Granny, Your garden is stunning! What weeds? I love all the colorful flowers and colorful shrubs too. I too have tried to grow Joe Pye weed with no success. My property is just too dry I suppose. I am "pink" with envy. Such a beautiful clump. I hope your health improves soon. It is hard to enjoy anything when you hurt that much. Lucky you to have a DH who helps you though, even if it may not be quite how you like it or would do it. :) It sounds just terrible. I don't have RA, so cannot know how bad that might be, but I do have Osteo arthritis, plus bad circulation and Fibromyalgia. I have been having terrible pain this past week or two for no apparent reason that I can determine. Maybe it is the rainy weather. The Fibromyalgia comes and goes with no apparent rhyme or reason, moving from one part of my body to another. Haven't been able to do any garden work other than drag the hose to water and that was all I could do, especially when having to creep along with a cane. Isn't it frustrating to want to do things and not be able to? How in the world do you take care of that slope? Man! I couldn't. I would end up falling down, a-- over teacups and rolling down the hill! You are a trooper!!! Very beautiful photos of beautiful flowers and home. Gentle ((hugs)) and best wishes for a speedy remission. ~Annie

Okay, let's see if I can catch up on all of your helpful posts! I met with a landscaper and we were pretty much on the same page but there were a few things that I didn�t agree with. Maybe I just have no clue what I'm doing and maybe his recommendations are truly better than the picture I have in my head! I'll be meeting with another designer on Monday to get his take on it. The first guy was free and we just talked about what the plan would be. The second guy charges $50, but will draw up a whole design. They also do driveways, which the first company does not do. The one thing that I really didn't like about the first guy was that I felt like I had seen all of his ideas in my neighborhood already. I don't want something crazy that doesn't fit the house or neighborhood, but I also don't want the same thing everyone else has. How do you get your house to stand out from the others but still "fit"? Just because everyone else has "x" number of garden beds and "x" amount of front yard grass doesn't mean I have to, right? I did read over our HOA docs and they simply state that no more than 20% of the yard can be raised garden beds or container gardens. I would really like to make maintaining the lawn easier and to shade the front a little more. He wasn't on board with that. As I said before our yard is quite short, only 25 ft deep from the sidewalk to the front brick. So that will definitely play a big part in the design. The front tree is a cherry tree (with fruit) and I have been told that it will grow large enough to provide cover for the front window, not too sure about the door. Every arborist and landscaper that I have talked to seem happy with that tree and tell me not to touch it. The shutters have actually done quite well with all of the sun and heat that they get exposed too. No warping or anything. Considering the roof color is a good point. I think the wrought iron color would look great. I still don�t know what I want to do with the door. I have been playing with pictures of the house for days now. I've cut and pasted so many different designs I'm stuck. I think that there are some styles and looks that definitely work, some that definitely don't work, and then there are the in-between ones. I don't mind having my house look a little different then the neighborhood. I have two tri-levels on each side of me and three true 2 story colonials across the street from me. From my mock-ups I think can get away with some different looks that neither of the other two styles could pull off. And that is why I'm stuck. Too many ideas. I think a designers eye is what I need. The other challenge I am having right now is prioritizing what to do with the house first. The inside still needs to be painted. I could use some new furniture too. If I did do painting I would want to update the lighting while the ceilings are getting a fresh coat. As far as the outside goes, we obviously need landscaping. But we could also use new gutters and soffits, possibly a new door, and new hardscaping. My husband would also like to close in the carport. There is just so much to do and I don't know where to start. The changes we have already made to the inside were easy because they were done out of necessity. Really none of these other things have to be done. I think that I would like to focus on the outside simply because I have a 4yr old and 1yr old that make it a little harder to maintain the inside versus the outside. And I can handle the inside myself. I obviously need professional help with the exterior. So, any ideas on how to prioritize my projects?

I'm brand new on the Home forum, just wandered in from the Garden, so hope you won't mind me adding my two cents' worth. According to the Feng Shui book I have, the best colors for a south-facing door are bright green, dark green, blue, purple or black ... so your forest green sounds like a good choice from that perspective (so was the eggplant suggestion). One word of caution, though: Check the warranty on the door carefully. When I wanted to stain our new front door (also south-facing) a deep brown our contractor pointed out that a dark finish, whether painted or stained, would void the warranty on this solid wood door, as it absorbs so much heat. After several years of a plain white door (not bad on a house with dark brown natural cedar shakes, but it just didn't feel "right") I painted it a soft sage green and added a brass kickplate and love it. The sage blends with the entry foyer, living room and dining room and is a perfect backdrop for the various wreaths throughout the seasons; a brass kickplate really does dress it up unbelievably. Your house is classic, adorable and so well-kept; it's going to look charming when you get your plantings finished, but don't rush it ... are houses and gardens ever really "done"? Ours are still evolving after 29 years. I'd agree that softening the foundation and adding window boxes, hanging planters, and cottage-style gardens would be lovely, as long as they are in keeping with your preferences and lifestyle. Enjoy the process! Looking forward to seeing your "after" photos next spring. Diane

Although HMF notes GT as very disease resistant, a grafted potted GT planted here in central Virginia suffered repeated bouts of blackspot in this no spray garden & died off after several years. Perhaps I just got a bum specimen, but I've not been tempted to replace it after that experience, having read some reports on the Roses Forums that it blackspots in some gardens despite spraying. You may want to ask specifically about other gardeners' results with GT in hot & humid conditions. Golden Celebration, another golden yellow Austin, has grown happily here for 8 years. Also bought grafted & potted, it didn't begin to throw climbing canes till its second year. It blooms profusely & nearly continuously (new buds swelling as others are blooming) in large sprays off many laterals, offers solid perfume, and sets hips if not deadheaded in the Fall. This one's held upright within an obelisk & arches through the crossbars, but believe it could easily be trained along a fence. Without pruning, its canes are now 8'+ in arching length & would be longer trained horizontally. Very little & ocassional blackspot problems, confined to lower leaves that I just strip off when it occurs & it quickly replaces them with clean fresh ones. Mine is planted where it gets good air circulation, the branches don't much intermingle with other roses & the support is metal. Interlaced along a wooden fence for dense coverage, it might be more apt to spot, or not. Ask for others' reports if you're drawn to this one. You might consider Kordes' Golden Gate (KORgolgat) for your fence. At a distance, very similar effect as Graham Thomas. On my radar for several years, found two grafted 3-gallons last Spring & brought them home for tryout. Intended for either side of an existing arch in a long hedge, needed to shift the plants next to the arch prior to planting, so repotted them into 15-gallons & kept them where I could observe them closely in the meantime. (Hot Summer. Still in pots. First on my to-do list when we get a mild spell that's not wet. Likely better for the hedge plants & roses to accomplish when both are dormant, and certainly easier on me.) Golden Gate arrived in bud & bloom at 5', put on another 3' before cold set in & still holds a good amount of green leaves at the beginning of February. It bloomed in rapid repeat with snap-deadheading deep into Autumn, each round of blooms fuller & more numerous as it grew, increasing also in the perfume punch that won the Prix de Parfum Paris in '08. No disease at all, reflecting the ADR awarded in '06. Blooms held fresh a good while before dropping their petals cleanly (except in heavy rain when wet petals didn't shed till they dried again), flowers were unmarred by rain, didn't ball in the wet and were produced in both heat & cool. Given no support, the canes arched as they gained height & laterals sprouted & bloomed. Only a preliminary report after 9 months not yet in the ground, but Golden Gate certainly looks promising. Searching its registration name of KORgolgat turns up reports from Europe where it's been available longer than the US. I'm betting it will reach 10-12' or higher, and trusting the 3-4' width grown upright against a support. Some sources include it for fences, as well as arbors, trellises & pergolas. In the link below, the height/width is backwards. Included because it links to Palantine & Newflora, give the Newflora site a minute to cycle through the three photos, or click the dots under the main photo to see each one. Here is a link that might be useful: Golden Gate