Magnolias are shallow-rooted and don't like to have their roots disturbed. If you for some reason feel you need to plant near the house, you will be taking many scores of square feet of area out of cultivation. And forget planting shrubs-groundcover underneath, as there will be almost no light striking the ground when mature. Which means moss, lichen, maybe even algae on your roof material, in addition to leaf litter, stamens, rotting flowers contributing goo. Which is never good. Dan

I'm sure I could prep right next to the cooktop, Lolo--I used to prep ON the cooktop, back when I had light and ventilation there (so nice for onion prep). I don't think that sink is too close to that cooktop for safety. It just doesn't feel scary next to an induction cooktop and turning off the cooktop gives you instant landing space without even moving the pot... Anyway, I think I'd want a little more space between the two, but I'll try to pay attention to how I actually prep stuff to be sure. LLass, are you giving me THREE sinks??? Three!!??? Haha! I consider two to be quite extravagant but it would be nice to have one near the coffee pot. Although our coffee pot is a French press and we just drag it all over so it doesn't need a home. Hmmm. Is that island big enough to hold all my dishes? I'll have to measure my chunk of marble left over from my last kitchen. It seems like I ought to have a rolling place somewhere, even though I rarely roll. I like the slab I got after a year of looking, even if it did turn out to be dirt cheap. That rarely happens for me! We haven't gotten so far as determining finishes but marble is always appropriate. It's a kitchen staple! I do like splitting up the oven and fridge, but I think we'll just be doing a 24" speed oven and I'm not sure something so dinky deserves its own tower o'cabinetry. Anyway, "oven" mostly means "microwave" and I don't know if that should affect its placement. Seems like having the peninsula islandized would expose the chef to excessive traffic. But the chef is pretty good at limiting traffic by yelling. Funny, the traffic I currently get only bothers me when I'm going between stove and sink a lot, which does sort of suggest a stove-side prep sink would be better than an island one.

I'm fine with the manual labor, just trying to save the embarrassment if I hack away for hours just to see it retaliate with force this summer. lol My neighbor has some hedge trimmers and a chainsaw he said I could use. I might see if he has any ideas for tackling it... And I totally agree about the understanding of plant maturity prior to planting. The blueberry bush I planted yesterday has 4 feet of space on both sides, and room to grow 8 feet+ tall. My wife said it looks "empty" right now and wanted to fill in the gaps with more iris, but I told her how big the blueberry bush is supposed to get and that the iris rhizome would just take off in a few years. It would be a mess to deal with later. It definitely looks "empty" for now, but that's what a good mulch job is for! It looks clean, and neat. In a few seasons we should have some decent fill in there.

This is from Lakes Nursery, a JM specialty nursery located in Newcastle: "Although some sources list some Japanese maples as sun tolerant, we believe that in the hot, dry foothills and Sacramento Valley, they will all benefit from some shade, especially in the afternoon. If you would like to try some in sunny areas we think that they would do better if there were no grass under the tree, there was 3-4 inches of mulch under the tree (but not touching the trunk), and the area is consistantly kept SLIGHTLY moist (not wet). With correct water practices, many Japanese maples, including many not listed here and especially those with red leaves, will tolerate sun. The following varieties are a few of the more widely available Japanese maples that are known to do well in the sun. FIREGLOW - When backlit by the sun, the leaves glow like shards of stained glass in a cathedral window. The upright tree reaches a mature height of about 12 feet. The shape of the tree is fairly upright, often with a single trunk rather than multi-branching at the base. A nursery favorite."