hey.. ITS YOU ... been dying for an update on that front yard project ... do i see power lines in the left in the first pic??? and on the right in the second??? the green stuff on the bark is irrelevant .... what they said on aphids ... wouldnt be surprised of you saw ants marching up and down the tree .. if so.. they are milking the aphids for honeydew... and they would be irrelevant also ... presuming they are not bad ants... bug populations ebb and flow over the decades ... not much you are going to do about them.. on a tree that size ... next time it storms... or in fall when the leaves fall.. get some pix of leaves .. and an ID ... just for curiosity sake ... i just can barely focus on some leaves ..... maybe i see them as oak ... and you might want to think about planting another tree out front.. in case the power company ever gets some ideas about clearing those lines ... ken

Hi Would be careful with creeping fig it grows AND GROWS LOL. it will cover every square inch and almost impossible to remove . Boston Ivy might be a better choice for that reason Some of the variagated or fancy leaf types are far less aggresive AND more interesting ?? I wouldn't grow either anywhere near a wooden house. gary

We just bought a house in southern New Jersey last winter. The previous owners weren't very lawn & garden savvy, and the backyard was completely overgrown with knee-high english and poison ivy. This summer, we set out to clera the entire backyard, removing 30 cubic yards of english ivy and having a number of trees/shrubs ripped out. We then laid down 30 cubic yards of topsoil, planted grass seed and covered it with straw hay. The backyard is on a slope, and the very back is still incredibly shady even though we've removed some tree (the neighbors have a preposterously thick tree canopy). In this particular section, the lawn becomes a mud pit whenever it rains, and the grass seed doesn't appear to be germinating. Thinking we might prefer to establish a moss garden back there, but I have no idea how to go about getting it established. The new topsoil likely made the soil less acidic, so I'd imagine I'll have to lay down some sulfate to get it going. Also, it's now early-November - too late to get moss going? Last thing...is it really as easy as finding moss, blending it with buttermilk or beer and painting it in 3inch patches every 12 inches in the area where you want it to grow? Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!

Even a garden hose with a nozzle on it can push water where it does not belong. Houses are designed to shed water from above. Hitting them from an horizontal angle or below should be done with caution. I see people doing stupid things with water under pressure all the time on homes an on commercial and industrial buildings.