Call me a believer; I suspect fly2cast could do it. I think there is a self-selection process at work here, where there are only some people whose mind it would even cross to do this themselves, and the idea tends to occur to them only because they have the capacity to figure out how to do it. I do wonder if you need to think about why you are sure you want the wall mortared. I'd keep an open mind on that. You could always make a test section without mortar and see if you think you really need it. I have two fairly good stone books in the house (and a couple not good enough to mention). One of the good is David Reed's "The Art and Craft of Stonescaping" and the other Charles McRaven's "Stonework: Techniques and Projects." Neither deals with mortar, nor with fieldstone to any significant extent. McRaven's chapter on walls includes some good information on buttressing (which I don't think you'll need at the height you have), while Reed's has some pictures and discussion of old Irish walls that ... well, to a rock person, the pictures are like water on a hot day, and the info on how they were built is also interesting, but those walls would be less relevant to you. From both books you do get the idea of communing with rock, so to speak, and I think that may be why you don't find a lot of info on working with fieldstone. Relative to wallstone, working with fieldstone must be much more a case of "reading" the rocks, assessing where their natural "faces" are and understanding how their weight will make them behave and settle, and ultimately "marrying" the rocks to each other. At least, that's how I'm finding my current work with boulders in the front yard, relative to work we've done with wallstone in the back yard. Wallstone is much more a simple case of puzzle building. Something that you're going to feel your way into is much harder to explain in a book. But check your local libraries and maybe the nearest landscape supply/stoneyard bookrack... that's where I found these. I do suspect that books, rather than the internet, will be your best source. I mean, stone = ancient material = luddite = print materials, you know? And again, the worst that could happen sounds like you get into it, find your results unsatisfactory, and go on to hire someone instead. That sounds better than spending the rest of your life wondering if you could have done it. So much depends on the rock that you have, again to echo Laag. KarinL

Well I'm late to this party, but here's my $0.02. I like AB. I have one, and a Autumn Fantasy. Both grew 3+ feet for me this year. Several people on my street have Red Sunset Maples on well fertilized lawns, and they grew 12-20". There is an October Glory where I work that grew 12-15" without fertilizer. So my my Zone 6B, Autumn Blaze and Autumn Fantasy in no way shape or form grow slower than red maples cultivars as some have claimed. Simply is not true. Also there is a large AB where I work that has a large trunk and is at least 40' tall. Very mature. It lost a very few limbs about 1-2" inches in size to the worst ice storm on record for where I live this past winter. Quarter mile down the road October Glories about 35' were HEAVILY damaged, though the one in front of my work had mild damage (smaller tree). Also in the case of AF, the parent tree originates in Illinois if i remember correctly, and survived many many ice storms without major damage. Lastly, the these red maple cultivars in my location color very late, and absolutely do not last as long. Fall color is reliably great here. Also the color of my AF is a darker more dark brick red, and is a more open tree. So personally, here where I live, all are good selections, but you won't beat the growth rate of AB/AF with a red maple. But I suggest that you consider Autumn Fantasy. Harder to find, but certainly worth it. Lastly, for climate reference sake, Sugar Maples are very common and long lived here. They are native and common in the hills if you know where to look even though they often are not shown to be present on many distribution maps. Arktrees

I read somewhere to prune them by 1/3 in the "J" months. That has worked very well for me, in fact, just did my June pruning last week. I've got "wild thing" and she has been putting on a great show with this method, mounding beautifully and giving me at least two long flushes of blooms. I'm in New Braunfels.

Gosh-just a quick look over my shelves produces (excluding already mentioned): Bel Canto Ann Patchett The "Phryne Fisher" series by Kerry Greenwood (Australian author) Olive Kitteridge Elizabeth Strout ...and Ladies of the Club Helen Hooven Santmyer In This House of Brede Rumer Godden The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie Muriel Spark Barbara Pym's books The Agatha Christie "Miss Marple" and "Tommy and Tuppence" mysteries