Hello everyone: Thank you everyone for helping me find this poppy. There are a few who sent me e-mails through GW, to which I replied, but they were returned so this is to thank you. I was away on vacation until the end of the month and on my return, I found a package from 'an angel' from this forum, who purchased and sent me two packets of the poppy for which I was looking. Can you imagine my delight!! There are still some wonderful people in this world who can touch you with their kindness - I believe they are all gardeners!! Thank you all!! Northerner.

What a pleasant surprise to see this thread revived! Yes, in fact, we are still in the design phase (we had to go back to the drawing board a bit after the bids came back too high and decided to hold off on construction for financial reasons). But now we're back going at it at full speed (just decided on a contractor yesterday). And we're working on final changes to the plans (so now's a great time to get this feedback). We had to get rid of the walk-out basement (and the slide and trap-door pits) and the office space and guest space over the garage. To make up for those losses, we have added a multipurpose room on the first floor (can be used as a master suite when my husband can't climb stairs in the future and can be used as a media room/ library/ guest suite/ additional bedroom or nanny suite now. We also expanded the mudroom/powder room (added a shower) and changed the three-car garage to a barn to reflect more accurately how we will use it (as a play area/workshop area rather than for our cars). I'll post the new plans on a new post rather than keeping this old one going . . . . But just to answer the concerns on this one, we did increase the size of the children's bedrooms a little by moving the laundry into the previous master bath/closet area. We do already intend for our two boys (yes, we've had another baby boy since this post - part of the reason for the delay) to share the larger room. And as far as furniture placement, we did change the location of the TV, get rid of the pit, and move the west wall of the living room back (since the slide is no longer there). I plan on putting two sofas facing one another and perpendicular to the TV in the middle of the room and maybe a chair or two on the side. I'd welcome your thoughts on the new plan. We really have made quite a few changes (and after this is finalized it will be much harder to make more). Thanks! -- Micah

Sharon it does all look so perfect for her home!Food can look great on black! I only have one..and it makes food stand out.Very striking!Shrimps especially... Again.. themed in a way.. They must have nice stores in Oakville:) But the shopper is the key. I am thrilled at seeing the little mascarpone cake..maybe my mini cheesecakes will look that cute:) maybe...

Planting in the right season, after it cools down in fall and can be expected to rain), and planting smallest size plants and mulching heavily goes a long way towards to getting plants well established to survive their first Mediterranean climate summer. If someone is having major problems keeping well known Medit climate native survivors such as Rosemary and Lavenders alive, it is just as likely due to trying to force them to adapt at the wrong season, and not paying attention to natural cycles. For a garden in Greece with extreme heat and poor water quality, I'd recommend that you pay extreme attention to what already does grow well in your neighborhood, and only plant new smaller plants out in November/December. Also, it is important to remember that not all Mediterranean climate zones are equal as to amount of cold in winter, amount of winter rainfall, length of dry season, and amount of summer heat and winds. I'm located in coastal northern California, where we are a Mediterranean climate rainfall pattern, but have next to no summer heat, and have much reduced drying out of soils and plants because we get so much summer fog and overcast which keeps things cooler and less dry. Trying to grow things in high summer heat with poor water quality is not a foreign concept in parts of southern California, and tried but true methods often rely on choosing desert or high heat adapted plants, and providing moderated shading in summer for plants that can't take full hot sun with such high heat. I'd suggest that things like American southwest desert species of Agaves, Leucophyllum species, Teucriums, Phlomis, Cistus, and things native to the Mediterranean Basin that are adapted to limestone soils would be the natural approach to take where it is both hot, dry and basic soil ph. A lot of plants from Mexico and South Africa as well as Australia would do well under such conditions. Where I garden in Berkeley, it is even balmier than the Algarve in Portugal, and we often have more in common with tropical Cloudforest habitats than other Mediterranean zone climates, due to our foggy summers and cold offshore ocean currents. I grow many of the same succulents that Orchis mentions, but some of the more frost tender Kalanchoe species are both prone to rotting and occasional freezing in our wetter/colder winters here near San Francisco. Some of the more tender Aeoniums such as A. canariensis can grow fantastically well here, but an occasional cold winter's frost can also do major damage. Some all purpose plants that I could recommend as survivors in high heat might include Aloe saponaria and Aloe ferox, Bulbine frutescens, Agave bracteosa(in partial shade), Agave parryi, Artemesia species, Arctotis cultivars, Brachychiton populneum, Brahea armata, Caesalpinia mexicana, Centauria gymnocarpa, Centranthus ruber, Ceratostigma plumbaginoides(in partial shade), Convolvulus sabatius, Correa species, Cotinus coggygria, Cussonia paniculata,...