Christie Do you remember or can you tell me what bloomed for you best the first year? Lets see if I can remember I need to keep better notes ") zinnia, bachelor buttons, rose moss, gaillarida, cleome, cocks comb, marigold, cosmos, balsam impatients, the hollyhocks were about 2 or 3 years old but I did have some new ones bloom but they didn't get as tall, african daisy, morning glories I think that's all but it has been a long summer. My cone flowers didn't bloom or either did my dianthias. Terren, GREAT IDEA !!! if you fold back one end on itself when applying the tape, it makes a little tab you can grab to pull it off more easily. I will for sure do that this year LOL I ended up using a single edge razor blade to cut the tape. I am glad to have good results to show off tee-hee-hee, I asked alot of ?'s. & got alot of good answers & seeds from several people, I should have been better at keeping notes so I could thank everyone personally but I hope that they see this & know that their time & seeds were not wasted. I can't wait to get started again. OH !!! agirlsgirl & chemocurl were expecially helpful, they both are very patient with me & all my ?'s. THANKS GALS. lillyjane ----aka-- jan")

lmao..I'm gonna teeellll!!! jk! SHe's beautiful! Hi Jill! and what a cute doggy you have! She looks like she could be Wishbone's sister..Wendy, NOT Jill! Ok if you dont know who Wishbone is, then forget the whole thing, lol. Yes you can def pull those itty bitty leaves off. Alot of people do to keep that tree form look. If you leave them be, some of them will form more branches over the main leaf that is coming off the trunk. So, it starts out one itty bitty leaf..a couple more grow right over that, looking like they are basically coming out of the same spot..that is what may grow into a branch. I wait till the branch forms, and is a few inches long, then take off the main itty bitty leaf..which by the way isnt so itty bitty any more by that time.. Kepping your brugs trimmed like that and in tree form, def is a space saver, so you may want to take that into consideration.

I knew there was a reason I love this forum! I am reminded of it often when reading these posts from all of you. What sweet gardening friends you are! Thank-you for your anniv. wishes. I agree it was a most perfect gift on our special day. I can relate SO well to those of you that are growing roses for the first time. I was in EXACTLY those shoes last year. I bought four bare-root David Austins from Wayside and only ONE of them took! sniff! You wouldn't believe what my dh and I went through to create the bed for them if I told you so suffice it to say that I had four roses, three of them dead and he declared we MUST have something to fill those empty holes so we went to the local garden center and splurged on two KO blush bushes. Already established and blooming. That was one of the best purchases ever in my opinion. They are double the size and covered with buds this year. I got another one for Mom's day! hehe The rose in question in the picture is a New Dawn climber. I bought two of those last year in POTS. They were tiny but they were already alive and growing. They have gone bonkers this year and are already nearly up to the roof of my patio. They are also covered with buds. I am SO impatient to see them all in full bloom!! Of all the plants in my garden, nothing ever thrills me as much as my roses when they are blooming.

Debrak, good point. I will definitely have the popcorn done first. I think our existing Broan hood does vent to the outside. It has a large galvanized duct that runs through the cabinet above and out the back (which is actually the dining room...I guess it is going through the wall to the outside??). I am concerned about losing the cabinet above the cooktop. That's where I store all my cookbooks, tea kettle and pitchers. We do have an extra "empty" 11 inches to the right of the pantry cabinet that I've always thought would make a good spot for extra built in shelving. I have a little "mail center" cabinet from Pier 1 there now that is used for storage. kaysd and kris_ma those are great door ideas but might be a bit funky for us. kris_ma, I love those pendants but would they be hard to keep clean? Being a lazy housekeeper, I usually try to avoid anything that makes dusting more difficult. I am crazy about simple lantern lights and would love giant two or three foot high lanterns like these horribly photoshopped ones (minuse the candles and leaves!)? Existing Pendants (originally had flat glass shades on them that I removed) From Kitchen Giant Lanterns? From Kitchen chloe45, I don't think we have those hinges. Ours have three screws on the inside and two on the outside but they've been painted over so they might be hard to remove. Would any of these (horribly, horribly photoshopped) door ideas work? 1) Frosted glass, 2) Vertical four panel doors or 3) Doors in the same style as existing cabinetry From Kitchen From Kitchen From Kitchen