"we are ... trying to at least get the front of the house looking good." If that's true, then those things that make the house not look good must be changed. Making the lilac and weigela part of the permanent plan seem to be a contradiction to the overall goal. If the quality of "being inviting" is part of the goal of "looking good" one must extend a visual invitation to those who are at the street. Impeding this are many visual and physical obstructions to the house entrance area. Even if visual enticements were present, they could not be well seen. Tree limbs that shroud the entrance area should be removed. Shrubs that serve much as barricades should be removed. Shrubs that are too large for their positions will not serve well as visual enticements and should be removed. Plants that create disharmony should be removed. All of these things must be dealt with before attempting to rebuild.

Thank you so much Dottie for answering my question. I am not a Charlotte native and although I LOVE living here with my family, I've had some interesting experiences when visiting the local nurseries. I don't fit the regular "look" of the common gardener and when I visit mom and pop stores, they aren't really happy to help me unfortunately, so I've resorted to ordering mail order or visiting the big box stores that are a little more integrated. :) I really would love to get some native plants too, so its a shame. If you know of any nurseries that would welcome me, please let me know :). That is why I wanted to know if I could get any of these plants at Home Depot or Lowes. Funny you should mention the butterfly bush; I had a white buddleia that I brought with me all the way from Jersey City and it grew and bloomed profusely. I love it, and I want a pink one now. I have a lot of room to plant which is one of the reasons I LOVE it here so much! I have Mexican Zinnias and Verbena Bonarienses and what you say is sooo true! It is a beautiful sight and I love showing my children the goldfinches. There was no nature in the city where I used to live, except maybe on rooftop gardens. heehee. I've always wanted to try yarrow and gaillardia. They seem so easy and considering the droughts we've had, I'm hoping they are low maintenance. Again,..thank you so much for your help and please post back if you know where I would be welcome to visit. I would love to help support local businesses if they were friendlier to me.

I've bought decent transplants in Home Depot and Lowe's, with a few caveats ... I'd say the burden is definitely on the grower to know appropriate planting times. I live in zone 10a, with a winter growing season, but the big box stores stock tomatoes all year. Anyone who plants a tomato in April where I live is begging for a disaster. And the staff is no help. It's also up to us to pick the good plants. It's hit or miss as far as health is concerned. Sometimes the plants are in great shape, and sometimes they're old, already in heavy bloom and setting fruit, and underwatered. You know, buyer beware. But still ... I'm usually happy to see racks of tomato plants in big box stores. That's how most people get started�they're walking through the store, see a tomato plant and think, "Hey, I'd like to try that." And thus begins the journey of a thousand varieties. Here is a link that might be useful: Growing Tomatoes in South Florida

Abbycat9990 - thank you for posting the picture of your beautiful kitchen! It looks gorgeous! Fieldser; I didn't get to check on here until last Monday when the granite guys were here! I am fine with the odd shape, but would have been really upset had I not noticed it before hand. I hope it's growing on you by now ;-) I have an unforeseen (on my part) issue related to the shape of the sink I guess! I am not ok with my faucet line up! The granite guys drilled holes in the granite along the line of the sink! So there are four holes, the first on the left is a little over an inch from the back splash and the fourth is a little over 1.5" the faucets don't follow the straight line of the back splash?! I'm trying to see if it bothers me now that the faucet & accessories are in place...they are each different in diameter at their base and so the depth / distance from the back-splash / the edge of the sink is less obvious now. Perhaps this is the standard thing to do, but I would have thought they'd have mentioned it to me before drilling! I didn't realize they'd done this until they were finished! If something is not going to be symmetrical then I want it to be *obviously* a-symmetrical! A statement. Not just slightly "off"! Being "slight" looks like a mistake to me! I'm a little ill to my stomach about it really. I am upset that they spent five minutes discussing the inches apart the faucet holes should go and yet made no mention of the line they should follow! I was stupid to assume it would be STRAIGHT! Arghhh. We had it installed as an undermount with a thin lip showing so that we could use the cutting board and accessories that came with the sink. Now we just need to get the carpenter to trim the board to fit! (Fingers crossed that'll work out). Oh, the other faux pas! The granite guys mounted the dishwasher to the underneath of the granite by glueing and bolting clips. Great... BUT - it's in crooked! "Miss Observant" wasn't too observant that day and I didn't notice this until an hour after they'd left my home! I think I was just too enamored with the new counter-tops! They've been supposedly "coming back" since Thursday! [rolling my eyes here] but haven't shown up *yet*! The right side of the dishwasher is not in line with the cabinet next to it and the left side sticks out and so the dishwasher door bangs into the cabinet when you are closing it! Nice one eh? I wish my husband had been here when they were installing. Not to sound like a feeble female but I think things would have been more thorough if he'd been here. I've never renovated a kitchen before now, so I didn't know the pitfalls/ potential for error! I am learning that in general people just don't give a rats a$$ - you need to ask lots of questions and you obviously need to stand and WATCH as everything is happening! I didn't want to hover too much so made myself busy when they were drilling (I think that was the worst time to leave the room)! They all arrive to your house, act like they are heaven sent, ask a few questions to play the game and appease you and then proceed to do as they damn well please! Amazing!