his own little territory and starts calling. The individual calls have been compared to the "peeping" of a newly hatched chick, and the chorus has been compared to the jingling of distant sleigh bells. If you do a web search for "spring peeper" you'll find a number of sites which will actually allow you to hear the songs. If a female likes the song, she joins the male and they head off to the water to mate. TIMING: The breeding season is from March through May, but sometimes isolated peepers can be heard in the fall when the weather cools down. FIRST SPRING PEEPER REPORT IN NEW ENGLAND: 2006 - March 13 at the Connecticut shoreline Zone 6, reported by sooey. See the FAQ for other areas. ............................................................................................................................................................ WHY CARE? You might say, OK, there are frogs singing madly out there, but why should a gardener care? As Chelone, a Garden Web member says: "In case you don't know, "PEEPERS", are the "door bells" of spring in New England. They are the amphibian equivalent of the chorale in Beethoven's ninth symphony. To those of us who survive a New England winter (willingly or unwillingly) they are the harbingers of SPRING. ANYTHING RELATING TO "PEEPERS" POSTED IN MARCH/APRIL IS OF VITAL IMPORTANCE TO MANY OF US... Get it?!" ............................................................................................................................................................