Hot Cocoa is relatively disease resistant, it may get some anthracnose (a fungal disease) late in the season, but not horrible. Synthetic fungicides are applied as per the directions on the container. Most have a 7 - 14 day cycle. Bayer Advanced Disease Control for Roses, Flowers, and Shrubs is popular with those here on the forum who use a fungicide regularly. Heirloom sells small plants (rooted cuttings), so they need a little extra care. They may need to be put into a little larger pot, and kept in dappled shade until they harden off. They can't be exposed to direct sunlight right out of the box, the leaves will fry. A couple of weeks in dapples shade, and gradual exposure to direct sunlight will harden them off.

Businesses deserve the opportunity to resolve customer complaints before their reputations become damaged. From what I could tell by researching the internet before I placed my orders, MariettaÂs Gardens enjoys an excellent reputation among a lot of satisfied customers. Do you suppose that either someone working for MariettaÂs or for the carrier might have messed up? Those things do happen, unfortunately, when employees make mistakes. I ordered daylilies from MariettaÂs about the same time that you did. They were shipped quickly, and all of the daylilies I received from them arrived in excellent condition. I live south of you in Texas too, and in our area near Houston weÂve had an extraordinary amount of rainfall this summer, along with high heat and humidity. Yet with all the orders received this month, I havenÂt experienced anything like you have. So I donÂt think buying daylilies this time of the year was the reason for the root rot and mold. Hopefully, you will find in a couple of weeks that all your daylilies are growing and have recuperated from the stress of transplant during July, as are mine.

Yes - you're probably right, kaseki. In fact, it wasn't originally spec'ed to have the dishwasher and that was an impulse floor model buy. Later on, I've sort of thought that it threw off everything (the ice maker was supposed to go there.) That said, based on your thinking, I have thought about what my priorities were. Well the first is less a priority than a preference - when we entertain, I *dread* the extra batch of dishes than can't fit in the dishwasher. I hate going to bed with dishes not yet attended to b/c they are worse in the morning. SO, that second dishwasher was a big splurge but something I know we'll use. The second thing taking up the space now, the double u-line I guess reflects the priority more? Here we've designated this bonus space to an area where we can keep all the beverages for regular life and entertaining. It didn't sit right to me that we would accomodate all wine (we are sort of light wine drinkers on our own, more when we have folks over,) and NO beer, mixers or non-alcoholic beverages available. They would either need to end up in a bucket of ice on the counter or people would be going into the kitchen fridge. SO, I guess giving up 12 inches of space was a tradeoff I would make - especially since, as you say, you can't really ever fit everything in a room like this. I have nearly 8 feet of cabinets on the top of this area, one bottom cabinet with a drawer, and another cabinet and bank of drawers on the other side. So, I guess that's sort of how I thought it through? My logic is probably flawed - and my worst habit is being indecisive and second-guessing myself, but hopefully I can live with this one! :-) Thanks for the thoughtful comment though - it made me think this through again.

In my PNW garden these roses grew well. Bouquet Parfait...nice big shrub Prosperity...threw tall canes which then bend right over Blush Noisette....another tall bush which will flop Abraham Darby.....big, tall bush but could stand alone Dark Desire...those thick canes will never need help. Cream Veranda...makes a medium sized bush Polar Express...another medium sized bush Young Lycidas....he can stand alone, big bush Kosmos Fairy Tale...a flopper but staking won't help Crown Princess Margaretta...more tall canes which could use a stake Mme Issac Periere....she stands alone but some canes need tying in Jubilee Celebration...no problems with this one Jude the Obscure....he needed help to look tidy Pat Austin...she liked to lay her head in the mud so she needs help. I have grown roses on a chainlink fence and I found that I had to plant them at least five feet away from the fence or the canes got twisted when they stuck in the chain link mesh. I pruned the back of the bushes to keep them growing straight the first year. I also kept an eye out the first couple of years to make sure they were not getting into a pretzel shape. Those roses such as Crown Princess, Abraham, Prosperity all need some of the front canes to be tied back. This will make a more attractive hedge instead of roses fighting with each other. Also if you have anything called snow, it won't break down and damage the bushes. Make sure you clean out any thin or frail looking growth at the base, you will need some clearance to fertilize or weed them. I am assuming that you aren't into having your skin shredded and stabbed by rose canes. It certainly will look very attractive in a few years time.