When your wife is finished with her list of honey-dos, you are welcome to come and do some of mine. Your project looks great. As to the garden, don't fertilize your rhodies now. I was told by an expert to fertilize them in springtime and again in late July with Osmocote slow release. No shortage of flowers here, and I presume the same is true for camelias.

Sample your soil and have it tested to see what nutrient levels you have built up at this point. Be careful to not over-apply phosphorus in particular.

Glenn, you really don't need to do anything with the Fatsia. The flowers will eventually form a berry-like fruit that will fall off in time (if not eaten by any fatsia-loving birds). You can deadhead any remaining dry looking flower stalks when you do a spring clean up.

It may be helpful to point out that fertilizing shrubs established in the landscape should not become a matter of routine. It is seldom necessary to do so annually as a matter of course and even less necessary if you mulch with some sort of compost-like product. I'm not sure I remember the last time I applied a bagged fertilizer on inground shrubs/trees in my garden - they sure as heck don't show a need for it :-) Like bboy states, test first, then apply only if warranted. If it doesn't happen now, February/March is an appropriate time for these types of plants as well.

If your rhodies and camellias are growing and blooming well you don't need to fertilize them routinely. I do feed mine every year as I am on very lean gravelly soil and they need something to keep going. Not much, just some nice organic material and a bit of nitrogen. I used to feed them every winter with super phosphate but have discontinued that, once learning that it's not healthy for the soil or groundwater to do so, and it doesn't really help them bloom anyway.

This year they got a topdressing of chicken manure, which will provide enough nitrogen, and now the trees are dropping their leaves the rhodies and camellias will get mulched with the leaves. They're not very demanding.

I was told by an expert, obviously a different one from Dotty's, not to use Osmocote here because the slow-release process is soil temperature dependent, and our soil temps in spring and early summer are much too low to make Osmocote do its thing. I did use it on rhodies and camellias when I gardened in a much warmer climate.

Gardening advice is very location dependent. The best way to grow rhodies and camellias in one part of the country (either country) will not necessarily be the best way, or even a functional way, in a different part. We have a very odd climate here and we have to be careful who we take our advice from, which is why this regional forum is so nice!

General-audience gardening books and magazines and columns and TV shows often don't apply here, unless the host is a local expert, producing for the local area. British stuff works well here since our climates (though not our soils) are so similar.

I agree with Osmocote not being the best choice for our climate. It sits and sits and then releases all at once when it finally gets hot. I can' believe it took me so long to figure it out.....

You mean I don't have to take a mortgage on the house to buy a bag of Osmocote next year? Glad to hear it!