Goldgirl, Your relative might learn a great deal by using the sites listed below. The first two list what's for sale in NoVa's MLS. Each has a different search focus but the two combined provide a powerful look into the location and quality of homes for sale in the NoVa area. The third site provides current statistical data on the NoVa housing market. You can search out DOMS, inventory by price category and home type, number of properties sold in these categories etc. You can also search specific zip codes as well as broader geographic areas. It's fun and informative. http://www.vamlsrealty.com/SearchSelectCounty.aspx?NS=Y http://www.homesdatabase.com/northrop/cgi-bin/aa.fcgi http://www.mris.com/reports/stats/monthly_reti.cfm As a lifelong Northern Virginian, I've witnessed huge changes to this area over time. The most profound of these changes is the population growth and its impact on traffic, neighborhood composition, and the commercial infrastructure. Here in NoVa, change is the only constant. I highly recommend that your relative rent for a period of time to get to know the area. There are hundreds of neighborhhoods w/in a five mile radius of Gallows/50. Each has a different appeal or may be in some form of transition. Example: Today's Merrifield area (down the road from Gallows/50) will look far different in three years. The construction is massive. Up the road, Falls Church City is rapidly changing its housing composition and the traffic patterns are changing too...not for the better IMHO. There's a great deal of rental inventory in NoVa. All housing types are available for rent...Higher end SFH's to townhouse to small apartments etc. Our rental market provides broad choices for every taste and pocketbook. NoVa is diverse and complex and it's worth getting to know before making a real estate comittment. As for the state of the housing market, throw a stone and you'll get an opinion. My somewhat well-educated opinion is that home sales will stay slow for quite some time and it won't be easy to unload a real estate mistake. Yes, I DO believe prices will drop further. I think the entire metro DC area will see some pain. Where? How much? Beats me. But anyone who believes that prices in Arlington, Alexandria, and even, McLean, can't fall does not remember the early 90's very well. The ice cream cone does melt from the outside in. Another example of recent price decline...my lovely little neighborhood of high-end townhomes in the City of Falls Church saw price drops of 12-15% from 2005-2006. But sellers in both years still made a nice chunk of change from when we bought in 1998. Happy Hunting and I hope your relative moves here and learns that NoVa has a lot to offer (besides terrible traffic) for those that choose wisely.

>> He reminded me about the migratory Junko birds that ate much of our bare April fescue seeding last year. You get those too? Around here, they're year-round residents (sometimes). The average Junko (as well as other sparrows) are incredibly lazy. If you scatter just a bit of peat moss atop the blank areas when you dormant seed, they won't be very effective at finding the seeds and tend to do the job of burying them for you. No protection is required when seeding into a partially sprouted stand of grass. You can certainly add KBG to the mix if you like, but keep in mind that it'll tend to take over the lawn over the very long term (many years). Personally, I liked the resulting Abbey/Kenblue bluegrass lawn more than I liked the tri-mix that spawned it. So much so that I renovated to nicer bluegrasses! Under normal circumstances, pre-emergents for incidental weeds go around the time the forsythia blossom (or, when soil temperatures rise over fifty degrees). That takes care of most oddball stuff. You won't be able to apply any pre-emergent at this time as your new grasses will still be sprouting and have to be three mowings old before you use any pre-M or herbicides. Crabgrass sprouts warmer, but may get started in any warm snap in April or May. For that, I'd apply pre-emergent (Dimension, Barricade, most of them work on CG) around June first and realize that it's not going to be perfect. Spot treat any sprouted CG with Weed B Gon Crabgrass Control in July or so when you see it--the lawn will be old enough by then and more.

Kind of guessing a bit on some of this but information is scarce. I believe out those 3 rose White Meidiland would be the healthiest and overall best of the three. That said I did have W M and it is a big rose not tall but wide. It also tip roots where ever the canes touched the soil. Mine would easily form a 12 foot diameter circle. I just did not have that kind of room. It would be great for a hillside. So that one is robust and easy to grow. I would stay away from Wedding Dress as the rose just came out and they seem to be getting rid of it already. I would also be leery of Blossom Blanket. Only because it has been around a long time and is recycled occasionally by places like Jackson and Perkins and Wayside Gardens. It sounds okay on Help Me Find but I just have a feeling that it would be a problem rose outside of dry environments. Perhaps someone else has grown this one. So a lot depends on what you need the rose to do. I have tried many ground cover roses. For a white ground cover the best I have found is a Kordes rose Innocencia. It's very healthy and a much smaller size which works for me. There is also a newer drift rose in white that looks good. Not really sure if it is a new and improved white or the old one that they used to sell. I do grow 2 Cape diamond roses. They are own root and have massive root systems. I do think that she would do well in poor soil as long as it's not too wet. She is a large shrub so give her room.

I would also endorse The Generous Gardener. It is actually a pale warm creamy blush color but it reads clean and fresh. I think it will show up better on a picket fence than pure white would, and pure white looks dirty as the blooms fade. Mine reblooms in frequent cycles. Sombreuil is a thorny beast, and you don't want it where anyone will pass close by. The canes are also a bit too stiff to train easily, though it can be done. But you won't enjoy the process. Sally Holmes actually wants to be a very large shrub. No doubt you could make it be a climber, but you would be fighting its nature and you would have to be vigilant. Very few roses are actually continuous bloomers.