The steps, retaining walls, and bed edging are Rosetta cultured stone. I don't remember if the flooring is traditional flagstone or cultured stone. I was starting over from scratch, so I had a choice of pretty much any style stone/brick/paver I wanted as long as it was appropriate for use as a retaining wall (some stuff isn't...who knew). I wanted a natural feel to the area, brick/paver stones seemed too formal, plus that's done to death around here - blah - but other stones (boulders) seemed too informal for my house. The Rosetta was actually was the landscaper's suggestion along with some sort of ledgerock (I don't remember exactly what it was), when I went to the supply places this was the winner. I chose the flagstone because, again, I didn't want a formal feel, it seemed a perfect choice, especially after I saw it in the display areas of the stone place with the Rosetta stone. This post was edited by mxk3 on Sun, Jun 29, 14 at 13:06

Thank you Kathy! That spirea is planted so close to the house it really has to arch out, I'm sure it would easily be 5' across if it really had the room to grow. but it seems happy there and I love the back drop it provides in that corners so I don't think I'll move it. and with the 5 maple trees on the property I definitely don't ahve a shortage of leaves! :) Thank you Kathi! Unfortunately I don't know the hardiness of the spirea, all I know is just about eveyone in my area has it. Good luck finding out! Thank you Prairie Girl! Yup that's blue ice amsonia - I love it!! I got that from a co-worker. I'm glad your iris finally bloomed!! I don't know if I could've waited for 10 years, lol! Hi Rick, thanks for the suggestion! I have some plumbago out front that I have to move because for so reason I thought it was good for dense shade but it's not doing anything for me at all. I think moving it under that tree is a great idea, thanks! Thank you Judy! I agree, it helps me so much to see the "big picture" and how the plants co-habitate more then a close up of 2 or 3 companion plants. You all have been so helpful and nice, I'm so happy to be here, thank you so much! I'm off to rescue some more plants from my co-worker. It'll certainly save me another trip to the nursery :)

AJ, is that Honeysuckle? How pretty! Our's is blooming now, it's white, but the blooms don't last long then it looks like weeds. I grow Petunias but they don't do well. Everything I grow is super easy. Everything I plant blooms profusely all summer. If not, I won't plant it. lol Knock Out Roses- Floribunda Roses (my first year) Cosmos (first year and they've tripled in size already) Carpet Roses- Zinnias Coneflowers Tickseed or coreopsis Hydrangea, the easy one, forget it's name. Dianthus, the real colorful mounds you see Impatiens for shady areas Caladium, which I'll be planting more of. They thrive in front of the porch with morning sun. I still have other plants to buy! My dh planted a large plot of wildflowers so I can't wait to see them. They're on the other side of the garage which you can't see in the picture.

Melsouth, the floor wasn't difficult, it was just tedious, and the smell was pretty bad. If you notice in the pic, DH had a fan ventilating to the outside. It took a few days to cure. It chipped in a few spots when heavy objects were dropped, but DH says he can patch it up easily. We opted not to tile or put any sort of flooring down for two reasons. One was to save money as we have several other huge projects (new main bath) we would rather spend money on. Second is we live in a flood prone town. We have been here 7 years and did not flood with storms Irene or Sandy, however we didn't want to take a chance. Once our drain the the sewer backed up and we were able to easily clean up. The floor is pitched towards the furnace area where are sump pump is. We opted for a black ceiling after I started taking note of how many people simply paint their ceilings black. DH found the black ceiling tiles at HD and thought that would be easier. Since he was installing it, I wanted to do what was easiest for him. I'm very pleased with how it turned out. He also put a full bath in down there. Our main 2nd floor bathroom had a major leak and needs to be completely redone. Since we are mostly DIYers, it will likely take time and now we have a 2nd full bath in the house. It's not quite complete yet.