Question
I would love to plant flowers in my very sunny front garden that faces
west and gets
the sun in the afternoon and my backyard that gets
the sun in the morning.. Can someone help
me.  I also have a grading problem in my backyard where
weeds grown like wild and it is very hard to get rid of them.

Answer
Hey, Joyce.

Unfortunately, I don't know what city/state you're in, so I can't be too specific. There are two things that you can do:

First, drive around your neighborhood and other nearby neighborhoods and look for properties that are similar to yours and what kind of plants they have. Then take the ones you like and use them in your yard.

Second, stop by some of the smaller mom-and-pop nurseries and ask them for suggestions. I've had better success with the smaller nurseries than I have with places like Home Depot. Find the small nursery that has been in business the longest because they will have the most experience and knowledge.

As far as the grading problem and the weeds, I have had great short-term success with Roundup on everything except Oxalis. If you want a long-term solution, first pull all the weeds that you can. Then use Roundup on everything else. Then let the soil sit for about three days. Next, till the soil so that you plow everything under and apply some pre-emergent weed killer. Put some weed cloth over that, cover with soil/gravel/mulch, and you're ready to go. Weeds will come back, but not as many, and they won't be able to extend their long roots into the soil because of the weed cloth, so they will be very easy to pull. Wherever you want plants, just cut a hole in the weed cloth and plant your plants.