Hey marcia, Ill be the odd man out and say that I would personally rototill the lawn. I would then take the rototilled law and shovel it into piles where I where I want my raised beds to be...thereby sinking or lowering the areas around the raised beds. This sucken area around the raised beds can then be filled with wood chips or gravel or whatever you want the paths to be...and they will still be the level of the original lawn or street. After you have piled where you want your raised beds to be...then I would lasagna on top of that with UCG, leaves, kitchen waste, etc. This way you can bring your raised beds up to 2-3 feet so there will not be too much back bending while gardening there. And yes, rototilling part of your front lawn will take an hour or two or more, but at least you can have paths that are not raised several inches above your current level. PS. I tore out my entire front lawn this way this summer. My lawn has been replaced with paths and raised beds for trees, bulbs, shrubs, etc. Who likes to water and mow a green carpet?

Great topic Lynn, First of all, this Global Warming Thing is a joke. No signs of GW in northern Ohio. In past years, several of mine were up by April 15, about 9" tall, including Manfred's Delight. Francis Williams used to up early and get burned, but so far no sign of it. About a 100 Albomarginatas have eyes about 3" tall. Liberty is the first one, starting to unfurl after I had it covered most of last week. Even comparing with others in the same region is useless, altitude makes a big difference. Here in Zone 5, Cleveland at 460 feet is a whole month ahead of areas 15 miles to the south at 1100 feet. Just hang in there. Manfred

Msgirl asked very good questions that I always learn from her. Sam, thank you for the reply. Looking at Hawaii's rose park: vivid & deep color, indicative of DEEP & fertile soil rich in volcanic ash. Plus roses in public parks are GRAFTED on Dr. Huey which can reach deep below for nutrients. Chicago Botanical Gardens' hybrid-tea roses are grafted. Even with their loamy fluffy soil: their Old Garden Roses (most are own-roots) can't go down deep ... and their blooms become 1/2 size in our record-rain this year, due to calcium & nutrients leaching. It's worse in my heavy clay, only 1 foot of top soil, below is ICKY sub-clay that no plants can grow, not even weeds. With wimpy own-roots, really tiny like alfalfa sprouts, in 1-foot-soil, and 40 inch. of rain, plus 32 inch. of snow per year ... that will leach out nutrients UNLESS solid stuff is added on top. I see own-roots like babies: if they are really tiny like Jude the Obscure, they can't handle solids, and have to be spoon-fed constantly with tiny, diluted amount of SOLUBLE fertilizer ... tiny roots can't hold much at one time, and die if too much is given. That's why slow-released organics, low NPK 2-1-2 & low-salt like alfalfa works well with own-roots. Re-mineralization on top works for own-roots, since they can't reach deep down. Even with aggressive own-roots like Romantica French roses: it's thick & woody surface roots, rather than a straight stick down like Dr. Huey. Frederic Mistral died after many years in my garden, when I dug that up, thick & woody, but within the top 6" of soil ... I put 1 bag of sand, 1 bag of organics, and 2 bags of top soil. The soil is deep & fluffy & loamy soil ... it's just the nature of the root expanding across, rather than a straight stick down like Dr. Huey. Mirandy is known to survive zone 5a for decades, when I killed it on purpose, the root was a straight-stick deep down, very much like Dr. Huey. Dr. Huey is a huge & woody straight-down stick. He doesn't need to be fed nor watered that often. Dr. Huey is so aggressive that within one month of planting, it reached deep down to the sub-clay beneath, I broke 1/4 of Dr. Huey when I dug up Pink Peace ... but the rose was perky after I re-planted. So re-mineralization is NOT needed for Dr. Huey, he can extend 4 feet across to steal water and nutrients from elsewhere. I spent 1 and 1/2 hour killing Dr.Huey rootstock. Yes, the root extended that far: 4 feet across, and at least 2 feet deep. Someone in Colorado reported killing Dr. Huey, and 5-years later, it sprouted again. My neighbor spent $$$ to have a tree chopped down, but they did not dig up all the roots. Few years later, I saw a bunch of shoots where the tree was chopped off. My zone 5a is infested with ugly, tall Dr. Huey take-overs . Homeowners don't have the time to kill Dr. Huey.

Oh drats! Choosing hostas can drive you nuts!! Right Old Dirt!! So, Miss Jo, I have narrowed it down to two "pets" - Blue Mice Ears and Mini Skirt along with Alakazaam and and possibly Little Treasure. I really like Spring Fling, but wondering where I could plant it in my limited space. We'll see. Don, question for you. Is deliverance more blue or green? The other challenge, like Old Dirt said, is finding one supplier stocking all my choices.