I looked up Canna ( I am new to gardening) and they are very pretty, I think I will have to get some! I looking for more tropical plants to fill in the are that already have the Bird of Paradise and I think the Canna would be a good fit.

Kristi, just thought I should mention the Kordes perfume-fest Parole, aka Buxom Beauty. Was introduced to the USA in 2008, so it may have gone under your radar. Apart from its names (Jailbait/Dumpling - yeah, good work there, Kordes Marketing Dept), this deep cerise pink rose is pretty near perfect - no spray requirements, beautiful high-centred flowers with substantial petals (HUGE blooms in cooler weather), nicely productive with a fragrance that is really intoxicating and waft-y, richly sweet but sophisticated. No cold cream or myrrh. And it cuts like a dream. I'm up to six of these. They're my battery hens for vase filling. Just sayin'.

Actually, that was the side I didn't do anything to other than cut a few of the larger berry bushes at the bottom of the hill. That birch is in rough shape and without staking it up and waiting several years, it won't survive. I would just assume take it down since it's not really in a great location anyway. I hate to do it since they are becoming relatively scarce due to disease and insects. This picture http://minus.com/lbx4OfKnwRF4xc shows what are definitely blackberry/raspberry bushes. I wouldn't mind having them, in fact I would welcome having a ton more, just not here. Being on the slope they will not be easy to get to when the mature and have fruit. If there was a way to transplant them or something I would love to hear it. I had tried it in the past, but the only way I have ever seen them grow was by accident and negligence. Based on the size of a few of the lower bushes, I would bet they may produce a limited amount of fruit. The smaller ones at the top of the hill however are definitely not mature enough from my experience. Going off on a tangent... I loved having berry bushes growing up and we had a large sandy area on my parent's property that they grew like crazy in. They eventually began to die off and my dad chopped them all down. The began to come back by the time I went to college, but it took a while to get any amount of fruit from them. My last year at college I rented a small cottage on a back road that had the biggest patch of black raspberries I had ever seen. I started picking as soon as they began to ripen and then ever couple days for the next 3 weeks. I stopped for lack of room in the freezer for 1gal ziplock bags. I made at least a dozen pint jars of jam and a few quarts. I gave a bunch away but i'm hoarding the last few of the "good" batch for myself. :) So in other words, I would love to have berry bushes, just not where they are. A lot of what you see on the ground on the left side (looking from the house) is debris and not much in the way of live plants other than some weeds. Obviously it is still very early here and not much has come up yet though. The tree shown in the background of this picture http://minus.com/lbwhVJrx76OE9d appears to be planted from what is left of the mulch/preparation around the base. This shot http://minus.com/lvFny84VUSjeW shows a rock swail that comes down from what is left of the last owners fish pond sort of thing. There is a reddish low lying plant growing on either side that I failed to get a close up picture of. It appears that it will look nice later in the spring but needs some weeding and/or mulching. I will take your advice and try posting some pictures on the "name that plant" forum. In the meantime, would I benefit from getting some sort of tall meadow grass mix to put down in a few weeks? *whoops, I wrote a book

We did a similar move in December. We did what my grandmother would have called a "spit and shine", a half serious cleaning, and I am satisfied we did the right thing. Our experience would have me suggest putting off the floor refinishing until last. I've no thoughts on power cleaning.