Maybe it's a Carolina thing - or maybe just MY yard! - but I tried them two years ago w/bad results. They took off and grew vigorously ..... a little too vigorously as they topped the trellis and proceeded to grow into a huge, heavy knot at the top (practically overnight!). Guess I should have been pruning them, but I'd never read of that. Anyway, then I discovered they were a major Japanese Beetle magnet - worst beetle year I've ever had and they were the obvious attraction! Once the beetles finished making lace out of the leaves, the MGs contracted some sort of rust-like disease/fungus and ugly doesn't begin to describe it. By mid-summer I'd had it and tore them all down leaving bare trellises for the rest of the growing year. They were lush, blooming and gorgeous for about a week - not enuf payback for me. Gonna stick w/clematis for my little chunk of dirt. I do love them, and am very sad I can't grow them here so thanks for the beautiful pics above! BTW, I interplanted moonflowers w/the MGs and the moonflowers never made an apppearance. Don't know what that was all about.

It does sound like a great project. I love por*ches! You're right to try to add some fragrance. I'm not sure you are going to find a vine that will give you blooms and fragrance in only dappled sun all day. I am constantly trying to add fragrance and I've haven't had much luck in shady areas. I tried a small cutting of SAC and it took three years in my sunnier than yours location to get five feet high then the very next year, I looked over one day and noticed not one leaf on it. I found some kind of caterpillar on it that stripped it of every leaf and it never came back. So I can't attest to it's aggressiveness. [g] While you are looking for a fragrant vine, you might consider pots of Four OClocks on your porch. They open at night and have a nice fragrance that is stronger on hot evenings. They might do fine in your shady conditions. I've had them bloom in shady spots. I also tried C*lematis m. 'Mayleen' from Bluestone last fall and it hasn't come back. No, I haven't had experience with Castle Wall or Spire. I like the darker green so I have two 'Green Mountain' that I really enjoy. It is supposed to get to about 5ft tall and might be easily shaped into a pyramid. You would have to trim them occasionally anyway, so it's not like it would be more work. GM came through the winter great last year. I've only had them two years. Bought them small at Bluestone and I like them. I would ask about the r*oses over on the rose forum and you will need to actually time the amount of sun to determine whether you have enough for a rose. Sometimes we can all kid ourselves that we have enough sun because we want a particular plant so much. :-) I am experimenting with two r*oses in an area that only gets about 4 hours of sun. I was cautioned on the r*ose forum that I may not get good bloom there. So I found two r*oses that are described as tolerating some shade and I'm keeping my fingers crossed. But I think 4 hours of sun is a minimum for a r*ose. But I'm no expert. Even if a r*ose blooms in less sun, it might not be the amount of bloom you are hoping for. Fragrant hostas are a great idea. I had 'Guacamole' for 4 years and it didn't come back this spring, which really surprised me. I'm still looking for it through May because I seem to remember it was late to come up, although all my other hostas are up. It is very fragrant and has nice large blooms. I'm sure there are lots of others. My Clethra lost most of it's top growth this winter. It is a great shrub so I hope I haven't lost it entirely. There is a post about that somewhere, others have had trouble with Clethras last winter. Endless Summer might be the Hydrangea you are trying to figure out. I would go with that one because it blooms on old and new wood. I also know people who grow Nikko and swear by it's hardiness.

Well folks, I took photos towards the end of last summer of the garden area and was both too busy to post them and was also forgetful. Many times I thought, after the fact, while I had those few minutes I should have done it. Anyway, here they are for you to evaluate and especially for lazy_gardens discriminating eye. Just need to add that the fencing and sidewalks will be redone shortly in the future. Main problem I am having is deciding on wood picket fencing or aluminum fencing that looks like wrought iron. In no way do I want pvc fencing because from what I've seen around town it looks really bad in a short period of time. Anyway, critique away. The floor and steps of the front porch are going to be torn out and replaced with a new floor and steps and walkway (either concrete or stonework. I haven't decided yet. The two pictures above are very dry shady side yard. It is very, very hard to keep grass growing there and requires almost daily watering. I am looking into planting substitutes, perhaps shade loving sedges, except for thug varieties that spread by runners. If you have any advice/ideas for ground covers for dry, sandy, infertile soil (even though I amend with cow manure and compost twice a season) for a shady area that is tough enough to take foot traffic I'd love to hear it. No takeover thugs please. Excuse this last picture. I was putting down more cow manure, mulch, and fertilizer at the time. I didn't take pictures of the backyard but as you can see I have a concrete patio and there are various flowering shrubs opposite that (Lilac, Mock Orange, a very old wild honeysuckle shrub that has a great shape, and two Cotinus (smoke shrubs) I've yet to identify. (I'll take more photos and post them when in flower in the spring.) One has coppery colored leaves and pink flowers and the other has purple leaves and a deeper shade of pink flowers. I don't think the last variety is royal purple because the color is not deep enough. Any idea what it can be give a shout out. I didn't take pictures of the back yard because after trying since 2011 to get grass to grow there, including having a shade variety sod put down ( a total waste of 1,500 bucks) the lawn is a balding mess. The reason is because all my neighbor's trees are shading it out. It is also dry, sandy shade, (despite constant amendments) but groundcovers are not an option because the constant running and playing of my 2 Beagles would prevent any plants from growing. Anyway, I've now resigned myself to the fact that the back yard belongs to the dogs.

"There is plenty of misinformation passed around on houzz.com ADA requirements are among them." Charles: Here is my first post on this thread: "Don't do a ramp that's not ADA compliant please, at least rise-wise. That means no more than a 1 in 12 rise. So if it's 3 feet of rise from driveway to doorstep, you'll need a 36 foot long ramp plus landings as you can only rise 30" at a run. Looks closer to 4 feet to me, so with the required landings, you could be looking at close to 60 feet of ramp. Your first picture is much too steep and a dangerous mess; the second looks just a tad steep to me." My second post was a clarification for JuneKnow. My third post was to agree with RES2 that the ADA is not required in most residential situations. No where on this thread have I said that ADA standards are required for single family residences. Not a single place. I have not engaged in any "misinformation". I stand by my position that ADA standards are good residential building practice. If you can make an argument that I'm wrong, please do so, however, you may not imply I've said things I have not.