It seems like you both have lots to think about, just keep your lists and portfolios going, and check in with him again when he is up to it. Just keep thinking while you get started in the spring, working on getting rid of the ivy, and doing the general cleanup. Wear gloves if you are allergic to it. (I didn't know I was until I tried to plant it one year. I'm not allergic to poison ivy; they say if you are allergic to poison ivy you can handle the English ivy just fine, but I'd not push it in either case.) Your screen idea is good, is the frat house the older one on the left side as you face the house? Do look into the rules on fences in sideyards at the local level. A fence is the only thing that will keep trash, and people out of your yard. Will it stay a rental/frat house? If there is any chance that it can be sold at one point, then if you do ever have some nice neighbors then having a 'shared' green wall of a mix of plants would be nice for both of you. (A chain link fence is still a good idea). It sounds like you need to be a 'guerilla gardener', and not make any enemies that will hound you for years to come. The evergreens are good, but also think about mixing in some decideous shrub-trees (amelanchier is one, it comes as a very large tree, down to a nice shrub size). Think spring flowers, fall color, and the smaller evergreens like azaleas, there might be a tree-like holly (you can't grow yaupon but there must be others). In the best of worlds, letting your neighbors have some sunlight in those windows-but filtering the view with more open shrub-trees will look like it was meant to be, and will give your husband his 'forest' look he is after, and if there are flowers then all the better to make it fit the neighborhood, and be more welcoming. I just looked at your survey, you really have a narrow lot, so you will have to think about vines, and trellis along property lines. They are a great way to fill in the spaces between the shrubs and trees that you do finally chose to go along that north property line. There is a very funny book of this concept of stealth gardening. I've only read the one, but she wrote two. The other one is 'Mrs. Greenthumbs Plows Ahead'. As for your backyard, you said there was even more ivy; I'd start removing that too, and check the health of your trees if there are any that are surrounded by the ivy. My parents had a backyard of ivy with a 'forest' of trees coming up through it. Everything was fine for YEARS, until this past year, and 4-5 trees toppled over. Trees broke off at the ground level even though my mom had been diligently removing any runners off of their trunks, it seems the ivy was keeping the ground and bark moist and finally rot took hold and down they came. If you have any maple trees in any yards nearby, be on the watch for their seedlings, and if you have 'baby' maple trees-get rid of those too!!! Japanese maples are lovely, and there are other nice trees to treasure in a small space. (Before you plant any crabapple trees, check their sizes, and if any of you are allergic to them.) The snow melt, and water table are very high in the spring, it's called 'surface ponding', and is usually not too bad, you just want to make sure you add those dried pucks of bacteria to help keep the mosquitoes and gnats at bay in the springtime. You said there was a pond there as well. Do you think 'Bob' decided to go with a pond to collect any spring runoff, as a way to deal with the drainage that way? Are you the lowest house in the area and it just collects in that area anyway? I know there are codes that say you need to keep any runoff on your own property-we had large 2x2 grates that led out to the street and then into storm drains at the end of the street and all that snow melt was held in large basins. We planted things that could take seasonal flooding, and made some planting beds that were more like berms to grow plants that needed more drainage. Maybe your pond is still a good idea if you use the type of plants that you both would like, it seems that 'Bob' was a minimalist and if you make it a 'real' pond with a more natural looking scene around it, it might be what your back yard needs. Another book, there are lots of good books, is 'Lessons from Linden Hill' Nancy Ondra is one of the writers, she has a great webpage, and quite a few books-get to know your library to check these and many others out, and use the interlibrary loan system if they don't have it in their system. You guys can do this, and there is so much to learn in the process!

Scientific name: Cytisus scoparius. Common names: Scotch broom, broomtops, common broom, European broom, Irish broom, English. Native Origin: British Isles, central and southern Europe Ecological Impacts: This aggressive, rapid spreading plant can grow 3 feet in the first year. It can form dense impenetrable stands that degrade rangeland, prevent forest regeneration, and create fire hazards. It invades rapidly following logging, land clearing, and burning. It can form pure dense stands for miles along highway and country roads to crowd out native species and destroy wildlife habitat. Toxicity: Mild poisoning can occur from this shrub. Large amounts are required to cause symptoms in animals such as horses. Alkaloids have been identified as being the toxic principle. Cytisin, sparteine and isosparteine are found in the twigs, leaves and seeds in small amounts. The seeds of the plant can stay dormate for 160 years.

I don't have problems with most of what has been mentioned, primarily because I haven't planted any of them besides ajuga. The ajuga patch I have is in the parkway in front of my house, it is an area about 3 x 4 between my driveway and my neighbors and there is a street light and a verizon box, and there used to be a weedy patch of grass. I love how the ajuga has taken over there and I no longer have to weed or mow. However, the WORST (and I can't believe no one has mentioned it) is SPIDERWORT! OMG it is insidious! I mistakenly planted a coupe of clumps of different colors about 10 years ago and it is everywhere! It is growing in cracks in my driveway, between the bricks in my walkways, popping out of the front of my EP Henry retaining wall, in the lawn, in every bed, in my neighbors yards, EVERYWHERE. It laughs at Roundup and pulling it seems to do nothing. It has to be dug to get every shred and it still seems to come back. It is the cockroach of the plant world..... Alexa

Hard to tell, but could it be Horsetail, aka, Scouring Rush? Does it grow like a forest of small evergreens? Segmented stem?