Yes, Jeff (regarding the ternstoemia). Me, too. It's one of the plants that I would like to see another picture of. Any chance of a couple of close-ups of #18 (Japanese Cleyera), ljbrandt? Same with #1. I've wondered about that one being a Helleri. Say....does anyone think that #1 might be Abelia? All of those long little stems.... Ljbrandt, I'm going to suggest that you leave the Crape myrtle alone. It was a very bad specimen to begin with; more like a nursery cull if you ask me. It 'might' have been salvageable as a teensy weensy youngster. However, though it is almost always suggested that crossing and rubbing branches be eliminated, I would hesitate to do so on this tree. What you'd be left with would be very awkward looking, indeed. To say nothing about how stressful the removal of that much mass is to the overall health of the tree. I'd like to see the upper branches of this tree. Have the original owners topped it (whacked it down) at any time? If not, it might not be bad looking, after all! Don't go crazy with your pruners! The worst thing you can do is whack things off before understanding how, when, and why...and IF something should be pruned. For now, go ahead and remove all of the growth coming from the bottom of that Ligustrum (#5). You want to maintain a trunk just like a pretty tree. Remove any stems that have died, too. A pair of sharp hand pruners for this job. Looks like about a 5 minute project. Same goes for that ornamental whatever-it-is. The pretty pink flowered tree you mistook for a dogwood on your photo album. ALL of those long stems coming from the base of the plant need to be removed. The wrap holding the stake to the main trunk MUST be removed. Poor little thing. That long line of Euonymus needs to be sheared. I hate what gas powered or electric shears do to plants, and would get a good pair of long handled shears to keep on hand. Good job on the grass! Keep us up to date on your progress! Before and after pictures are fun.

Japanese Treelilacs bloom on old wood. The pruning suggestion (don't prune) would be my first recommendation. Is it in the lawn that you fertilize with nitrogen diligently? Do you fertilize it diligently? Another don't do, IMO. A couple fertilizings of the lawn shouldn't hurt, but no need to feed the tree. If it is still growing fast (1.5-2ft/yr), it certainly doesn't need any help growing. More fertilizer helps keep it in the vegetative mode, not the flowering mode. If you've been watering, it's way time to stop that too. A little drought now and then will help it flower too. It's too late to do anything drastic, flower buds for next year have already formed, if they were going to. Save the root pruning for spring 2009, about the time that regular lilacs finish blooming. If it works, you will get blooms in 2010.

#2 most garding book show under cut branch to avoid split branch. some time you don't want to drop brach over another branch or over shurb or plant or something else, you cut wide V shape cut under branch then cut vertical cut from both side of branch, leave narrow center of brach, you can push branch either side to avoid hit other plnts/shurb then make final cut. #3 when prune shrub , try to trim off branch slantly. cut face toward ground, if branch of tree need to trim off, cut branch face up ward. This way pruingis less ovious.

I agree with you gardengal, not to mention in my above post I errantly assume the owner will stay in the house indefinitely. I agree with the dwarf varieties. It appears to me that the yard isn't very big #1 so I doubt it is an insane amount of work. Its a huge focal point as it appears to be by the front door, about 12-14 foot long length by 8-6foot down to 0 wide, and a small grouping of lower growing Japanse Maples like a Tukeyama and Waterfall variety grouped together and trimmed once a year EVERY year would be pragmatic. My mom has a 40 year old 8 foot Tukeyama in full sun all day zone 9 FL gulf coast in an area half that size granted we have taken turns pruning it for its entire life. The Sun only reaching the front corner for one hour is a very good thing so I expect if you plant one the plants will reach up towards the sun so i would plant slightly closer to the wall than the walkway. Pad compaction could be an issue so I would be sure to amend the soil when planting. I would also be concerned about prolonged periods of drought as the bed is probably cut off from irrigation. A cheap irrigation design is to get 2 gallon food grade supermarket buckets, attach capped pvc running from the base of the base of the bucket perpendicularly, drill 1/16th in the pvc, and burry the line underneath the trees. Make sure you have a cap for mosquitoes and you can even put an ornamental pot on top or in front of to hide the bucket. Makes a great way to apply liquid fertilizer.