Dan, I live in Social Circle, which is a little town about 50 miles east of Atlanta. The large lot at my turn-of-the-century house has about a foot of good top soil that was hauled in many years ago. I also fertilize my figs with cottonseed meal, which I discovered accidentally they like a lot. The fig should be grown by collectors primarily as a conversation piece. It would not be suitable as an "only fig." It has a fairly thick skin, but has a good, sweet taste. The observation that it doesn't like "wet feet" is correct. I had a fairly dry summer this year, so I had a good, harvestable crop. I had breakfast from them several times and also made some good preserves. In rainy weather, you might be able to protect them by laying plastic around the base to help the water to run off instead of soaking into the soil. All in all, the fig is a lot of fun. Very hardy and easy to grow. The bush grows like a weed!

I have a few Iris to trade, Sierra Granda New moon Variegated iris Most I have dug and rest, So they will not be ready until next fall. Here is a link to my gallery. Click on the pic and then the i and some are ID'ed on the back. Just click them again to go back. Here is a link that might be useful: Gaylas yard Gallery

Beautiful pictures!! Frenchdressing, your bathroom is stunning! We're using gray as the basic neutral in our new house. We chose SW Evening Shadow for the basic gray and Wall Street for the accent wall that will set off the gray stone fireplace. The charcoal wall is done, ready for the masons to start the fireplace today, and the tinted primer coat is on the rest of the walls -- it matches the Evening Shadow chip exactly, so it gives a good idea of the finished room. We went in on Saturday to look -- a cold, gray, drizzly day -- and I almost panicked. IT'S SOOOO cold and gray!! I know that when the white trim is painted, and our furniture and very bright contemporary art work is in place, there will be color and warmth, but boy, was Saturday the wrong time to look!! I needed to see pictures of finished rooms. Thanks!! Arlene

I may be in the minority, but I think that kitchen is too trendy. I prefer to keep the permanent and/or big ticket items like the floor, cabinets, backsplash and countertops classic and neutral. I like to use paint color and accessories to add personality. They are easy and cheaply changed. Fashions and color preferences change too often for me. Just look back at photos from when you were a kid in your mom's kitchen--still love it? This is my opinion, born of experience and too many "what was I thinking?" reflections when looking through the photo albums. Of course, if money is no option and YOUR definition of classic runs to more interesting choices, then by all means--do and have what you love.