The Star for me is my 'Knockout' Roses. They are planted in impossibly hot southern exposure in front of a concrete porch at the top of a slope. Not only have they survived, but they are flourishing and this is only there second summer. Yesterday I watered them for the first time this summer. Echinops and ornamental grasses that didn't get planted until later in the season look suprisingly good. Russian sage, flax, sedum, Boltonia, lavender, Nepeta and gaura are unfazed by the drought. My garden would be extremely sad though with out my annuals. I don't consider them thirsty at all. I have Zinnias and Ageratum 'Blue Horizon', Gompherena, Salvia 'Lady in Red', 'Bedder Blue' and 'Black and Blue', Lantana, Cleome, Brazilian Verbena, Pentas, Four o'clocks, and Larkspur that have held up very well. Black eyed susans just didn't cut it. The echinacea bloomed its heart out, but the plants themselves look pitiful. My 'purple dome' asters look remarkably good under the circumstances and I am anxious for them to bloom.

Sorry to hear about your experience. Have you contacted Marty (I think that is his name)? at plant-o-gram? I ordered some trees this winter and unfortunately they came just as a cold front was moving in. It would have been ok if it were shipped direct FL to OK but the carrier went to KS first and I doubt if their facility is heated. The only think that lived was a small branch of of a Longan which is doing OK now but it's only a foot tall and smaller than the diameter of a pencil. Anyway, I contacted Marty and I told him that he had a good reputation on the web and the dead plants were part my fault for ordering in the middle of winter and part his fault for sending them when he did. I suggested that he send me new plants and that I'd pay the shipping. He agreed to that. My lychee did not make it and since I'm a glutton for punishment, I order another one. This time when I got it, I sprayed it with distilled water and wrapped the canopy with a clear trash bag and closed it up next to the cellophane wrapped pot. I left it that way for about two weeks with just indoor lighting. I then slowly started letting some fresh air in over another 2 weeks with more light. And just a few days ago I took the bag off and put it against a north wall. I also loosened the cellophane wrapped pot but keep the newspaper that was on top of the soil. Here is a picture of the Sweetheart Lychee. So far so good. I will probably using this method for all my potted mail order trees. This method comes from tropicalfruithunters.com. I'd give Marty a call. I looked at Pine Island website and they don't actually have a guarantee about condition of plant on arrival either.

Ah, a topic I may be able to help out with. We recently installed off the shelf (Lowe's) white subway tile. The brand is American Olean (not sure about the spelling!). I remember reading in a magazine that in a white kitchen there should be varying shades of white to keep it from looking sterile, just as someone mentioned above. When my husband installed it he and my mom both liked how it looked: as if it had been grouted with gray grout. I knew I didn't like this look but was almost talked into it. I mention this because of your previous statement "i have always loved the white subway with white grout look, but i donno, with the different shades, i might have to try something else, and that really worries me because i am detouring from what i originally like. " Stick to what you like or you won't be happy. I almost went with gray grout. Perhaps it may look better or more appealing but it is not the look I'm going for. And since you've mentioned that you are worried about the shade of white you've chosen change it now before it's too late. I personally think it will look great but being that you are questioning it makes me think it is not really what you want and are hoping to be talked into liking it. But if you stick with your tile I wouldn't go with a cream grout but rather one that matches the tile and blends nicely. To answer your question In my opinion the color of the grout makes a difference. Just look at kitchens with white subway with gray grout vs white grout and you'll see what I mean. I don't think an off white grout will make it blend with the cabinets better, it could make it look soiled. White will make it look whiter but IMO cleaner. I say keep the backdrop (backsplash) simple. As someone mentioned above you will have things on the counter to break it up. I plan on putting more items on our counters and the gray grout for me would be too busy. Not to mention I'm not the tidiest-so I need everything else to be simple. I sure hope I did't confuse you! Here are pics of our off white cabinet, BM moonlight white, though not quite as creamy as yours, with white subway tile and bright white grout. Below is a link to segbrowns kitchen. I think the pewter grout in this kitchen looks great because of all the other elements. But with such creamy cabinets as yours I'm not sure about gray/pewter grout. Gray grout look (before grouted). My cabinets look quite stark here but are really creamier in person. Hopefully you can see a difference in the shade of the cabinets compared to the white subway-it is hard to capture in a pic! Here is a link that might be useful: segbrowns kitchen

I would strongly suggest removing the compacted soil - the fact its compacted is a sign there is trouble, namely that its become very dense and might hold too much water resulting in root-root. Let the soil dry and gently pull it away from the roots. Losing some roots can be a good thing, like a healthy trimming of an overgrown tree: both promote "branching." What you did is called potting-up rather than re-potting. When potting up, the roots are almost equally as "bound" as they are without re-potting at all: they are confined to the compacts soil and their growth/aeration is stunted. In fact, if you trim the leggy branches at the top at the same time you lose some roots, the plant is still balanced in its root:leaf ratio. My wife and I often go to home depot (1 mile from our house). She fell in love with a braided pachira just like yours. Its not my thing, personally, so I didn't give it "prime real-estate" on a window sill. It was pretty unhappy and its growth looked quite a bit like the growth your pachira: leggy and anemic. I kept trimming the leggy growth, but it wouldn't ramify (it wouldn't make additional branches). Finally, I repotted using 60% perlite, pruned the leggy growth, and moved it to the TV stand where it gets direct sunlight through the window, but from several feet away. That small change made a big difference: the leaves have richer color, the tree is growing two branches to replace the one I trimmed (ramification). [I also am propagating new plants from the cuttings]. Since I don't really care for the plant, I'm using osmocote CRF (controlled release fertilizer): easier and cheaper than using the dyno-gro mix. In other words, you might have a combination: lack of nutrients, lack of sunlight, root-rot (a dash of hydrogen peroxide can sometimes fix this), compacted roots... Someone with more experience than me (with pachira or plants in general) might be able to more specifically identify the problem, but my thought is to fix all the issues of which we are aware and then continue to problem-solve if the plant doesn't bounce back in a few weeks.