Hi, Thanks for your comments and great suggestions. The black dwarf mondo grass would look really nice in the blocks. The succulents in the blocks might be sedum. They look like little flowers, and the 'petals' are fat little pieces, sort of like donkey tail, but upright. They're red because they were ignored on a fence column during our summer heat waves. They may go back to green over there. The thyme may work in between the bricks. I saw elfin thyme at a nursery. It looks like a small version of wooly thyme. This is the hot side of the house in the summer, but all that stuff will grow well now and be established by summer. HD's and Lowes have lousy selections right now because of the holidays. I haven't seen the stepables there, but they should return in a different season. On the other side of the bricks, where you see the stepping stones, we'll be building a loooong shed to store all my metal and bird house crap, oops, I meant wonderful stuff, lol. That's right against a 6 food block wall. The cats have finally started walking across where the pool was, but they always do a second take before stepping off that bond beam. Thanks again. I'll post progress of the side yard soon on this same post. Linda

Yes, we all need more trees. I saw something in the news that SL County wants to see 1 million trees planted in the next 10 years. I don't know how they plan to promote that, but it's a great goal. Anyway, I think that's funny how you planted in the neighbor's yard. Reminds me of guerrilla gardening (http://www.guerrillagardening.org) where people sneak out at night and plant nice things to beautify neglected spaces. Anyway, you DEFINITELY should be gardening, Sharla! Don't be daunted just because it can be complicated. It's not always complicated, and you'll learn some things along the way as you do it. It's so rewarding to grow stuff and see your accomplishments as they make your yard a nicer place. As for the red maple, just watch it and see. It may be fine, but if the leaves get pale or yellow, it is getting iron chlorosis from our alkaline soil. It's not that we don't have enough iron, but it can't be used very well by some plants when they're in alkaline soils. These are usually trees or shrubs that came from back East or some other climate that has rich, acid, forest soils. Anyway, if that happens, post back here, and we can help you deal with the sick tree.

Thanks for your appreciation for my approach, s8us89ds, and I like the the points you have made about opportunities to create habitat and ecosystems. (Disclosure: I am a restoration ecologist, by profession, and this is what I do, even at home: create habitat.) I've observed that birds, in particular, find my yard more a more useful and better place to hang out than elsewhere in the neighborhood, which is a 1970s tract development with lots generally in the 1/5- to 1/3- acre range. This is a big plus, aesthetically, for me, along with the visual pleasure of the tapestry of chaparral plants. The other great advantage to taking this approach, as you point out, is that it is inexpensive and can pretty much be done by anyone who can dig a minimal planting hole in unimproved soil (what you want when planting natives) while standing on a steep slope. Blanchette, a bit of advice, with reference to "craning in" large oaks or olives. Planting a relatively modest-sized tree and letting it establish from a younger age invariably works out better, in my experience, than the instant (but generally short-lived) gratification of installing a large tree. Beyond the eye-popping expense of buying and installing mega-trees, there are often major, years-long problems with establishment that need to be skillfully managed when using such trees. Fine if you are up to doing that, but often a disappointment. Case in point: about 10 years ago, a neighbor a few houses up my street had a very large olive tree (was at least the 300-gallon size) installed (using a crane, etc.) in his front yard about the same time I planted a gallon-sized olive in my back yard. His tree has developed significant root problems and it has lost two-thirds of its canopy; the tree is, at best, barely surviving and unhealthy -- not to mention disfigured because of major branches having to be amputated. The olive tree I planted is now larger than his (in fact, is currently about the same size he started with) and quite healthy. I personally won't plant anything larger than a gallon-sized plant and consider 5-gallon the upper limit.

I have not used charcoal grey or brown stains. Blues and greens do not hold up outside. Have used black and red and it was on concrete that had been surface ground with a carborundum stone grinder. The black was dark and harsh like a fresh hair dye job at first, but then faded over a year's time to a nice taupe grey, and I like it just fine. (I applied it twice and let it set overnight the 2nd time.) The red was orange rust colored and I did not care for it at all. The stains, being watery, spatter easily and stain any masonry object nearby if any gets on it. I don't know how it would stain other materials. I applied it with a broom and got fine splatter mist on nearby masonry. (It does not look horrible but I would have preferred it not happen. Slightly worse, I had areas that ran, bled and pooled into seams between pavers ... and those look like crying after an already bad mascara job.) Something that would mop it on with would probably be better. Mask off anything nearby on which you don't want stain.