Ewww, rats - I'm sure you'll win the war, but YICK to have them in the first place. I love the 'Silk Road' lilies. I really want to plant a bunch of oriental and asiatic lilies this fall. I had some gorgeous ember-red-orange asiatic ones called 'Avignon' at the old garden, but that variety is hard to come by now - I might have to try another similar one instead. I also had a lovely oriental called 'Bergamo,' that I think I can still find. And the "tiger" lily 'Sweet Surrender' is one of my favorites. The bulb catalogs are starting to roll in - I'll have my wish list made soon! Laurel

I have 'L.S. Downsized' as well as 'Blue Haired Lady' (originally sold to me as 'Old Coot'). I love BHL, but LSD is a mini that you can easily overlook. If I have time I'll post a pic of BHL. The leaves are like the ears of a Lop eared rabbit. They're satiny and a cool shade of blue. I'm still looking for 'Old Coot', to keep my BHL company (poor thing). Yes Janice I can start a thread on secret gardens or grottos...that is if I ever get mine made. Right now its just a pic in my mind. Donna ;o)

If cars not parked in garage, what is garage used for? Oh, the usual embarrassing things. Mostly storage and clutter, but also my de facto workshop (table saw, workbench, miter saw…). Every so often I say “This is ridiculous!” and try to clean it out. But wait, I need that pile of snow tires, I still need my large tile saw until I finish the backsplash, can’t do without a lawnmower, where else can we put the bicycles, etc., etc. Very frustrating. Even if you don't really NEED privacy, I think it would make a better looking, more comfortable space to have some plantings/structures that create a SENSE of privacy, [snip]. Oh, me too! I did not mean to imply that privacy was not desirable. The way you describe the possibilities sounds fabulous and attractive! What kind of garden is the one between walk and fence? And you wish to continue with that activity? I wish I could say that the gardens are treated with benign neglect, but I am afraid it doesn’t quite rise to the level of “benign.” ;) It was along that fence that we had a stand of gray dogwoods from a previous owner. As I mentioned, they were very unruly, and we did not even like them that much, and our neighbors complained bitterly about the suckers. So I took them out over the last two years, and there is essentially nothing but weeds there now, except for one French lilac. If we decide to put anything there, it should be something low maintenance. I do not feel strongly in favor (or disfavor!) of putting something there — whatever makes sense! You didn’t ask, but, at present, there are the following well-established plantings. Along the side of the house is a bed of hostas. Along the back of the house there are ferns. Along the property line with the white house, there is a dense bed of tiger lilies abutting a dense bed of daylilies, with a couple of cute interlopers (clematis, bleeding hearts). All of these were there before we moved in nearly 20 years ago, and have survived under our shameful neglect! I am not tied to any of them. If you are an inexperienced bobcat operator, it will be likely that you will create much more damage to the grading operation (and maybe some other things!) than you will be likely to accomplish or fix. A word to the wise is sufficient! I will heed your advice on this. I will look forward to getting a grading plan done by someone who knows what he or she is doing! The space to the right of garage as you're looking from the house ... how is that used now? Great question! That is indeed our space, but it “feels like” our neighbors’ space. About 10 years ago, I planted a row of dwarf Korean lilacs. I am not married to these, so if you can see a better option, I am open to it! (Parenthetically, in a fairer universe, the wedge next to my garage would belong to the eastern neighbors, and the wedge next to the western neighbors’ garage would belong to me, but it was not to be…. The western neighbors do not use their wedge, so I did ask if they would be interested in selling that area to us (or leasing or selling an easement), but they decided not to pursue this idea.) Thanks again for your time, Yardvaark.

I don't know how you could possibly pull a curtain that is the height of the horizontal portion onto the slanted portion without the curtain puddling on the floor. The only thing that makes sense to me is to have a fixed panel with an anfled top on the slanted portion and a curtain that can draw on the horizontal portion. You lose some of the opening due to the stacking wisth of the draw curtain.