Received my seeds today! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Thank you Kamil and everyone! I'm just about to go start mine! I even got my favorite color, how's that for cool! Maybe we could do a swap based on color next time...Hm, I might have to start one of those based on purple.... :0) Thanks a bunch guys/gals it was fun!

I live near SF. The place we go for brunch on really special occasions is the top of the Mark Hopkins Hotel at the top of Nob Hill (across the street from the Fairmont Hotel). It has a great view and a wonderfully amazing brunch -- the best I've ever seen and I have travelled a lot. For drinks, lunch or dinner, I would also recommend the revolving restaurant at the top of the Hyatt Embarcadero. I have taken out of town guests there several times. I don't remember much about the food but the view is wonderful. Walking across the Golden Gate Bridge is also fun (and still free, I think) (you will need a car or cab to get there, though, and getting a cab for the ride back could be tricky). If you decide to get a car (and San Francisco is not THAT hard to drive in) I would also recommend Guaymas restaurant in Tiberon or a stroll in Sausalito (across the Golden Gate Bridge from SF). Both have great views of San Francisco and are only a short drive from SF (assuming traffic is OK across the Golden Gate).

There was fake turf on the playground at a school where my kids attended at one point, and there is maintenance involved with it (replenishing/leveling the infill material). I'm sure it's more frequent at a school where it gets heavy use vs. at a residence. I have a neighbor who has it in the backyard and they have dogs. She said she uses Simple Green to clean up dog messes :-/ Athletes who play and practice on artificial turf have brought up health concerns, so there's controversy around that (without a lot of research), so that's also something to consider for those with young kids and/or pets. I tend toward the other extreme (shying away from chemical fertilizers and pesticides) even it if means not having grass look perfect and green all the time and sharing my landscape with creatures who leave unsightly holes in leaves, etc. I think artificial turf has its place and looks (and functions) great in the right application, but it would really bum me out to go out in my own yard and be walking on plastic.

Bart, I agree that Vinca on a path is an accident waiting to happen. Super stringy, tangly and great murder mystery material. If you want a slightly more expensive but more long term solution, I'd go with crushed rock (NOT pea gravel) and edge the path with some kind of hardscape material--bricks, recycled concrete, etc. The crushed rock will need to be amended over the stretch of time but not completely replaced. The hardscape edging will mostly hold the path material in place. Chunks of broken concrete work well and are cheap and usually free. They can, with safety precautions, be sledge hammered into smaller chunks. Sometimes construction companies will drop a pile of concrete at a homeowner's lot. It saves the company dump and recycling fees. You can combine the crushed rocks and edging with switchbacks and log inserts or other "steps" in the steeper areas. If the grade isn't super dicey and the path is wide enough, a wheel barrow or garden cart can fairly easily traverse this kind of path. I've installed paths like this on pretty steep terrain and maintained the gardens and paths following installation. Prior to the installation of a path, one Portland West Hills slope was so steep that I slid down it on my belly during a particularly saturated winter, fingers digging a trail like cat claws on curtains all the looooong way down to the bottom of the incline! Carol