Ah, gotcha. I have a lot to learn. :) I know its all up to each person's taste to a certain extent, but if they will grow together eventually, wouldn't I be pushing it to plant 3 side by side? I'm trying to figure out what to do with those other two Azaleas now. I guess it's not a big deal and dont want to plant them just to plant them. I may be able to find a home for them if no suitable place is on my lot. I'm not too concerned about the side of the house. The previous owners just had shrubs all the way from sidewalk and around the side to the privacy fence. I'm not a plain jane shrub sort of person, but thats the only thing they had planted. They did plant a Crape Myrtle out front on the corner, but thats about all the color the landscape had (red).

Gardencrazy last year I extended the edges of a garden bed by flipping the sod w/ pitch fork and tucking in all grass. It was hard work I had intended to do more & will go it again this spring. I created a holding raised bed the same way but had compost,cg and dirt fro back that I wheel barreled down. I planted in that a few weeks latter. It worked great. I tried to expand another bed via the lasagna method-last fall. I peeked at it last week before more snow came. I still have cardboard on bottom. did not look in center thou hopefully it is broken down there. Think I did not layer properly??/ cAROL I put paths in "my garden" last year making 4 separate areas. Looks awesome gives it a finished look and is inviting. GD loves to run up paths and stays off flowers now. I used rocks collected around boundary of property-old stone walls. The rocks are about the size of a big fist. Then filled w/ wood chips from town barn. The paths are about 1&1/2' wide. I can get my wheel barrel up them. I used pine needles to mulch the beds. It was one of my best ideas lol really looks great. Annette

Hi d_giffin, thank you so much! I like the white peonies very much now. Yes, sometimes mistakes can make it better! :-) George, I want to first of all tell you how much I really appreciate you giving me all the advice! Thank you! You know, I actually realized that I might be overcrowding these paniculatas. However, I did it anyway, thinking that I might be able to severely prune these lovelies every year to keep their size down, and more importantly, I did it for a selfish reason - I know that this is not my forever house, and I probably will only be here for a few more years. I wanted to enjoy these paniculatas and so I just planted them there, realizing that they may not be fully grown before I leave... ouch! I hope that is not too selfish. You know what? The worst thing is that someone or myself will need to chop down the shrub(s). The physocarpus is Summer Wine, which is actually supposed to be only half the size of Diablo and Coppertina. So it is much more compact. The crabapple is supposed to be about 12' tall when fully grown. Yes, it may create some shade, but with crabapple, the foliage is not that dense so it should not be too much of a problem. The neighbors' shrub was always a mystery to me, until recently! They did not even know what it was - they just planted it there several years ago!!! Anyway, it's a lilac... yikes! It might get big. The thing that gets me is that the buds get eaten by the deer every year before they bloom! Sigh... I am going to advice my neighbors to prune it hard every year! LOL Anyway, if I do want to move the Limelight, since it was in a 5 gallon pot before and this is its 3rd season now, how deep and widespread should I expect the roots to be? I want to make sure that I will dig carefully just so that I won't damage the sprinkler system. The trouble is, if I did move it, I am not sure where to put it then... Hey, George, if you remember, I already removed the Pink Diamond from this bed to another corner after your advice last fall!!! :-) Thanks again!

Hi George and yellowgirl! I also agree that I need something between my property and my neighbors'. What my photo did not show you though, was how this area in question looked from the driveway. It's actually directly looking at the end of bed on the left. In fact, it is not such a wide area. This area needs something pretty and not so big. A conifer like Picea orientalis will be too tall for this area as it is too close to the house, and the base of the mature tree will be even wider than the width of the entire bed. That's why it will not work. I am choosing something like the Sugar Tyme Crabapple because it has a good size and upright habit for this area, and it's so gorgeous in spring! It is actually going to look spectacular from the driveway. Also, the persistent and very bright red fruit during winter will look absolutely stunning with the snow during winter. Another thing is, since there is no other evergreen tree in this woodland setting in my backyard, would it not look odd to have one single evergreen there in this island? In any case, you have given me a lot more to think about, which is great! Thank you. I will certainly take a look at some evergreens at the nursery this weekend before I decide on the crabapple or something else. BTW, I have a Prairifire Crabapple in my front yard, so having this white flower crabapple in this backyard area visible from the front is going to look very nice.