Here at the Independent Senior Retirement Community (where I live) we were waiting for a Music group to start their program. The lady on my right mentioned that she hoped they wouldn't be too loud. Then she turned to the lady two seats away on my right, ( who celebrated her 90th birthday in June) and said: "Do you have a hearing aid?" Her answer was HUH? Made us all laugh. Sue

Heathers are hardier IME (zone 4) and I haven't had any winter damage with them. I can only grow a few Heaths without winter damage. At my last house I had both a bunch of heathers and one heath, Erica carnea 'Vivellii' which was supposed to be hardier than most heaths and had dark green foliage and rich pink flowers. IIRC, the Erica usually bloomed when there was still some snow on the ground, often in April, though it varied depending on the season and when snow melted. It was in a rocky ledge area that faced SW, so the snow melted fairly quickly compared to less open areas, and the flowers opened as soon as the branches emerged from snow. There was one winter that it had damage when we had a lot of particularly frigid weather without snow, but most winters it pulled through well. My inlaws, who live locally, have a couple of the common heaths seen at grocery and big box stores, Erica x darleyensis 'Mediterranean Pink' and 'Mediterranean White'. They usually have more cold damage, but do survive and recover after trimming. In your slightly warmer zone, I think they would be fine since they are hardy to zone 6 or zone 5 with shelter. They bloom around the time of Scilla, so after snow melt, but before the perennials are more than just beginning to show expanding buds right at soil level. IMO heathers are lovely, one of those plants that looks good regardless of season. In my previous garden I relied on them to provide color and texture at this time of year when only evergreen plants look good. All the ones I've grown are summer bloomers and some have foliage with color that intensifies with cold. I have just five heather plants here and none of them looks great, though all are growing well, just too crowded. I will order more when I have somewhere to put them that shows them well. I don't much like putting them in a regular mixed perennial bed since they tend to get overwhelmed by more exuberant, spreading or sprawling plants. There used to be a wonderful heather nursery on Cape Cod, but when the nursery was sold, they stopped raising heaths and heathers, so the only place I know of now with a really large set of choices is on the west coast, http://www.heathsandheathers.com All the ones I have now I just happened to run across at local nurseries, but there wasn't ever a lot of choice. I would love to hear if others in New England grow heaths or heathers.

Hi Toya Ralston, In June, we installed Mannington Adura Max LVP - Seaport Sandpiper in our kitchen, family room, office, hallway, laundry room and master bedroom. We live in a one story on a lake and wanted something waterproof and I also decided I wanted more greys, whites and light browns, and it looks beautiful with our beachy/Coastal Decor. It has lots of light, medium and some darker variations of planks and really lightened up all our rooms. I truely don't see a lot of footprints or smudges on it, but it's just my hubby and I with two black cats, with occasional visits from family & young grandkids living out of state. I run a small vaccum every few days (mostly to remove black cat hair) and I damp mop it about once a week. So far we love it and we've not had any issues with it at all.

I am looking at this same floor - these photos are so helpful - thank you. We are using and advantec subfloor - and am understanding that we can't glue down to that - I could add a gypcrete and then could glue to that - otherwise would be clipped (clamps?) and am concerned with click clacking? Thoughts? Is your floor glued - how is durability