If the workmen will still be working, I wouldn't plant ANYTHING anywhere near their big, fat feet - they WILL walk on or into anything planted next to the house. If the building is almost finished, then you could start where the windows and trim are done, gutters on, the painting is done, etc. Otherwise, ladders, buckets and feet will break or squash plants, no matter how careful they may try to be, or how much you plead.

I would suggest that you leave a gap of at least 2', 3' may be better, depending on how big your planned plants are, between plantings and the house walls, both for access for weeding from the rear, and for air circulation. If you plan on planting trees next to the house, then do leave at least 8', 10' or 12' is better, between the tree and the house. And do think about how big these plants will be in 3 or more years, despite how small they may be now, and space them at half of the future width - if you don't know it, then usually half the future height will do. You can always fill in the gaps with annuals for the first year or two.

As long as the ground isn't frozen, and as long as the weather doesn't call for extreme cold or wind (which can be a shock or dry things out a bit too much, both the ground and the leaves), AND as long as you can keep track of moisture levels in the soil and water as needed, then you can plant container-grown plants almost any time. I would mulch, as widely as possible, no deeper than 4", and put no mulch in the 1-4" next to trunks or stems, or over perennials' crowns, to avoid rot.

Another thing to be a bit careful of is not to plant evergreens that have been in sitting in shade in full sun - things without leaves will acclimate as the leaves grow, and plants can usually adjust to less light all of a sudden, but going from little to lots of light can take a little time - moving them over a few days into full sun will be easier on the plants. If you have already bought the plants and are "storing" them, then keeping them in light shade will mean they need to be watered less often, so it is a common problem.... If you plant in latish afternoon, or on a cloudy day, there usually is no problem, either, if you NEED to get it done NOW. The winter sun is much less strong than summer sun, anyway.

This part of the country isn't normally affected by grass fires but with this drought, things may change. I wouldn't plant any highly combustable plants near the house - pines, conifers or even eucalyptus. Back home on the prairie you often saw people line their driveways with junipers, a big mistake. When fire season started you can hear the popping as these types of trees explode and take the low heat grass fire and turn it into a high heat house fire.

It's fine to move woody plants in winter, in fact it's the best time. If a perennial is evergreen, such as bearded iris or something in the aster family that has green rosettes, I will transplant in winter. Other perennials I have only transplanted during the growing season, but as long as the plants have growth buds for next year, I'm sure plugging them into the ground won't hurt them.

> I wouldn't plant any highly combustable plants near the house - pines, conifers or even eucalyptus.

Very good point. And to extend that thought a bit, never use pine straw mulch closer than about ten feet from your house. A few months ago there was a fire in an apartment complex in Raleigh that began when pine straw used for landscaping ignited (I think someone was using a grill against regs).

More recently, a friend of mine got burned out of her apartment and I helped her salvage what she could and take it to her new apartment. When we got there, I was appalled to see pine straw all the way around her building and up into the entryway, with cigarette butts lying in it.

Made a quick call to the fire department, which I hope will drop a hint to management.

I'm no expert but this is how I understand things: Grass and paper burn at a lower temperature than wooden boards or large trees. The difference between 450 degrees and 600. So a grass fire can race through a forest and do little damage except for lots of smoke, since the heat is relatively low and the tree trunks are protected by corky bark. When you add to the mix something like turpenol the turpentine like substance in conifers (pine trees, junipers, etc.) which is highly combustable you change the nature of the fire. Suddenly a low heat grass fire can explode into a higher heat forest fire which will catch trees or wooden walls on fire too. This problem is why it is bad to see wild junipers growing under the canopy of mature oak trees - the junipers will take a grass fire up into the top branches of the oak where the fire-protecting corky bark is thinner.