I still have two more chores to do I never got around to. I have to plant some daff bulbs I missed and I live on a steep hill so I have leave the grass long in the fall to catch leaves that fall from neighbors trees them blow into my yard. But with this weeks weather forcast calling for snow and the ground surface frozen I will have to wait until next week to do a final mowing an get some grass and leaf mix for mulch and the planting done.

I'm still working out there. I have to wiltpruf some things and possibly build wind breaks for roses and some shrubs, etc. I'm waiting for the rose bushes to lose their leaves now. I pulled in 3 Secret blooms and a Veteran's Honor bloom this past week. I also have to drop some winterizer on the lawn.

This Winter I will have my final 2 terraces built in the back of my house to deal with my "death-hill." I don't think I will try to fill them with soil until Spring.

gg -

Check on the Soil Compost and Mulch forum for all the info on what to do with your leaves. Good luck!

chescobob, what's a "death hill"?? LOL!

Carol:

My back yard is about 250 feet across at the flat part just before my woods. About 200 feet of that is a very steep hill. Over the last 2 years, I have had 3 terraces built on the hill to turn it into a flat or nearly flat surface. The terraces are made of 6" by 6" treated lumber and in some places are 5 feet high--10 rows of lumber.

The photos below were taken in Spring 2005 and everything is much different now. It is all planted.

However, they give you an idea of what I am doing. In the first photo below, you can see the 60' upper terrace on the left side of the back yard. Below it is the "death hill" that I mow with my garden tractor. I go up the hill and back down and then go up and back down again. That will be replaced with a lower terrace and where I stood to take this photo, there will be another terrace to complete my main rose garden. Currently, I have 8 red azaleas planted below the terrace you see with 7 wine & roses weigela just below and between each azalea. (I can't wait to see them blooming in the Spring.) You can see the top of the terrace is flat. You also might see some of the new roses I planted at the edge of the flat part this Spring. They all grew and bloomed. If you look towards the back of the house, you might see a deck in the middle and above the terrace.

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In the photo below, you can see part of the 2 right side terraces. They stretch around the side of the house with the top terrace being 40 feet long and the lower terrace being 100 feet long. (It took 85 yards of soil to fill the lower terrace.) Above them and in the middle of the back of the house is the deck. All of this area is now planted. I planted about 10 pencil hollies on top of the upper terrace to hide the exposed foundation of the house. On the top of the lower terrace, I planted grass, azaleas, red mill pieris, purple passion rhododendrons; chickasaw, pokomoke, and Pink Velour crape myrtles; a dwarf fothergilla, Itea Little Henry, Chesapeake hollies, Golden Girl hollies, and a number of azaleas. Below the lower terrace is another huge garden with spiraea, mountain fire pieris, blue prince and princess hollies, rose creek and edward goucher abelias, etc. The plantings soften the large amount of wood.

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I now have about 100 shrubs around the terraces--all panted last Spring and Summer. This coming Spring and Summer, in the middle of the two terraces, I will plant masses of flowers and flowering shrubs so I can see it all when I sit on the deck. On the top of each terrace, there is a sitting area of grass.

Its complicated and hard to envision but I should have about 100 shrubs in the ground that bloom. For example, I have 16 Girard Fuchsia azaleas around the front and side of the house now that will bloom in a bright purple-pink next Spring. After that, there are 5 purple passion rhododendrons that will bloom on the side of the house. Shortly after that or about the same time, 15 or so Weigela Wine & Roses will go into bloom in the front, back, and side of the house. Of course, 8 Girard Crimson azaleas will join in in the back too. Three Mountain Laurel Keepsake and other shrubs also will be competing for attention. At the end of Summer, about 15 to 20 Crape Myrtles will take over.

Once the Spring blooming shrubs are done, the 33 or more rose bushes will show me their stuff.

C'mon Spring!!!!!!!!!!!

Carol:

I forgot to mention that I hired a landscape contractor to build the wood parts of the terraces.

I do all the planting myself.