I use 511 regularly, where I work we provide machinery that focuses on cleaning grains, plastic extrusions, reclaimed sheet rock, reclaimed glass etc. we separate unwanted fines, or unwanted particle sizes from many various products via screening, air aspiration as well as other methods. This brings me to my question about gritty mix, I just happened upon some poly beads about 3/16 diameter, could this be used as the grit fraction in gritty mix? What I mean by grit is the the granite, or the inert fraction of the mix, the beads seem to be nearly inert, I process all my pine bark through a machine called a reel eliminator, it has various sizes of screens so I can dictate what particle size I want by varying the screen size, I always look for the bags of pine bark mulch that looks some what composted, and separate that into the fines I want, typical what ever will go through a 3/8 screen. I processed 4ea. 2.5 cubic bags in 10 minutes last week, sure makes it easy compared to my screens at home. I am wanting to make up some gritty mix primarily for some citrus trees in my greenhouse, these polystyrene beads have become plentiful and don't weigh very much. You guys are the experts and would love to hear your opinions, Thanks

Bustopher, Yes, I don't understand why 'Fr. Hugo' isn't more popular. I can't wait until it's a few years older and becomes a giant arching shrub. It has a very nice scent as well, soapy, sweet, and spicy. The scent of this rose is one of the few that REALLY wafts across the garden for me. 'Fr. Hugo' and my lilacs were blooming at the same time this year, and the scent of 6 large lilacs can be overpowering at times, but I could actually pick out the scent of 'Fr. Hugo' from among the lilacs. The combination of both scents is heavenly. Thanks for your comments. Audrey, Thanks for your kind comments. 8^)) lovemysheltie, Thank you :) Campanula, I was surprised to see that r. Primula and Fr. hugo are so similar. Blue Flax is one of my favorites! I googled pictures of Dieramas, it looks lovely, I will have to find out if I will be able to grow it here. Thanks :) rosymominzone9, aimeekitty, hoovb, Holleygarden, Thank you for your kind comments. :) Carla, So good to hear from you. I hope all is well with you and your garden. Thanks :) thorn grower, Thank you and yes, 'John Cabot' keeps me very busy. :) Ingrid, Yes, a feast will soon be upon me and you will get pics. :) Then the deadheading begins... (o_O) hahaha! Kevin, Yes, 'Fr. Hugo' is the 1st to bloom here, about 2-3 weeks before anything else. He's a once bloomer, has a good scent... fresh and sweet. He starts out as an ugly plant but will be a great bush one day. LOL, All my weeds are in my lawn. I refuse to have a lawn service come and spray around my garden, so that's the price I pay. My planting beds are pristine, but my lawn is legendary for it's Dandelions. I do some spraying for them occasionally in the garden area and consistently in the front yard. They are only here a couple of weeks and then the lawn looks like a golf course again. :) Here is a link to 'Fr, Hugo' on Help Me Find: http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.16807.5 Zephy, mendocino rose, Thanks for you kind comments. :) annabeth, I'm sure you've found out by now that 'Fr. Hugo' is a once bloomer... but don't let that stop you from getting him. He is strongly scented, and so delicately beautiful you will not be disappointed that you gave him a spot in your garden. I'll be posting some follow up pics soon that will include 'Quadra', who is 3 or 4 years old. :)

In answer to using old plush toys filled with soil? Why Not? Plants are rather adaptive and you will find something willing to take over and be cut back regularly, returning with a vengeance to cover that toy completely. I make topiary for a living and have used alot of drainage pipe for letters like a billboard I did in SF for garden.com that was completely planted with ficus vine for a years' contract. I secured the black plastic 4" tubing to the billboard forming letters along the way, forty feet up...filled with soil, made plant holes 1 per foot,covered in sphagnum moss secured with fishing line, made a solar powered drip system with 50 gallon drum water reservoir (remote location) pumped it 40' up, another pump for 40' across...The new disney retail headquarters in Pasadena, CA has an 18' Mickey Mouse Archway at the entrance...it has alot of spare space inside and is filled with refuse plastic. the plants dont mind as long as they have soil and water to grow in. The 15' ABSOLUT bottle I did in St Thomas has basically a teddy bear lining inside to hold plants and soils in, come to think of it. 3 months later the ficus vine had fully taken over, no doubt it did not hurt using grey water for conservation methods...dark green plants after that!

DH and I talked about a cherry kitchen in our future, but after he convinced me to completely replace our white cabinets so we could start fresh, I couldn't see that much brown. I've always been partial to white kitchens and when I went through kitchen photos, at least 80-90% of those I was drawn to were white. Sooo.... I would call our kitchen transitional I had never seen or heard of Christopher Peacock and white kitchens were not so popular, but I think the shaker and similar plainer front cabinets were, so going simpler seemed a popular choice. It was driven by hating the heavy moldings on our custom cabinets (wall trim used on cabinet doors). It made a statement, but that and the short counters meant every drip got caught on the paint and stained -- and there were lots of grooves to clean. DH is s slob in the kitchen. I had to have something very simple so the choice was desperation, not fashion. Our tile had to be patched in the reno and was done poorly, so we later replaced the floor. The dark wood was probably a popular choice then, but it fit our house. Risky -- did white marble counters in both the cooking and clean up zones before it was making every magazine cover. I am not a granite person, didn't like my mom's Corian and the cool recycled glass was uber expensive and didn't really go with our house. I saw a slab of marble with squiggles that reminded me of the stray marks on old ink drawings and thought of Da Vinci (my boys and I were into him) and I had to have it. End of story. Other not so safe choices -- I did three cabinet finishes (wall of tall blue storage surrounding my fridge and knotty cherry island and hutch in the breakfast room, did a 3 tile combo (from 2 different sources) for the inset in my backsplash, and mixed metal finishes on hardware, lighting and faucets. All of the above plus the fact that the layout was designed by me to maximize every inch of possible function for the way we wanted it to work and adding fridge drawers to our hutch made it right for us. I designed it to make me happy and with no consideration for resale or what others would think. My favorite design element -- the different cabinet finishes -- the wall of blue as a backdrop plus the knotty cherry -- and the custom leaded glass in the uppers of the hutch. But my favorite thing is how it functions. DH even said out loud last night (8 years later) how he loves the way we designed the kitchen. It just works for us. I'd say the marble and the three cabinet finishes were a bit of a ledge, maybe mixing metals -- no regrets. We didn't name our kitchen, but we had in mind a couple of things -- an old bakery or ice cream parlor and kind of the gentrified plantation/ranch style of the rest of our home. I also kept saying I wanted a workhorse, not a showplace. It needed to be almost understated and yet, at the same time, go big or go home. Probably doesn't make any sense, but no sissy stuff here. The sparkly bridge faucet, chandelier over the island -- beautiful, but didn't fit here.