one minute after you put down the fabric.. weed seeds blew one top of it... save your money next time for more mulch ... mulch in bulk is a lot cheaper than by the bag .... have them dump a few yards on the driveway.. if you have a cart for the riding lawnmower ... its very easy IF IT STAYS DRY .... saplings.. get a good tree saw.. and just cut them flush with the ground ... by the time you get to filling the area in a year or two... the roots will be well rotted and you might pull them out easily.. you dont need to go digging them all out .. as a stay at home dad.. trust me.. one tree every third day .... and by September.. you will have a bunch out.. get that old weekend warrior.. i have to have the project done tomorrow attitude gone ... just keep plugging away.. when you get a few hours.. and you can accomplish a lot over a season ... even better if you can get hubby a chainsaw.. and have him knock down 25 of them this weekend... great fathers day gift.. lol... then take the rest of the summer dragging them out and having little campfires and smores ... keep us posted .. if you need any other bright ideas.. lol ...

Gads Digit, you just resurrected a thread I was active on 3 years ago. Told you guys I was hanging around here without saying too much. What I wrote on the thread is more of a repeat of my little paragraph above and some things forgotten. One of the points I do remember in the Garden class was for every 1,000 feet above Denver, seeds/plants are put in the ground a week later. Mother's Day being the magic date, this meant June 1 for Woodland Park. I found the temps to hover reliably 10 degrees less than COS. Your weather info though is another bit of brain fodder for me to spend educational hours on. There is more to this and something I have wondered about beyond what may be important. But, reality is that a couple of blocks in my area can make a significant difference in growth, bloom, etc. An example is the Cherry trees which were blooming at my house, but 4 block away they bloomed 2 weeks later. Think blocks lined with cherry trees, not just one or two. With Woodland Park (even though it is called the City Above the Clouds) sun exposure is not as long as it's surrounding areas. Forget the temps, the town sits in a bowl (unless you are up on the highest rim) and both sunrise and sunset are later. No, you can't use the sun rise/set times, they have nothing to do with the "bowl" situation. This not only changes the length of sun time, but also lengthens the amount of time lower temps hang around. Plus, drive 2 miles out from the middle of town and you are either in deep forest or wind swept prairies/high desert, but still in WP. So, how important is learning about weather or how close can one get to understanding the environmental changes which affect our gardens? So close, yet so far away, when it comes to growth/bloom periods. And yes, snow, sleet, wind, hail too. My question probably needs a separate thread. Invaded your's Mt.Hawk.

One thing I know I would try would be Hart's Tongue fern but it looks like you are looking for understory (shrub/tree). Maple leaf and black haw viburnum are pretty adaptable. There is one anthracnose resistant Cornus florida, it is Apalachian Spring but I thought Dogwoods liked neutral to acidic? For herbaceous layer try columbine, ebony spleenwort, cliff brake, bulblet fern, walking fern (if you have any moist spots). Best to figure out what plant community type or ecosytem is supposed to be on a calcareous ridge in the piedmont(?) of New Jersey and start getting some ideas from there. Even if you aren't going native it will give you ideas. Eastern red cedars are pretty tough to grow anything beneath. Because they are evergreen (shading anything herbaceous) and also due to their efficient and opportunistic use of moisture they effect the soil and any groundcover beneath their canopy. They can actually further raise the soil surface ph of your limestone ridge and substantially decrease moisture. I think they have some kind of toxicity that impedes germination of some species too. Combine that with the known toxicity of black walnut on many plants and you've got a tough nut to crack (no pun intended). Black Walnut Toxicity Good luck.

I don't quite understand why a trip to the store has to be a family outing. Father AND mother have to go and bring the kids, so they can put the kids in separate carts, leave the carts in the center of the aisles and then stand one on each side to block it off for everyone else? To say nothing of the screaming, the arguing (no, we have candy at home... you don't want that do you? Do you need a time out? bla, bla, bla) Why not one of them stay home, or in the car with the kids while the other one goes in, gets what they need more efficiently and get out? We've had those signs around here and I just shake my head. More people looking for special treatment. If they don't get a special discount, they want special parking, or a special loan or whatever. Gimme, gimme, gimme. The only thing more laughable is handicapped parking at a home improvement store. JUST ONCE, let me see someone in a wheelchair come out of there toting a 12' sheet of drywall! And I have far more physical limitations than most of the people that I see parked in these "handicapped" spots and no, I don't have a cripple card or plate. (I imagine someone would be totally offended if I called it what it's known as around here.) And around here you can call the police and they'll issue a $200 ticket to someone parked without the handicapped plate or card. The plates aren't given out as freely anymore, which is good. They were so misused. At least the cards technically expire, though seldom is it enforced. Also, technically, around here someone parked in a courtesy spot could be towed. Since it's private property, the property owner can have "unauthorized" vehicles towed off their property. Doubtful that they'd ever do that, but if someone got ornery enough, they could. I give credit to some good friends of mine. He's in his 80s and is in a wheelchair and she's in her 50s. They don't often use handicapped spots. Like they said, he's riding anyway and enjoys the fresh air. More people could learn a lesson there. Naturally in inclement weather they will use the handicapped spots, but also very often he will stay in the vehicle. He doesn't have to go in.