Thanks so much! I think many of the previous posters trickled away when Gardenweb became Houzz. I did prefer it before, but it still works! Eboone, can you direct me to instructions on winter protection? There's little I wouldn't do for my figs! Gary, my plants were in pots from 2011 until fall 2017 due to moving around a lot. Sal's did fine, Both Hardy Chicago did fine until I planted it in the ground (one of 2 died which I can't explain, but the remaining one is doing fabulously.) In my last real home in Maryland (also 7A), I had Sal's in the ground and Celeste. Sal's was amazing, despite significant die-back in the winters I had plenty of amazing figs. Celeste grew large but never produced figs before I moved away. My deceased plants this spring are one HC, Conadria (which was given to me and had never thrived), and a Brown Turkey, also a gift, and also didn't like my handling. I have been pinching the fruit babies for the last 6 years because I didn't want the trees wasting energy, but they died back anyway. This year, Sal's and Hardy Chicago are producing figs, especially HC, but I'm still pinching many in the hopes the plants will stabilize and produce good crops next year. I've have had 2-3 Celestes die on me since 2011. I keep trying, because I've heard such good things about Celeste, thinking they just don't like being in pots. The one I bought and planted in the ground last year is alive....but I can't really comment beyond that. My Violette de Bordeau has struggled in the pot....most springs I thought it was dead but it rallied. I've had it for 4-5-6 years? It was one of the first I planted in the ground last year in the hope of saving it. It came back much stronger this spring. Still nothing like Hardy Chicago or Sal's, but at least I think I don't worry about it dying anymore. LSU purple was new last year, and it survived---barely. Eboone, thanks for the suggestions! I'll start looking around! By the way, can either of you tell me when is the season to make cuttings? I used to root them in damp paper towels with good success, but I don't remember what time of year I did it, and the last batch I tried did very poorly.... Thanks so much! Ann

I prefer Jasminum Sambac varieties due to the fact that Jasmine Tea is scented with their flowers. These tend to bloom every 30 to 40 days if given warm temperatures and good sunshine. Mine will have to come inside once temperatures drop consistently near 50 degrees. My family and friends who smell one of the flowers want more for potpourri and even cuttings. I think Hardy Jasmine is Jasminum officinale which is hardy to z6 sheltered or z7 for outside planting.

Marcolo and Blfenton, the box thing in the southeast corner is just that, a box constructed out of drywall to take up the corner. I hate blind corner cabinets, so I would rather "waste" the corner entirely rather than spending money on corner cabinetry I hate, especially since it lets me put more efficient drawer storage on each side of the corner. It also allows me to have tall cabinetry on the east wall and uppers and lowers on the south wall, without having an issue where they meet in the corner. I might put a door in the guest room wall to utilize the 27" x 27" space from the other side to store items we do not need to get to often, like luggage. I agree that having the wall ovens 4' away from the nearest landing spot on the island is not ideal, but it is a big improvement over the 7' walk between wall ovens and counters in our current kitchen. If we move the wall ovens to the east wall, there is still at least a 4' walk to the island. Amanda, the trash pullout and dishwasher are on opposite sides of the sink cabinet. I will also have storage for dishes, Rubbermaid containers, plastic wrap, etc. on the south wall. That way, after meals, the plates and pots all go to the counter next to the sink, leftovers can be packaged, dishes can be scraped into the trash and then go into the dishwasher. When I empty the dishwasher, the dish storage is on uppers on that wall. It sounds like cooktops on islands are not popular. I agree it is not ideal, but it was the only way to get the entire wall of tall cabinets on the east side. My DH loves the look of that wall, and that wall will be highly visible from our kitchen and dining room. I would prefer a real hood to a downdraft vent, but, then again, I have lived without a proper hood for 10 years. Mahlgold, I am having trouble balancing the look we want with function. We plan to do prep on the island and the counter to the left of the sink. Those 2 areas give us more counter space than we have had in any prior kitchen. We do not own a coffee maker or toaster oven. Our only countertop appliances are a KA mixer, small toaster and blender. The mixer and blender will go under the uppers to the left of the sink (mixer in far left corner on an angle). The toaster could also go on that counter, or maybe behind the lift door on the left side of the east wall along with bread storage. We only do breakfast and lunch at home 1 or 2 days per week. I am not sure how many or how deep of drawers to put in the tall cabinets. I drew each side with 5, but it could be 3 or 4. This kitchen has so many more lower cabinets than we have ever had before, that I am not sure what to put in all of them. On the right side tall cabinet, I thought I would want a couple of shallow drawers at the top to store extra trays for the Advantium, pot holders (those will be kept in 3 different locations near all the hot appliances) and wine tools like the opener, Vacu-vin, etc. Maybe a drawer for DH's vast tea bag and leaf collection and related tools. We could put all the empty baby bottles and plastic plates for the kids in a drawer in that tower or on the south wall. On the left side tall cabinet, I could use the drawers to store pyrex, roasting pans, pie tins and other baking dishes that might not fit in the drawers below the wall oven. My stove top pots and pans and utensils will go in drawers below or next to the cooktop on the island, as I have several feet of drawers on the south side of the island. The wall ovens were put on the north wall (where they are in the current kitchen) because they are less attractive to look at. Also, if we get the side opening Gagg ovens, they would be difficult to place in the east wall because they need at least 8" between the hinge side of the oven and an adjacent wall, so we could not put them at the very end of a cabinet run. It is also tricky because we are trying to find space for 3 wall ovens: standard 30" convection oven, speedoven/microwave, and steam oven. They are too tall to stack all together in one column and still have at useful heights. I will use the speedoven/microwave more than once a day, so I would be miserable having that oven below countertop height. I also hope to use the combi-steam oven regularly. I feel like we should have 1 full size oven, but that one will get the least use (I very rarely bake or cook large meals), so I could buy the Thermador wall oven with the standard door and put it under the counter somewhere and stack the other 2 together on a wall. The problem with swapping all the cooling appliances to the north wall and the pantry to the east wall as was suggested is that the pantry is only 16-18" deep and the appliances are 24" deep, which would prevent us from having a 24" deep coat closet on the hall side of that space. (We really need a coat closet because the house does not have one now.) I will think about whether we can steal coat space from another room, like the guest room. I am debating the idea of a prep sink on the island. DH looked at me like I was crazy when I suggested a second sink 5' away from the main sink. We do not use the sink a lot for prep. We rinse the veggies, but then put them on a cutting board and move it to where we want to work. We use a large bowl to collect veggie or meat waste when we peel, chop and trim. Sadly, we do not have any family in this state, so no one brings us food to prepare. It is just DH and I in the kitchen now, although we hope our two daughters will like to cook as they get older.

Thank you all for your advice and encouragement. Sub, I did see that comment, it was helpful! Sheila, my head knows it’s a waiting game, but my neurotic soul wants to know what I’m facing RIGHT NOW, ha! And also what to be looking for in the meantime because I can’t stop obsessing. Seil, letting me know you generally have to prune twice is crazy helpful. Thank you! I followed Ken and Ben’s advice on a thread about fort and clay soil when I first put them in. The graft isn’t deep, it’s right at the soil line. I did mound leaves and mulch around the base of the plants, which does go above the graft, but I didn’t completely cover them with blankets when the temperature dipped like Ken does. It honestly didn’t occur to me to do that even though we knew the day before the polar vortex was coming, I didn’t expect the temperatures to dip that low for so long. Shows my inexperience, I guess. I‘m glad to hear the own roots will most likely be okay! So what I’m hearing that I won’t definitively know at pruning time what’s damaged necessarily? Just take out what’s for sure and then kind of wait and see after that?