My other bush of Rhodys, taken today, I'm on top of the steps, it's about 6 ft. I've cut them back each year, they were huge when I moved in. Not good to have huge bushes near the house if there's a bushfire. The first bush has finished flowering. It's a hotter pink.

Congrats on choosing blocks for your garden bed. If you're looking for trees, I suggest considering a maple tree. They grow nicely over time, providing shade and privacy. I recently moved to a new house myself, and I'm also exploring plant options. Back in my hometown, we had a reliable tree service that helped us with planting and maintenance. Maybe you can find something similar in your area. I came across this website, https://www.deepdale-trees.co.uk , which might be helpful for you. They offer a variety of trees and services.

looking for help from a plant expert here. We planted these beautiful teddy bear magnolias about 4 years ago....they grew into healthy big bushes. Now all of the sudden some of the bushes have lost almost all their folage and the leaves are turning black and they seem to be dying. First off it was one tree, now 4 of them are like it with 5 healthy ones left. The soil underneath some of these trees also has a white film on it. Is this some sort of fungus? What can i do to make these healthy again?

I only have 2.5 acres but have drawn an entire garden plan using the basic paint program on your pc. Start by drawing all the boundaries to scale then add the house and any existing trees or structures driveways etc. Then add a perimeter garden all around the fence lines if that is what you wish. These do not have to follow a straight line but can curve in and out to accommodate larger trees. For the rest of the space I drew a combination of large circles and amoeba like shapes. These represent the lawn areas. Connect all these lawn areas together with pathways at leas 2 metres wide. All the odd shapes left in between the lawn areas then become the gardens. Using the paint program you can then fill up these spaces with a variety of different diameter circles to represent the final size shrubs trees and perennials that you will grow. You now have a complete plan to follow when you begin planting. When you buy a plant, look at its size and height and see where it would fit on your plan taking into consideration whether is will get sun or shade where you position it. This method makes for easy mowing as all your grass areas follow easy curves. It also gives you a garden with many garden 'rooms'. You can adopt different themes for each room eg a white garden, a cottage garden, a tropical look garden etc. Also it is some thing that you can develop over time and easily keep track of on your pc. It also helps to keep a spreadsheet of all your plant purchases that shows their height, width, sun requirement bloom time etc. If this sounds like a lot of work then maybe it is not for you but I love planning my garden this way.