Hi Carl! S. koymae is generally available from Plant Delights. I had that in my old garden for 3 or 4 years at least and it went through several real z5 winters so I believe it is fully hardy in z5. Spreads gently but usefully. I remember seeing S. elegans Golden Splendor at a number of Public gardens in Chicago area this summer, and WOW, what a great foliage and bonus flower plant. I am looking for that one next year. As far as S. guaranitica is concerned, it overwintered near a S wall for me for 5 winters, though was very late to emerge in a few springs -- but emerge it did. Never cut it back till spring. And the trick is to find the real species and not one of the color selections. The original plant I got was from Blue Meadow Farm, an excellent but no-longer-mail-order (sadly) nursery in MA that listed it in their catalog as "solidly zone 6 hardy". Perhaps on one of your pilgrimages up to VT you could stop there and get some from them -- maybe they have plants from a colder provenance area. I find the straight species is tough to find -- the named selections like Black and Blue are more ubiquitous. And DirtDriver, of course you can grow the lush big tender ones! That's what we all lust after and grow. They may not make 10' shrubs in the heartland, but the vast majority can be easily grown from little cuttings into good big garden plants in one season. The only occasional problem are those that want to mature so late in the fall (S. mexicana here) that they don't want to bloom before hard freezes set in. So you move them into the living room (who cares about watching Jeopardy when you can stare at S.m. 'Limelight'-- in full bloom?)

Ditto. Another vote from me. Wonderful experience with this vendor. I'll order from them again.

Well it looks like this it the finally list: TODAY'S UPDATE and FINAL LIST OF MEMBERS: 01. ncgardengirl-Fran***** 02. medontdo-Michele 03. markcase1964-Mark***** 04. lgslgs-Lynda 05. misskimmie-Kim 06. conniesc-Connie***** 07. heatherbon-Heather 08. dirtdiggin-Toni***** 09. gardeningbingo 10. grolikecrazy-Chris***** 11. douglasls-Lisa 12. beverlysc-Bev 13. aphroditelaughs-Ellie 14. sissifriss-Myriah***** 15. chellflower-Chell***** 16. mary_grether-Mary 17. poisondartfrog-Alana***** 18. grovespirit-Iris 19. lindaruzicka-Linda***** 20. angelady-Angela***** 21. dimples31312-Dorothy 22. strmywthr3-Barbi 23. smokymist-Cheryl***** 24. jas_il-Jasmine 25. kristlindgren-Kris 26. ishareflowers-Lisa***** 27. purpleacres-Tracy***** 28. countrygirl_sc-Gail 29. fleethart-Fleety 30. hmacdona-Heather***** 31. echinaceamaniac-Clint 32. lakedallasmary-Mary 33. diana_lynn-Diana Lynn 34. smitties 35. ashle999 36. yotetrapper***** 37. mcbdz-Pattie 38. graanieb-Bea 39. sassybutterfly_2008-Wendy***** 40. threeshyacres-Jodi***** 41. blue_ivy-Tola 42. ibartoo-Linda 43. jaleeisa-Kathy***** 44. molanic-Molanic 45. rane_grow-Iris 46.gardenmom2-Nichol 47. southerncharm1-Kathy SC1 48. kilngod-Tina***** 49. luvgardening2-Nancy***** 50. rbrady-Rhonda***** 51. dessieb-Dessie I will be emailing out my address shortly IF you do not have an email from me PLEASE make sure you email me for my address. Thanks so much I am sure we all are going to enjoy this swap. :) Fran

marthavila: sounds like a good decision based on good advice. All the cfm junkies on GW are nodding their heads. Both changes will reduce noise: the duct upsizing reduces the airflow turbulence, and as you note, the larger blower may run at a lower speed with same cfm output as a smaller unit running harder. The latter is particularly true if you do have a continuously variable fan speed control so you can "fine tune" the blower to what you're cooking. I have a somewhat different take than trailrunner however, on the issue of airflow speed and grease handling. In general, the concept of a well-designed hood is to trap the grease before it enters the ductwork. Once it's in the ductwork, all is pretty well lost, especially if the duct run is at all long. Much of the grease will end up on the duct walls, never to be removed again. As a result, different hoods use different systems to trap grease. There is the Ventahood "squirrel cage" system, which uses a centrifugal fan that theoretically flings the grease particles into the fan housing, where it is trapped, while the air continues up into the ductwork. There is the mesh filter system, which is similar to what is used in most (barely useful) recirculating hoods and UC MW/hood units. The air flows through a metal mesh that is supposed to trap the grease particles. Then there are the baffle systems. These use a system of alternating U-shaped baffles that force the air to make two abrupt 180 degree turns before heading out the duct. At each turn, the grease particles that fail to negotiate the tight turn are trapped by the baffles (and shameless bias--the polished stainless steel baffles on our new MA hood are gorgeous! Almost too pretty to hide under a hood). High airflow speeds likely do not increase grease trapping efficiency: I could imagine that overly high airflow might even facilitate more grease making it past whatever filter system is being used. The reason that high cfm are desirable is not so much to whisk grease out the ductwork, which is unlikely, but to exhaust as much of the fumes/smoke/odor/grease from the temporary confinement in the body of the hood before it can spill back out of the hood into the kitchen. The combination of large capture area, a deep hood, and a high cfm blower should give maximum f/s/o/g evacuation. But totally concur with trailrunner's advice about starting the hood early and letting it run afterwards. Definitely will help.