Oh sure, silversword, you have to recommend Gardenias and then give me that post to read. Ha! Ha! I only made it as far as the August 3rd posts, but I intend to read a little more at each sitting. Boy is it funny/eye opening. I, being a Gemini, get bored easily and can't finish things so I just skimmed a little to see how far the thread went. I happened upon the reply from "Jim" who was giving his wife a Gardenia bush for Mother's Day and then he was printing out the entire thread and writing "sorry" on top of it and running. That was so funny! I guess I am pretty stupid because even after reading all that, I am going to have to get a Gardenia at some point. I was sold on the description of the scent. I am just not sure I will actually try to grow one. I would probably do better to just have one and toss it aside like the Freesia. For some reason anything I try to actually put love into and take care of, dies on me, whereas anything I just neglect thrives. Perhaps my plants are suicidal too. The title of the thread reminded me of something Jerry Seinfeld says in his book Seinlanguage and it makes me laugh every time I read it: "I have no plants in my house. They won't live for me. Some of them don't even wait to die, they commit suicide. I once came home found one hanging from a macrame noose, the pot kicked out from underneath. The note said, "I hate you and your albums." It's so funny to think of plants as human. I'm screwed though because I am definitely a sucker for a good-smelling plant. The house we bought has some kind of lilac that blooms in the spring and fall. It is pathetic looking (not like back home) but I never grow tired of smelling it and reminding me of home. And I love the Freesia because it smells like Froot Loops (which reminds me of my childhood). The roses that I dug up were sad looking and not very pretty plus the fragrance was not that great. The funny thing is that I have NEVER been a flower person. My husband likes to do romantic gestures like buy flowers for me, but he won't buy roses on Valentine's Day because they cost much more than any other day of the year. So he likes to surprise me with flowers some other day. I am fine with that because we have a cat who tries to eat ANYTHING that looks like plant matter. I can't even have Easter grass in baskets because the dummy will eat it. So roses cannot be enjoyed because they have to spend so much time behind closed doors and I am not really one of "those" women who requires candy and flowers on Valentine's Day or birthdays, etc. I might give that Little John some consideration somewhere around the house because I adore watching the hummingbirds. :-)

Deb....thanks for the idea of Ebay...I had it in my mind that I've seen it up for auction before...but, my mind gets so confused...and I kept thinking it was probably "square leaf" or "rectangular leaf". I check Ebay every few days...so, I'll be watching for it too....we'll probably be bidding against each other!! I still have high hopes that Chris Burton will come through for me. I have serious doubts about trusting Ted Green to send the correctly identified hoyas. Steven...I think that rare flora is Ted Green's site...he has a ton of hoyas listed, but the rare ones are not available. But, thanks so much for the information. David...I believe that one can purchase a type of hoya and have zero success with it....and later purchase the same type of hoya from a different source, and the plant does amazingly well. I purchased my H. megalaster mid-summer and the thing has grown like crazy...it's added vines a good 2-3 feet long...and they're covered with leaves...and some of the new leaves are getting huge, while most are medium large...I just went to check my records...I received the plants...2 of them, on August 5th and purchased them from Asiatica. I remember posting on the forum how puny the plants were and how expensive their plants are and their shipping costs are equal to EMS from Thailand!! I also rememeber stating that it would be doubtful that I would purchase from that vendor again. But, both plants are now looking very nice and it's beginning to fill out nicely. I remember when I received the plants that they each had two leaves...and were VERY expensive. So, maybe Asiatica isn't so bad afterall!! LOL! My H. megalaster is in a southwest window and gets nearly zero direct sunlight due to the Maple tree outside the window...it does get 16 hrs. of artificial light each day. I guess what I'm trying to say is that perhaps the source is the problem, not the type of hoya. Probably tomorrow I'll look at my megalaster and notice that all of it's leaves have fallen off!! But, right now it's full of new vines and leaves...most of which have grown in less than 3 months. Fondly, Patrick

rhome: Yes, the Feb. 22 version is the one being worked up. The little yellow band is the current opening to the LR, which will be widened to 11 feet (almost to the little brown closet). Also we will probably shorten the island from the current 8 feet to about 6.5. I had not really thought of things the way you describe, probably because I never have used a prep sink. I wasn't really planning on using this one much - that was my wife's idea, I figured I would use the main sink. Perhaps my tune would change if I had the option, but the concept of a separate prep and clean-up area is foreign to me. Would swapping the prep sink and the microwave make more sense? The only alternative is moving the fridge down and putting the window on the other side of it, but that leaves no light coming in that corner and a big window next to a really big door. As for running into people helping cook or doing cleanup: does that *really* happen in other peoples' kitchens? I should have such problems!! holli: Thanks for the plan and comments. I wish I had the extra width to have a pantry on the one side. I am still debating the small closet we have in that space. We may put that in the adjoining living room to keep a clean line along that wall/sightline. Your distances between prep fridge and stove are similar; do you find them problematic? Also: Does the dining area serve as your dining room? If so, how is that working out for you? Thanks, all!

@noseometer...(7A, SZ10, Albuquerque) From all I've ever heard, Bobby James is a wonderful rose. But it IS a house eater. I wonder if it's so vigorous that it rapidly outgrows a ship-able size? It might be a matter of timing it between, "OK, it has rooted" to "wow, that won't fit in a box", lol. Of course the rose could be pruned, but that's another step in the "shipping and handling" that's not necessary for most other roses. I'm sure the reason it's scarce is NOT that it's hard to propagate. It is a hybrid wichurana, which tend to root very easily. But it could just be that there's not historically been enough demand for it. Nurseries grow the roses they can sell. P.S. For anyone who is reading the whole thread, I DID get my Prairie Peace, and it's going to be spectacular. This last Spring (2022) was its third here, and it had at least 30-40 flowers, and it's becoming a more graceful shrub with time. Worth.Every.Penny. (And it was a LOT of pennies, lol) EDIT: I just checked HMF, and supposedly Roses Unlimited carries Bobby James. I checked, and it's listed on the website. You'd have to call to see if she really has it this year.