I would take a look. I have trouble growing them at temperatures less than 8o degrees in the bulb stage. Once they are up they will take lower temperatures. Al

Give a little tug on them and see if the roots gripped. They'll leaf out according to temperature cycles/fluctuations (no matter what zone you're in). There's a person on a thread right now in Colorado zone4/5 who has a dwarf Physocarpus opulifoius leafing right now. My 'Red Prince' usually is in full bloom exactly when my Orange Asiatic Lillies are in full bloom and I believe the shrub itself begins to leaf about one month prior. Lets face it, there are major temperature fluctuations that have been occuring for some time. They impact, both warm and cold climates and everything inbetween. Then and again also, places have an odd thing occur. Who knows! We aren't in charge of this plantet, we just plant the trees and everything else. I think that answers your question. Regards, Dax

Hiii, Jamie!!! *waving happily* So good to see you posting! I'll bet anything your vine is skunk vine (named for the very obvious reason you described so...ummm...elegantly! Hehe!) Balsam apple gets bright orange fruit which pop open and spread big seeds around. And it has little flowers like eileen mentions. It is very easy to pull out, and very tender, too. Easily crushed. If your vine resists pulling out, has no flowers or bright orange fruits, and really, REALLY smells bad, I'm guessing skunk vine. (Balsam apple smells unpleasant, but not quite as noxious as skunk vine.) Both are very invasive and hard to get rid of. I suggest you pull and cut all you can, and then carefully apply Round Up to the rest using a paintbrush to be sure you don't spray any on your hedge. Good luck with it. There are some folks who tie sprigs of lavender and other things to float in their birdbaths to keep them clean longer, but I really believe in just rinsing and refilling daily, myself. I do it when I water the plants in the morning, and it's pretty quick. I use the jetspray setting to splash all the dirty water out, and then I refill with one of the regular, softer settings, et voila! Done in 60 seconds. Okay maybe a tiny bit longer, but not much. If I have a lot of birds, I do it twice a day, but more because they splash all the water out than because of dirty water. Don't worry about algae in the bottom of the birdbath. It doesn't cause any real problems, and frankly, I think it looks more natural than sparkling white stone, but that's an aesthetic thing. As for the real scrub it up and leave it shining cleaning, a stiff brush is usually all you need, but you don't have to worry if you want to bleach anything. Just rinse it carefully before refilling. Bleach evaporates very quickly, and doesn't leave any residue that is harmful to birds. Soap, no. Bleach, not a problem if you really need it and you rinse well. But usually a scrubbing with a brush will take care of it. (BTW, when I say I don't mind how algae looks, I just mean the darker, mossy looking type. Not that nasty, slimy string algae that you get once in a great while. THAT has to go!) Good luck with it all, and don't be such a stanger. We miss you. (And the doggies, too. My little Maks is a year old now, and so darn cute! He and Potter are real buds.) Marcia

My KD said they will template with the old counters in place. He also said I did not have to remove everything from my lower cabs, but probably the drawers ( or maybe remove the drawers? I'm not clear on that either) He said there will be no dust that could poss damage the drawer glides (this is what I read on this forum that had me scared!). He said it will fit perfect, virtually no sanding/grinding on the granite in my kitchen. In my opinion, it better fit damn well perfect for nearly $100/sq ft for a cat 7 granite! One of the guys that worked for my original GC when we built is going to remove my counter tops. He is the one who installed them, so I feel good about that. He said its just a matter of removing some screws. Some guy who is remodeling a double-wide trailer wants them, which makes me feel good they aren't going in the trash.