I finally finished clearing up the last of the branches. I sawed them into more logs to add to the edging, but it's nice seeing the yard all cleaned up. :-) The sun moves through the bed in such a way that all the roses get hit with at least the minimum number of hours needed to grow well. I moved the cinder blocks to make an area for overwintering the roses that didn't get planted in the ground. After moving them into this space, I think I'll shorten the length of the "box" and stack them three-high. When the neighborhood leaves drop, I'll be collecting them to fill the spaces between them for added insulation. I trimmed more branches from these arbor vitae, and planted all but one of the roses going here. On the far left is 'Rosa moschata' which didn't go in the ground yet because I'm not sure if it will get enough sun. I keep track of when the shadow of the house falls on it, and it seems to be getting full-sun from about an hour after sunrise until about noon. Thereafter, it's in bright-shade. I might just end up moving the white azalea from the front to this spot. But the rest of them, going left to right, are "Sissinghurst Castle", 'Tricolore de Flandre', 'Tuscany Superb', and the musk-seedling 'Reverend Seidel'. In the green wheelbarrow you see the thin pieces of the last of the tree branches. On the ground to the right of the BBQ is the last of the thick pieces, which I'll be adding to the log edging. A close-up of a section of the log-edging. Right now, it's fairly secure, but I'll be putting a lot of long screws into the pieces to hold it in place better. And there's lots of nooks and crannies between the pieces. I started pouring peat moss in there, and will eventually stick low-growing sedums and sempervivums into the crevices. It's hard to get good shots with the way the sun and shadows are hitting the yard right now, but here's another shot of the bed. Another shot of the yard. Re-seeding the "lawn" will be one of next year's projects. Another shot of the bed. I'm going to be throwing down mulch and manure to eventually reach the height of the log-edging, making this a somewhat raised-bed. The bed tapers to a narrow end where the garage and pavement meet the "lawn", and I planted only three roses here. On the far left, with room to spread but contained from taking over, is 'Indigo', which came as one of a few suckers from a garden-forum member. To its right is 'Honorine de Brabant', a dark pink and white striped Bourbon. In the corner on the right (look for the white name tag, since the plant is really small now), is "Sophie's Perpetual". I left room by the window because (for now) it's the only way into the garage -- the door must be opened from the inside. And in the corner by the fence, with a few branches forming a make-shift tripod, is "Secret Garden Musk Climber" which is really the end-cap of the back Gallica bed. The Gallica bed is against the fence and behind the railroad ties. In front of it, and behind the log-edging, is a row of shorter repeat-flowering roses -- to the right of "Sophie's Perpetual" is 'Clotilde Soupert', then 'The Prince', then 'Golden Buddha', then 'Prospero', with 'Souvenir de la Malmaison' in the corner by the stones, and 'Souvenir de Victor Landeau' sprawling out to the right and in front of it. If you're interested in going through ALL the pics of the yard, beginning last year before I did anything, I put them all in an album on Photobucket. Right now, it's 277 pics (with descriptions), including a lot of "rose inventory" shots, but it's fun to flip through. Make sure you select "Oldest First" to view, if it doesn't already come up that way. :-) ~Christopher

Thanks DtD for expanding on that information. It amazes me how specific and individual a solution has to be. I liked your suggestion about the light and the screen door. How are your Rhodies doing now? Do you have any particular sites that you visit to look for more information on organic solutions? I personally have very little experience responding to insects or disease by using any kind of product. I normally will hand pick or ignore or if desperate pull a plant and get rid of it. I pulled out everything in the back five years ago and started from scratch and I'm finding the more variety of plants I add, the more insects and issues I see. Still quite manageable so far. This year, I've started to think I'm seeing some kind of balance out there. But, then again it could just be a good year. [g] I had a huge infestation of earwigs a couple of years ago. I have a lot of part shade and mulch. There were holes in everything and I had to go out trapping them at night for weeks. This year they seem to be under control. I went out 2 nights when they first started and that's it. I wonder if spiders or some other predator are eating them. Aphids seem to be getting a run for their money with lady bugs this year too. I am sure there is going to be something out there that upsets the apple cart so I'm enjoying while I can. [g] I am still dealing with winter moths, but I haven't responded to that yet either. I'm getting more birds in the spring that eat them and the trees seem less damaged this year, so I'm just leaving it. The other pain in the neck I have are red lily beetles. I hand pick but they seem to reappear every year. If I could find an organic product for those, I would try it!

Chiggers are everywhere in my area. They live on the peaks of grass blades, in leaves, etc. keep grass cut as low as you can, and otherwise keep a neat yard. Sulfer is one of your best weapon, dust your socks with it and put it on your pant legs, ALL the way around! I would dust all the way to the height of plants. To conserve it or not make a mess, put it in a sock as a powder ball. In all my years of putting up with the demons out in the back woods of Texas, nothing works better than sulfer! Just get yourself a big 50Lb bag of 90% agricultural sulfur and dust away! These beggars can infest your mattress too! Every mattress at the Puloa rifle range base in Hawaii was infested with them (until they finally got replaced)! Your boots can get infested to! Sulfur is your friend along with washing ASAP as soon as you come inside! I'm too cheap for essential oils and itch reliving sprays, so I take a bottle cap and scrap it across the most offending bites until I take the top layer of skin off, the sting is MUCH better than the itch and it just heals over later. I'll have anywhere from 12-30+ bites just on my legs and I wake up itching a lot and can't sleep until I scrap them up. This is only because I ran out of sulfur and haven't got around to getting more. Rubbing alcohol is a great alternative to scraping them up but it sorta requires you to constantly rub the wet rag on the bites.

No, you probably won't notice the little things they got wrong. Instead, you'll notice the big things you got wrong, like not making the garage wider, not making the foyer deeper, etc. :-) This is the third house I've had built for me. The first was basically a spec house with a very few minor changes. The second was semi-custom (spec house with more substantial changes). The third was fully custom (architected plan). By the time the third, fully custom house was being built, I knew that no amount of advance planning or attention during the build was ever going to result in a perfect house. You try to get the "bones" as right as you can, and get it built in a quality manner, and then resign yourself to all the little (and sometimes big) things that either you overlooked, or didn't anticipate exactly how they would look / interact in the completed house. Tell yourself the following: If anything really, truly bugs you, it's "merely a matter of money" to fix it. Unless we're talking about impossible structural changes (like, deciding you wanted to build with ICF walls rather than stick-built -- and you're not talking about that), you can make it "right" later, if you really wish. I suspect in a few weeks or months, you won't think twice about those particular goofs. And if still you do, you can fix them. It's "merely a matter of money". :-) --Steve