Red Heart has never done well up here for me. It cracks like spring ice and the birds tend to get all over it if any fruit doesn't rot from cracking. I wouldn't judge the Ruby Queens until you've sampled a ripe one as I can't think of any plums that are very good unripe. I'm thinking Ruby Queen might be a Santa Rosa type which would probably mean crack resistance and it is bred for southern conditions. Fortune is also prone to cracking but is an outstanding plum when truly ripe. Sure, it's not explosively juicy, being of firm flesh, but it's juicy enough and gets real high brix. Jim Cummins got me interested in it originally because of his rave revue. I've never tasted a Friar, but it's been around forever and I've never heard anyone raving about it. Scotts evaluations may be more meaningful for those south of me. Can't understand why Redheart has worked well down there and not up here. The ones I've tasted have also been better than what I'd call "fair". Still, even here there's a lot of variability site to site with many of the plums. Seems like the most site sensitive of fruit.

Hi Gardenweed, Thanks for the tips re: planting schedules - that makes sense to me, and is pretty much what I would have guessed, but nice to have it confirmed by someone with more experience. How fortunate you are to have grown up with gardening parents, and to have inherited all that good soil yâÂÂall built up over the years! IâÂÂm in the house my husband grew up in, and I donâÂÂt think his folks were much into gardening, so each year I try to carve out and claim another little bed or corner as time and energy allow⦠That is a shame about your laptop (and job) crashing. My husband & I have a computer shop here in our small town, and he also teaches computer classes at our local library, one of which is photo editing. For that one he has his students use Magix Xtreme, which I believe is a free download - might be a useful (and cheaper) alternative to Photoshop. Not to get too far off gardening here, but we are also sometimes-sailors! We bought a MacGregor 25 in 2006, and took it on a big adventure sailing down the gulf coast of Florida for 5 weeks in 2007. Since then, we try to get out on our nearest lake for a month or so each year, where we can dock it and leave it for a few week end visits with friends. HavenâÂÂt had a chance to do any sailing this year, since our shop assistant quit at the end of Feb - too many computers to fix in this town. He has occasionally hinted at chucking it all and taking up the live-aboard cruising lifestyle, to which I always have to point out that as appealing as that sounds, it is very hard to garden on a boat! :) CanâÂÂt have all our hobbies in one basket, unfortunately. IâÂÂll keep those hostas in mind when I get around to planting. (Good tip about the egg shells!) IâÂÂm in our local garden club, and that seems like something some of my fellow members might have, so maybe I can get some shares, if thatâÂÂs not too hard to do. Once again, thanks for your helpful insight & genial conversation! Best to you - Amy

I know it would look better with no storm, but with our winters I would worry a lot about the doors (especially the one with the glass) getting damaged. Also, screen doors in the summertime are a must so we don't roast! concrete, thanks for the link. I didn't know about this particular company, and it's always good to hear a testimonial from a happy customer! Sombreuil, those doors are drop dead GORGEOUS. They look really wonderful. I couldn't build a door myself (I wish!), but perhaps I could buy a very basic model and then dress it up like you did with yours. Columbusguy, thanks! When you say "full view" door, I assume you mean a door that's basically just a frame with no ornamentation or board in the middle, correct? To answer your question, the view from the side porch is currently of two long, wide porch shades that I purchased from Coolaroo, LOL. They are striped and they actually doesn't look too bad. The big Queen Annes on the next street over have similar shades on their porches so I figure if they can do it, then my little house can too. I think until I win the lottery and can buy the house next door to fix up, the shades are my cheapest, quickest fix for an unfortunate view. ;)

I have a client who is actually solving the same problem! The bed isn't able to be centered with the vault, so the solution is to intentionally not be symmetrical with the artwork! Try a collection of frames ranging in size but having the same frame color to tie it all together. Have an organic shape to the collection like the second link here. This will bring a focal point for the wall and will make the positioning grounded even if it's not "centered". Side note....you may consider larger nightstands or dressers on either side of the bed to balance the proportion of bed to wall space. You have so much room you can go bigger for more storage and a larger visual impact!