Yes, I've read the bermuda bible multiple times. right now, i have rye in the back where the dogs are. no, i'm not planning on putting down seed right now. i'm definitely going to wait until early summer. i'm just doing a little preemptive research. right now, i'm just curious if anyone has had any experience with the gold glove strain, in particular. i've never heard of it until this year and was just curious. i live just south of dallas/fort worth....75054, in a newer residential development. it was sodded with bermuda. i assume it was tif 419 b/c it is so popular, but i'm not positive. i probably should have been more clear. i'm not looking to overseed the tif 419. i'm looking to repair bare spots that develop during the seasonal transitions of the grasses. when the rye starts to die off and the bermuda comes in, there are inevitably, bare spots where my dogs spend most of their time. over the past several years, i've found that i'm best suited to section those areas off from the dogs, till, compost, and seed. i tried just aerating and breaking up the top layer a little, and keeping the dogs off, but the bermuda simply doesn't come back in those spots. i don't know if they kill it with compaction or what. it would spread back into and through those spots throughout the summer (fill in), but doesn't work as quickly as the till, compost, seed combo, with a few weeks of keeping the dogs off. the roots are still there i would assume, it just doesn't come back doing it one way vs doing it the other. or hasn't for me at least, but i'm no turf pro. i try to core aerate and compost about twice a year, just to keep up with the compaction from the dogs. i'll also admit that my yard doesn't have great drainage and that just exacerbates the compaction. i need to install a french drain, i just haven't had the money lately to do it. if you have some other suggestions, i'm all ears.

I designed, planned & planted my shade bed knowing Dicentra s. 'Alba' wouldn't put on a season-long show. By the time it finishes blooming and the foliage begins to deteriorate, other shade lovers planted nearby block the dying foliage from my view. While it's blooming, however, IMO it holds its own in the perennial shade garden long enough to justify its presence. To each his/her own preference of course. It will have its place in my garden so long as it comes up every year, which (in my experience thus far) has been reliably, for more than a decade. What more can anyone ask?

I have noticed the differences between East and West. Not sure how the mid-west fits in, but probably more Eastern? Our country was mainly settled in the East, and then people migrated West. There are many more historical minded people in the East. California has a lot of Spanish influence, and many of those homes have a lot of color in various rooms. One such home had a roof fire a while back, and driving by, I was amazed at the various colors inside that house! Pink, mint, aqua, orange, lavender....wow! There are many new developments here, and for many years those homes come in one color on all walls. Maybe people think "new" should be neutral, so they continue with the trend. If they buy "old," they tend to paint all the walls a neutral color to update it. Our entire home is painted a soft neutral beige with white wood accents except for one room. The ceiling is painted dark navy blue and the walls a deep brown. That room is where we go to watch TV and gather with friends. We call it our "Pub." There are differences between Northern and Southern California too. San Francisco has a lot of color. Maybe because of the fog? Whoever said weather has an influence is probably right.

Marquest...thanks for sharing pics of your cypress. Yes...they can indeed "throw out some arms"...I've seen some that are downright monstrous in size where the "arms" are of huge octopus proportions. As I said early on, one of mine is right next to a walkway. So in homage to those who replied suggesting that I probably did not choose the right spot for the right plant, I guess that's true in sense, and yet, by keeping it at bay, I've gotten to enjoy the cypress where it is for probably the last 15 years or more. Eventually it'll have to go since you can only cut so far without it starting to look really stubby, but without the annual sacrilegious axing or slashing or whatever actually defines what I do (I guess the sacrilege part is relative to using the electric hedge trimmer!), it would probably already no longer be here. Thanks for all who responded...I think I'm done with this thread now, although I'm still undecided as to still doing some cutting, which was the purpose of the initial inquiry. With the extraordinarily strong El Nino we've got going on right now, I still have chrysanthemums and Russian sage growing out there...quite a contrast with getting ready to put out Christmas lights. Somehow, with this springtime in November scenario we've got going (my neighbor was actually out mowing his lawn yesterday...something I still have to do also), it still feels like it's not too late to get out the trimmer. And if I do so, I'll try to exercise restraint and cut in a conservative manner consistent with the implications of the lowercase 'c'.... :)