Hi Wiguy, Thank you for the nice email!! Im so happy that your cuttings did well for you.. seems like it was in Feb? When you posted about info on the GiryyMix and Al sent me info about you inquiring about Plumeria. So glad to help you!! Everything looks great!!! Way to go!! I wanted to post your pic of you Gardenia for you. The Plumeria look great. Get them outside and water them when they need it. Probably evry couple of days , since they are in Gritty Mix. Looking Good! Congratulations!! Laura Hopefully someone will help you on the Gardenias..

Planto-- HAHA! this is soooo new to me that I think I am WAY over my head! but thanks for the compliment anyway. I have NEVER started a plant as a starter before a year ago. (Started with Spiders and Pothos, and some of them were tough for me) I have always gone out and got big healthy plants, then brought them home, just to have them die on me. It took me a very long 20 years before I even THOUGHT about getting a plant of any kind. Then about a year ago I seen this Spider Plant, and it was Curly! I fell in love with it. The only curly one there. I brought it home, and guess what?? it almost died. But my daughter found this site, and everyone taught me how to take care of it. (I was doing EVERYTHING WRONG!)It is doing real good now! That started me on other plants. I take them home, show it here, and these good ppl tell me how to take care of it- lol. Not really, I have learned a lot before getting a plant anymore. And I know that if something comes up that I don't understand, I can just come here and somebody will give it to me straight. And I am hoping that even if it is just a little info, that it sticks in my brain! haha. Experience? NOT! but I am working on it ;) Marjie

Hi there, Your link didn't work for me, but, I'll start you out with the information you gave in your post. First, if you have rot on branches but a firm trunk, cut off the rot with a sterilized knife or shearers. Make a good guess as to how far back on the branch to start, but you want to cut back until you see only white inside the branch. If you see any brown at all (which is rot), keep going. Since you said the trees were lopsided and/or were falling over, what I'd probably do is this: once you have the rot cut off, I'd examine the roots. If they look healthy, the trees will probably be fine. If there's rot in the rootball, say a prayer!, then cut away the rot (I've never dealt with root rot because I live wayyyyy down South, but I'm pretty sure that's what you would do--maybe someone else can confirm). Either way, it wounds like it would be a good time to root prune your trees. Laura just posted a terrific photo tutorial of the root-pruning that she performed on a bunch of her trees. It should still be on page 1--have a look at that. This is a good time of year to prune branches AND roots, so if your trees are still alive at their core, they'll be fine. Once you re-pot them (and you'll want to re-orient them so that they're nice and upright), stake them up, water once, put them in dappled sun, and once you see new growth, put them in full sun and water regularly. Hope this helps. Good luck! Greg

Chris, it is a bit confusing but exciting as well. Thanks for the complement on my painting skills. Yes, I do like the fp the color it is, but if I change my mind I can just paint over it. The hearth is concrete with pebbles, exposed agregate. I want to cover it with some sort of tiles. I have a huge box of bisque tiles in the garage that I was going to use on a shower in my last house; I can glaze them any color I want and have them fired. I'd like to box in the space under the hearth for storage. Midwestmom, I agree, and that's the philosophy I'm applying to all of my living room now -- make it serve me and don't worry about some stranger ten years down the road. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. Val, the arch has no bearing on the fp code I'm almost positive; it's entirely superficial. I have called two carpenters to come out and give me bids. One will come Sat. and one on Tues. They know the codes and what can and can't be done. I also found two surrounds on Craigslist and I got one of the carpenter's email addies and emailed him what my fp looks like plus some ideas for what I like, plus the CL ads. So we'll see what he says. One of the CL ads would lend itself beautifully to what Reno did with her fp... the carpenter would just have to knock off the brick arch and install it, then build above it, then I would tile. The surround that's for sale is a gorgeous new oak one and it's $300. I emailed the fellow the picture of Reno's fp. Whether the arch stays or goes will depend on what the carpenters say can be done, and the cost, and of course code compliance. You make a good point about the height of the mantle, and that's on my mind too. I'm thinking those sharp corners of the hearth could use a bullnose corner tile over them. I'll also discuss my flooring options with these two guys and see what they recommend, and see if they can shore up the back of my fainting couch while they're at it. Thanks so much for the pictures and the great ideas, folks. It gives me a lot better grip on how to talk with these contractors and where I can go with this project. Our conversations here have lit a fire under me to get going on these projects and have a LR/DR of which I can be proud (LR first). I ordered the JCP drapes today. I had forgotten about the sliding glass door in the DR having to match the LR drapes, so with necessary hardware for the LR and a valance only for the DR the price climbed higher than I'd anticipated (isn't that the way?) but I think I'm getting very good bang for the buck. The thought of spending all this money is a bit scary. Now I need to double-check my measurements and order the fabric for the fainting couch, and look for gimp braid on eBay too. Never a dull moment when you're re-doing a room, is there? I have to laugh. The couch and chair coming back from the upholsterers made everything else look bad. Isn't that how it always happens? Get new drapes and the floor looks bad. Get a new floor and the couch looks bad, etc. Never fails!