Rita, Usually, most of us are referring only to snap beans/shelling beans if we are talking about pole beans or bush beans. Usually we say Lima if we're talking about Limas. Lima beans are sort of picky about the weather and a lot of folks who grow beans don't grow Limas. I don't know why. Lima beans need warmer weather so I put them in a little later than snap or shell beans. Lima beans are fairly heat-tolerant (with baby Limas seeming to have the best heat tolerance) but excess heat will make their blossoms drop. So, you may or may not get a crop from your Limas in any given year. That's true with snap or shelling beans too though. Since it is so hot this year, I'd probably wait and plant Limas next spring. We've only been hitting 101-104 but my garden isn't any happier than yours is. I agree rain water is best, and it is clouding up and we have a thunderstorm watch, so I'm hoping for rain (not hail!). Anything in my garden that suffers blossom drop because of high temps sure is suffering from blossom drop the last 2 weeks, but before that I was getting lots of bush snap beans. My bush limas (and pole limas) haven't flowered yet, but were planted about a month later than the snap beans. I am hoping they'll flower during a 'cool spell' so they can set beans instead of dropping flowers. It is a frustrating year. I've seen plans for those wooden towers, trellises or tuteurs in various gardening books and magazines so I'm sure you probably can google and find some building plans online. Dawn

Hi all, Finally finding time to get back here to post! MISTY -- I can't be sure because of the wide color variation, but I believe your first hen & chicks pic is of 'Icicle', and the second pic looks like the one I call C to me. I'm fairly sure on both of them, but would need to see "spring" pics to be positive! I have you down for the things you asked for, and let me know for sure about the 'Icicle', but if yours usually looks like the pics I'm gonna post below in late spring, you already have 'Icicle'. BARB -- you're covered on the 'White Nugget'! POLYGONUM -- could you possibly snip a handful of yellow iceplant cuttings off of yours for Misty and Lesuko? Most of mine suddenly died off last year--as I've warned folks can happen!--and while I could get "some" cuttings off of mine, they're really "wimpy" looking right now, and it sounds like yours is doing really well and would provide better cuttings! If that doesn't work for you, let me know and I'll bring some of my wimpy ones! Let me know if you had time to check out your semps! A couple of them I only got one "batch" of, so they're already spoken for, but I still have A, E, G, H, K, and 'Icicle'. Gonna post some pics of 4 of them below! LESUKO -- I have you down for one of everything I posted above--with the yellow iceplant from either Polygonum or me! I have LOTS of cuttings for most of the sedums, so, except for a couple of them, I'll have a really nice bagful of each for you--along with the directions for what to do with them! Will also bring a nice big bunch of the bare root Ajuga for each of the first three, and will have at least a couple starts for the 'Black Scallop'. Also the hen & chicks--with directions, the 'White Nugget' iceplant, and I haven't done them yet, but probably a start for the Turkish Veronica. Virtually everything I have this time is ground covers, so it won't really get anything going on in your yard vertically, but it will help to fill up some of the bare soil, and you can always dig them up later and give them away to somebody else when you get around to planting other things! With your strawberry runners, no, they don't need to be attached for them to root, so snip some off and bring them along! All you need to do is "tuck" the bottom of the offshoot into the soil and let it root so they don't really don't really need the "runners" attached, but if there's some runner left on it, it can be used to help "anchor" it into the soil until it roots, so you might want to snip them with some of the runner still attached. Don't know how many you have, but you might want to make up a/a few "little batches" of them for "picking." I also have 11 "perennial" things in pots, like I mentioned above, and while some of them are just rooted pots of the sedums I posted above, there are a couple things I didn't post--and I'm gonna keep them secret till the swap--but I know folks are gonna want them! :-) And I also dug/pulled some bare root "something else" today that I'll have three "batches" of--and I'm not gonna tell you what it is! They're currently residing in the vegetable drawer in my fridge--since they're bare root! Oh! And also got a really good batch of seeds from one of my perennials this year that I seldom have enough to give away--is that an illiterate sentence or what?--so I made up some seed packets to bring of "that," and one other thing that folks are usually interested in! And that's probably it for this time! I'm not a big fan of Cold Hands Gardening, so I probably won't be poking around out there looking for things anymore--gonna try to get the Ajuga dug/pulled tomorrow, hopefully before the front moves in! And, since it's gonna be cold out by Thursday, I collected the hen & chick starts today and I was able to get more of some of them than I thought I would! Since only one person has expressed any interest so far, and since there are probably only gonna be about 6 folks at the swap, I'm gonna post a few more pics of the ones I have more than one "batch" of, so even if you don't ask for them in advance you can look to see if there are any you'd like to get on the day of the swap. As you can see from these pics, the color varies GREATLY depending on the time of the year and the winter temps in any particular year! I'm just posting the small version of the pics, but they should all be clickable to see the bigger versions! A - I have 4 batches that aren't spoken for E - I have 5 batches that aren't spoken for K - I have 4 batches that aren't spoken for - winter color - summer is all "blue spruce" color! 'Icicle' - I have 5 batches that aren't spoken for A few more pics! I really do have a lot of most of the sedum cuttings! Sedum 'Tricolor' in summer and winter color on the right side of the second pic Sedum 'Angelina' summer and winter colors Sedum album - the Dangerous One! Plain green in summer, this is winter! Sedum reflexum 'Blue Spruce' - same in summer & winter! Sedum pachyclados - same color summer & winter! Sedum 'Dragon's Blood' - Plain green in summer - this is where the name comes from! (Don't have a whole lot of this one!) And two of the Ajugas! 'Royalty' 'Chocolate Chip' Don't have a good pic of 'Arboretum Giant' but it's pretty much plain green leaves that are about twice as big as the 'Royalty'! And not gonna post a pic of the 'Black Scallop' or everybody will want some--and I don't have a whole lot--yet! Not gonna bring a lot of the Ajugas unless I know somebody wants them! Will bring a couple "bunches" in addition to the one of each that's already promised, so if you want more, let me know! Skybird P.S.!!! Almost forgot this one! Delosperma basuticum 'White Nugget'

As I've made a substantial number of moves during my lifetime and have not owned a home, I've been buying some stocks and regular, mainly equity-based mutual funds, not recently for the latter, with a few ETFs. Down about 10% ... last week. There was to be a buyout of Canada's largest phone company, arranged before the recent market slide ... and partially to be underwritten by the Royal Bank of Scotland ... which the British government is now assisting ... so some say that their participation in this supposedly ironclad buyout is becoming quite problematic (read "improbable"?) ... recent slippage in the stock price leads one to think that is in the cards. While checking with my bank about spread between borrowing using fully-secured L O C and margin account with stockbroker, was told Thurs. Oct. 2 that I have only unsecured L O C, that they can only accept GIC or a home as collateral, so thought that if the policy-makers at the bank say that my stock and more diversified mutual funds are of nil value ... they aren't worth much to me, either ... but didn't plan to sell much, if any ... possibly because they'd gone down so much. Planned to write some friends in investment groups about that experience ... didn't do so till after big fall, last Mon., then included an apology. On Wed. I found that my L O C is still fully secured ... that my origininal informant is wrong. But I would have been well advised to have sold some, 10 days ago, as there has been major drop, this week. However - which one(s) to sell? Some go down a great deal more than others, and often it's hard to judge which one(s)will/may? suffer the big dip. On the other hand ... we have been told for years that those who try to time the market, hopping in and out, don't do well, as guessing wrongly a few times ... means that one will likely miss out on some substantial increases. Those who invest a given amount, regularly, do best in the end. I have far too high a percentage of my total asset in North America, mostly in Canada ... we've been living much higher on the hog than our descendants will be able to do, and we need substantial assets based elsewhere ... and other than based in Dollars, whether U.S. or Canadian ... ... for when the U.S. gets a sniffle ... Canada gets pneumonia, since so much of our exports go over that one border. I live on much less than my pension income, so am not under pressure to sell assets when I don't choose. I have few needs - most seniors are cutting down, rather than adding to their possessions. As each year goes by, perhaps especially now, as I near age 80, I become more aware of it: the number of my future years on this dimension of life decreases - annually: my short candle is getting shorter! However - my bequests will be to two offspring, neither of which will be under any pressure to liquidate the asset over the short term, and one of which is much shrewder as a manager of money than the other. Quite likely some assets will be transferred intact to a central charitable institution, which produces a major tax benefit to my estate, and the agency is quite well versed in shrewd money management and will disperse various amounts to operating agencies over an extended period. The major reason to liquidate some assets over a short period following my death will be to pay income tax. So - I'm not getting upset about short-term fluctuAtions in the market ... but I doubt that recovery will be nearly as fast as in former cycles, this time. ole joyful P.S. For further info on my recent financial issues and opinions (plus a discussion re money management and taxes with local Member of PArliament currently running for re-election), see thread regarding "Mortgage"s, titled something like "Mortgage Woes", over on "Money Saving Tips", I think (or here). o j

Search these threads because there have been several similar questions that have been answered already. Short answer - builders almost always charge rip-off prices for upgrades; if it's something that can be done later by someone else (as opposed to something like a higher ceiling in the basement that can't be changed later), have a 3rd party do it.Do have the builder prepare it if possible by adding an extra electrical circuit and run a wire up to a closed elecrical box in the attic where you want the lights installed. As for type, for new construction use LED. The overwhelming favourite here deservedly is the Ecosmart ECO-575L sold at Home Depot stores for $35 each, or $30 online if you buy 2 or more at a time. These are really a rebranded version of the very well-reputed Cree CR6 downlights; Ecosmart is a HD house brand, not a manufacturer. They fit into nearly any 6" can, and have built-in white trim rings that would normal cost $10 per recessed light, so the effective price of the LED bulbs is only $20. This for a flood lamp bulb that lasts for 15 years and draws only 9 watts, yet is bright and gives off high-quality light nearly indistinguishable from incandescent bulbs. And can be dimmed to 5% with most standard dimmers. There are 5000k daylight balanced versions available too that give off a cool, bluish light similar to sunlight, but most prefer the familiar warmer, more yellowish 2700K light from the warm white version, and a small 4" version too. But the warm-white 6" is the modern staple of recessed lighting. There are some restrictions to how many lights can be dimmed with one switch that varies by the dimmer switch you use: not an issue if you use a non-dimming switch. There's also a brighter 800 lumen 6" LED available from Cree (home depot doesn't sell those) but they're about $20 more than the common 625 lumen model, as well as alternative color temperatures. Insist on the "TrueWhite" versions, not the "full definition" bulbs that Cree recently started selling; the latter dulls colors noticeably and is suitable only for hallways and such.