The thing I like about about a 50-50 sand and peat mix is the sand never breaks down and drainage is assured, but I'm guessing if pH is a huge issue, pure peat's lack of drainage may be an advantage- especially where there's not much rain during the growing season. You needn't add as much alkaline water to keep soil moist. Until I started reading about using pure peat for blueberries on this forum I'd never known you could use peat by itself as a suitable potting medium. It's hard enough to even get wet without a wetting agent. Last year we were discussing a southern grower's good results in pots and he put small plants in large pots with 50-50 ground pine bark and peat as I recall.

Hi Ken- Welcome to the Forum.... I'm in St Pete and love roses as well... I have lots of roses grafted on Fortuniana, it is recommended for Fla. because of the nematodes, I get mine mail-order from K & M Roses in Miss. I also have some own-root OGRs also Austins... I try and grow organic, I use all kinds of stuff, Milorganite, Black Cow, Black Hen, Alfalfa pellets, Cottonseed meal, Fish emulsion... and use leaves and grass clippings and compost, thick mulch, the thicker the mulch the better.... the Tampa Rose Society is prob. near you and can help, I belong to the Heritage Rose Society in Lakeland at Fla. Southern, Dr. Manners is there and is a wonderful fountain of information, it's a great group of folks from all over Fla. .... I plant lots of my roses close together and use rebar as plant-stakes, and tie wayward canes to the rebar, to keep a pathway thru' the beds....and I plant companion flowers in front, Victoria Blue perennial Salvia and Pentas , Caladiums, Purslane, Tampa Verbaine - all make good border-plants and are low-growing.... so much fun and so little time !.........sally

Hey Mike, Repotting at this time would make no difference, just as receiving another bare root tree from Four Winds tomorrow. In fact, if it were a choice I had to make between a good aerated mix before a long winter so I could avoid root rot, or the other, I would do a repot. Keeping an eye on your mix and how long it holds moisture sounds like a plan. Be very careful about watering and how cool the temps go with a damp mix. Once the root zone drops below 55 degrees, your tree roots are barely working, therefore very prone to root rot. If you loose just one branch, I would do a 911 repot. But than, if I knew my mix was holding moisture way too long, I would avoid the problem all together. Every tree is different, and some will respond quickly to a repot for the good once root rot starts, and for others, they can respond badly since it can be too late. I have found that citrus trees can be very resilient to keep going while at the same time have much difficulty repairing/ regenerate new roots once damaged. I hope this tree does well for you and please, pray for a mild winter. Mike:-)

lyfia--you are correct, the dining area does open up into the living area. Mamattorney--that is a good point. We have a three bed/two bath home. I do agree that if this was a four bedroom home that expectations for a larger dining area would be warranted. TheRedHouse--I didn't even consider the decorating forums as I just found out these even existed a month or so ago. Thanks! I appreciate the thoughts of all of you who weighed in. The last home sale we had was very fast, but we did have two different sets of older home buyers tell us they loved everything about the home but wouldn't purchase any home without a formal dining room. That kitchen, however, had a considerably larger eat in kitchen where you could comfortably have a table set for eight in the room. I think I'm leaning toward the idea of keeping it to seating for four and "showing off" that extra space. I'm thinking just having the table and chairs out (and, of course, we always include room dimensions on our info sheet and online) will be enough for the majority of buyers to see that you could fit a larger table in the area, if they really wanted to. Thanks for all your insight!