It's a vast improvement over the shrub-engulfed house we first saw, merely by being cleaned up. One thing that jumps out to me as not enough, is the groundcover, which are few and far apart. The goal is usually to get groundcover to grow into a solid mass for the best look and so as not to need top dressing with mulch anymore and still have weed suppression. But I imagine you'll be doing some tweaking over the next year. As far as watering, it's hard for someone, by remote, to tell you if you've watered long enough. There are a lot of variables in how you might be doing it and with what equipment. If in doubt, dig down and see. It won't take you long to discover the right timing formula.

The reason we had the arbour made was because all the ready-made ones we could find we too flimsy. This one weighs several hundred pounds I'm sure - it took two burly ironworkers to 'walk' it into place and it's set in concrete because if it ever fell over on someone they likely wouldn't survive the experience! The pruning of the viburnum was dictated by my general pruning rule - i.e. if it's in my way when I pass by, whack off the offending bits! Since it's at the driveway end of the grass path past the garage, it would be in the way a lot if it wasn't kept limbed-up :-) The top of it also gets pruned to keep it below the roof of the garage usually, and it recently got an extra pruning on the top because the eavestroughs are due to be replaced soon so it needed some pruning for access. It's pretty when it blooms in early June. Fall color can be good sometimes but often is just so-so. But the flowers and the fruit make it a worthwhile garden addition. Here it is in June: I'm not sure which veronicastrum picture you were thinking of.... My favorite combination with it is with the big 'White Moth' hydrangea and in this view which includes veronicastrum, the viburnum fruit and some 'Lord Baltimore' hardy hibiscus. This scene won't be repeated this year as DH accidentally cut back a lot of the 'Lord Baltimore' when he was supposed to be cutting down daisies! Oops....! :-) That pepper experiment is one we did here too.... They definitely prefer the ground! Tomatoes too in our experience. Peas, beans, leeks, lettuce, and baby carrots on the other hand, do just fine in big pots.

Marie & c2g - Thanks for the advice. I will look up that book. I feel like I should clear up the fact that my land is not a wasteland with no good trees! LOL! We have maples in the front and back yard and scattered around our property. We have a beautiful hickory in the old pasture. On our property we also have lots of other hickories, maples, wild cherries (one that is at least 100 years old - not my estimate but someone more knowledgeable), oaks, aspen, black walnut and many, many more. About 1/3 of our 20 acres is wooded. The trees I got on clearance are ones I am willing to take the risk on. It may look like a bad risk to most of you but I am risking it with my eyes wide open and realistic expectations. If they don't work out I barely lose anything but time and I have that to spare. My lawn will still be beautiful without them and if they do survive - even if only a couple survive - it is worth my time. This is what I ended up buying: 2 Harvest Gold crabapples 1 Yoshino cherry 1 Kanzan cherry 1 Fairview Flame maple Total cost was a bit less then $60. I hope you will wish me good luck with them but I understand everyone who thinks I'm being foolhardy. Thanks again so much for all the useful advice. Karen

Hi there, I dont have Âmaureen but do have taxus media ÂhicksiiÂ. North side of the house, no winter sun, but heavily wrapped for winter. ItÂs done quite well. But, seeing that itÂs zone 3 and this is a zone 4 plant, I find that sometimes even using regular burlap isnÂt enough. Sometimes the pointy Âneedles stick through the burlap and winter burn. For this reason I have used a thick wool blanket. This year I got a huge box and am trying that method. I didnÂt winter mulch, but I do ensure lots of snow is piled around the plant. But thatÂs here zone 2b/3 and I know I will always have to wrap it. My chamaecyparis pisifera filifera 'Sungold' survived last winter fine. ItÂs short and was buried in snow, however. I love my thuja occidentalis Âyellow ribbon but here too I wrap every winter as the golden foliage ones are more subject to winter burn. Oddly, however, there is a hedge of some variety of golden thuja a few blocks over, and they donÂt cover in winter at all. I am just wondering what variety that one is. I donÂt recall seeing them in spring (and seeing how much they winter burn) but I will have to keep my eye on those ones. Has anyone tried Euonymus fortunei 'Emerald Gaiety'? I planted one this past summer. Actually, if it winterkills to the ground that would be fine with me as I prefer it remain a smaller size. Anyone tried Boxwood? I got buxus Âgreen mountain on sale in summer 2004. It survived one winter, though under very good snowcover (itÂs beside the deck, so gets buried in snow very early on in winter). If anything I thought the location might do it in, since it was fairly wet, but so far so good. Does anyone know how diablo ninebark does in clay soil? My purple leaf sandcherry suffers from chlorosis almost every year (though in all honesty this summer was very wet). Was thinking of replacing it, but if diablo ninebark does the same thing I guess I wonÂt bother. Then again, I probably should try improving the soil around the shrub and see if that helps. Glen