Trees planted early in the ground will grow significantly faster than same aged one in the pots (but can be done if you KNOW what to do. Just hard to find right materials for that to happen). Another option is to let feeder roots escape into the ground where there is more moisture and nutrients (see Roottrapper with knitted fabric at the bottoms for feed roots to grow through and "anchor" trees so they don't get blown down. If I had a tree farm, I'd definitely go with that route. Either that or underground knit bags. I don't think there's any problems using organic fertilizers throughout the summer. I only use synthetic fertilizer in spring/fall. Last thing I want to do is mow all the time during hot weather. Alfalfa pellets at the rate of 20lbs per 1000 sqft isn't too bad. Vigorio organic fertilizer from Home Depot is intriguing. Jobee at Lowes is exactly the same. Milorginate has good amount of iron too keep lawn deep green. Mix it up. Here is a link that might be useful: Vigorio organic fertilizer

I purchased a hydrangea and some dianthus during the sale. They took 9 days in transit to get here and were completely dried out and dying by the time they arrived during a heat wave -- only a few yellowed leaves and crispy stems remained. After much watering and coddling, the hydrangea is looking good, but the dianthus haven't bounced back. I was disappointed in the method of shipping (DHL, which delivers to the post office, then the post office handles the box like 3rd class and doesn't hurry to deliver), especially considering the very high shipping charge for the quantity of plants I received. Also, they were out of stock on about half of what I ordered but charged my credit card for the full amount, in 2 separate charges. I asked for a refund 2 weeks ago and it still hasn't shown up on my card. Also, the packing slip said the unshipped items were backordered, so I called but was informed they had been cancelled, not backordered. Two calls to customer service later, with only half the plants I ordered and an incorrect charge on my card, I have to say, I wasn't very happy with this (my 1st) purchase from them. I don't think I'll be ordering from them again. I think the end result is one semi-healthy hydrangea that ended up costing about what I would've paid at a local nursery, when you factor in shipping. Re reaching them -- I called the phone number on my packing slip and had no problem reaching them. It's getting them to do what needs doing that I've had a problem with.

My personel experience with 2 different N.C. stores produced similar results but required different efforts on my part. First, a less pleasant experience with Furnitureland South required many phone calls and attempts by them to repair an armorie that had poorly mounted door hinges (the doors would not stay fully open since the hinges were not plumb). This was a frustrating experience since they sent 2 different repair crews from N.C. to northern Va. (actually delivery personnel who stopped by on their route) who were less than knowledgeable about any repairs beyond fixing scratches. Finally afer many exhausting telephone exchanges, Furnitureland South replaced the unit with a new one. The brand was Lexington (manufactured offshore) and we would not recommend this brand to anyone because of the poor quality control. The second experience was with Boyles, with the assistance of Terra in customer service and the help of Larry Hendricks (the owner). They were very helpfull in working a problem of settling down-fill in a H&M Austin sofa and chair, (these are the straightback versions, not the bustle-back style). As an aside we love these pieces, and the down-fill is luxurious, but problematic so we would recommend their foam cores rather than the down cores. Boyles ordered replacement cores for the backs and seats (a total of 8 cores) and sent a delivery crew to replace them. The crew was unable to remove the existing cores (sewn in place). Boyles then scheduled a pickup of the units by their movers and took the units back to H&M in Hickory N.C. for new cores to be factory installed. During this time we also spoke with the H&M factory reps. directly since these was amazement at H&M that the cores were not removable in the seatbacks. All in all this was a good experience and Boyles and H&M treated us fairly and timly. In both cases there was no charge for any of the work or visits/deliveries etc. One additional note, we were interested in purchasing an ottoman for the H&M sofa and worked with Duane, the owner on The Keeping Room, a small high quality store in Alexandria, Va. The key was to find a match to the leather after 4 years of ownership. He procurred a sample from H&M that was not a great match, and then coordinated an attempt to match the leather when the sofa and chair were at H&M for the core replacements. He was very helpfull and personally involved with his contacts at the factory. While ultimately we were unsuccessful with the match, we have since become customers of The Keeping Room because of his excellant service level. So, while we have used Furnitureland South and Boyles in N.C. and have had very good service from Boyles (even after 4 year from the original purchase date) we ultimately made our most recent purchase of a Leathercraft desk chair at a competitive price from The Keeping Room (about an hour away). Hope this helps Cuse69

I ordered my Waterstone main and filtration faucets from Quality Bath using my credit card. I thought their service was very good. The main faucet was on backorder. They sent me an email to let me know that... Here's part of the email: "Thank you very much for your recent order. Approximate lead times for the items are as follows: Waterstone Soap Dispenser - 4065 & Cold Filtration Faucet - 1400 C are about 5 weeks for you to receive. The Pulldown Kitchen Faucet - 5400 will be about 10-12 weeks for you to receive. If this does not work out with your schedule please contact us. We will send you an e-mail confirmation once your order ships.".... I thought 10-12 weeks was too long of a wait and cancelled the order, but then changed my mind and reinstated it. In the process I called them many times discussing it and every time they were very accommodating (explained that the long lead time was from the Waterstone. I called Waterstone and they confirmed it as well). After all, when the order was reinstated, I got everything much much faster. So I was very happy with Quality Bath.