The percolation test is quite simple -- Dig a hole about 1 foot deep. Pour it full of water and wait... Observe whether it soaks in... Then, once it has soaked in -- fill it up full of water again and let it soak in again.. If it all soaks in within a few minutes -- you may be draining too fast and the grass dries out too fast... If it doesn't drain within a day... you have other problems.... Sometimes clay soils will soak in great on the 1st round, then will become impermeable after the 2nd or 3rd round -- as the clay saturates... It can also help point out problems in the subsoil like pure coarse sand, big rocks and hard-pans... (Gosh, my lawn drains fine here, but doesn't drain at all over there... I wonder why?) The 2nd test is outlined on here somewhere -- but it is to determine your soil makeup.. You take a mason jar about 1/3 full of dirt (No rocks and sticks).. Fill it mostly full of water.. Shake it up really good and let it sit overnight... Then shake it up really good again and let it sit again... It will separate out into various layers.. Sand and rocks on the bottom, silt in the middle, clay near the top, and light organic material on the top or floating... You then measure the layers with a tape measure and it tells you the soil makeup... These tests will help lead you in the direction of which amendments will help vs which ones will hurt... If your soil is all sand and already drains too fast.. Adding more sand won't help anything... but adding a little Clay would help quite a bit... and vice versa. Thanks John

Just finished prunning and cleaning up that front yard rose bed. Yesterday I had the tree trunk cut up and the roots dug up and everything moved out. I just can't believe how much sun there is there now. Anyway, the older bigger roses in the front bed, which were put in 2007 had no damage worth mentioning. Did need some hard prunning to get rid of broken limbs here and there but as soon as they leaf out and start growing that will be unnoticeable. The newer bed section that had Heirloom roses from last year and the year before took the worst of it. Nearest the tree trunk so most flattened. I had to dig and loosen soil around the roots on some of the rose shrubs and pull them back upright as they had ben pushed down. Broken limbs so they got harshly prunned. Then the really little ones from last year are in truely bad shape. Two of them are just not there at all, must have gotten dug up and lost with all the trampling and root digging. I will just replace those as if I need an excuse to buy more roses from Heirloom. The rest of the babies in that section got beat up badly but own root roses come back so they should be fine after awhile, even if extra small.

Just finished prunning and cleaning up that front yard section. I just can't believe how much sun there is there now. Anyway, the older bigger roses in the front bed, which were put in 2007 had no damage worth mentioning. Did need some hard prunning to get rid of broken limbs here and there but as soon as they leaf out and start growing that will be unnoticeable. The newer bed section that had Heirloom roses from last year and the year before took the worst of it. Nearest the tree trunk so most flattened. I had to dig and loosen soil around the roots on some of the rose shrubs and pull them back upright as they had ben pushed down. Broken limbs so they got harshly prunned. Then the really little ones from last year are in truely bad shape. Two of them are just not there at all, must have gotten dug up and lost with all the trampling and root digging. I will just replace those as if I need an excuse to buy more roses from Heirloom. The rest of the babies in that section got beat up badly but own root roses come back so they should be fine after awhile, even if extra small. I was also out there on my hands and knees with a cutivator and trowel digging and brushing dirt off the buried Siberian Iris. I was happy to find many of them. So while most are still there some of a partial row is totally gone. That would be were they dug to get to the tree roots that went straight down so that they could have accress to cut that root with the chain saw and lift out what was left of the stump. So now I am going to have top find my lists and see whats missing from that area so I can replace them.

Greening - Your comment " . . . the house is quite tall for that small a front yard. Unfortunately, deciduous trees in the front yard aren't going to happen-- they aren't good for the roof and the roof needs all the help it can get" has been percolating around in my head for about a month now, and I've finally found time to respond. I agree with Mayalena, KT, and Paririemoon2 that you should at least consider a deciduous tree, since I think without something to tie the tall house to the lower level garden, you'll be unhappy because there won't be enough of a transition or connection between the garden and the house. Look for varieties that are labeled as columnar or fastigiate or narrowly weeping. I think a tree with a trunk and the branches and foliage up above will give you more planting room than a large shrub like a Hamamelis (witchhazel) or a Philadelphus (mockorange) which is about as wide as it is tall or even than a columnar evergreen which typically has branches down to the ground. I noticed in glancing through the website below that they include at least some columnar trees, but probably most major online woodies nurseries have a search function that will let you search for columnar, fastigiate or fastigiata. Forest Farm nursery (forestfarm.com) has a category of columnar plants you can click on http://www.forestfarm.com/search/route.asp?indexkey=2C&x=72&y=12 that lists 37 genuses that they carry with columnar plants. Another resource with a list of columnar trees in the book Dirr's Hardy Trees and Shrubs, probably in your local library or bookstore. On pg 450 he lists about 2 dozen varieties of columnar and fastigiate trees. I think somewhere I've seen a reference to a columnar Stewartia, which might fit the bill perfectly. Stewartias in general have flowers, gorgeous fall colors, and in winter peeling, multicolored bark, so you'd have multiseason interest and get the most bang for your buck (space.) I think you mentioned planning to replace the solid front of the porch with balisters (sp?) and a rail. You could also add a trellis or even just netting with clematis/honeysuckle, etc. as using the vertical space will add to how much you can plant. Clematis in particular looks quite at home in a cottage garden and would like the coolness to the roots that shade from the porch would provide. I've also done some reading about folks who grow clematis through shrubs and small trees to add longer season interest. I haven't yet seen anyone who has grown one through a rhodie, but that might be a possibility to give you some winter green. At one time there was a thread in the shrubs forum here on growing clematis through shrubs, but it may have disappeared by now. Regardless, you need to match growth rate and ultimate size of the tree or shrub with the clematis. A couple of final thoughts - since you've got such a small space and you'll presumably want to be planting it intensely to fit in as much as possible, take the time to really work on your soil before you plant, turning in lots of organic matter like compost or well-rotted manure (which shouldn't smell) so that your plants thrive. Also, if you are visual, to help with your planning, take the photo of your house and do overlays on transparencies or tracing paper to help plan your space, even just cutting out silouettes of plants in proportion to your house and moving them around to see what looks right to you (or maybe you can do it all on the computer.) Hope I've helped some. Babs Here is a link that might be useful: smallplants.com