Hi Livvy and Bella, I love H. ÂEndless Summer too as a matter of fact I had some hardscape work done last fall which entailed the landscaper removing a hedge of thirteen. They were out of the ground for a few weeks and the landscaper insisted on cutting them all back by one third which of course included this yearÂs blooms on last yearÂs wood. I will be interesting to see just how many blooms I get this year. I have bought Hydrangeas from Hydrangeas Plus http://hydrangeasplus.com/home.php a number of years ago the stock was large and healthy but the shipping even then was outrageous. I just ordered for the first time from Wilkerson Mill Gardens a very well known southern Hydrangea nursery http://hydrangea.com/ I will report when I receive the order. Although I have never order Hydrangea Hydrangea http://www.hydrangeashydrangeas.com/index.html I do know folks who have been happy with their order and the shipping from Nantucket canÂt be that bad. You might also be interest in this older thread about Hydrangeas in New England  2007 Banner Year for Hydrangeas in New England http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/neweng/msg0719523023282.html A few other places I have ordered from and was happy are; 1. Lazy S Farm - http://www.lazyssfarm.com/ 2. Plant Delights - http://www.plantdelights.com/ 3. Forest Farm - http://www.forestfarm.com/ 4. Joy Creek Nursery - http://www.joycreek.com/ 5. Avant Gardens - http://www.avantgardensne.com/ Where do you like to shop for plants? Below are couple of photos of the ugly rhodies I have tried in vain to use primarily as screening so like Dee I am hesitant to chop them down to 6" if they are going to grow back in three plus years into another ugly leggy rhody. Looking at the photos below do you think they are worth cutting back? Sick Yak ÂPrince Was a nice plant until this winter which was its second. Two leggy R ÂNova ZemblaÂs Rhododendron 'Cunningham's White' Leggy older Rhodie Flattering photo of another leggy Rhodie

axmom, I did bargain on the rental and got what I wanted. How is that a game?? I was prepared to move on if he didn't come down. Its a buyers/renters market. Tons of places on the market and many sitting for over a year. I realized, as I was looking around there was room for a lot of negotiating. You wouldn't believe what landlords were willing to offer to get their places rented. Trust me, I wasn't playing games. I got a good deal. I am ignorant of the Korean culture, as well as many other cultures. Should I well versed in all cultures before selling my house? How is that 'redneck?' They buyers are lovely people, I allowed a long closing because they are renting and their lease ends in April. I wasn't in a rush to move, but did not want to move in Feb. because I feared weather problems. I was right as we got hit with 2 ft. of snow and no power for 2 days. Had I insisted on an earlier closing I would have saved myself a few thousand dollars. We close Monday, Mar. 1 and I went to see my home today and we have tremendous tree damage which I am responsible to clear up. My allowing a 4 month closing will cost us a lot of money and headache. I'm not even sure how this is handled. Buyers called me daily on both cell and home phones asking to do the walk-thru with some friends and construction people. No matter how I explained we were moved out and the roads were closed, I hadn't cleaned after the move and we had no power (electric and water), they kept insisting they see the house. We moved Wed. because movers were afraid of the impending storm. I was not prepared and had to pay extra to have an man help me box. Took all day to move out and in to the new place. It started snowing that night and by morning my neighbor called to say trees were down and the power was off. We are on well/septic and I had left many plants behind in the house. I thought I had 3 days to clean up before the walk-thru. The roads were closed, my husband and I spent hours yesterday trying to get to our house. Our Town declared an emergency and we were almost stranded on the road. We managed to get to the house today to assess the damage. Luckily the trees did not hit the house or pool but we have huge limbs all over the ground and dangling from the trees. During all this, the buyer and his agent continued calling both me and my agent insisting they wanted the walk-through. No matter how I explained I couldn't get to my own house, how there was no water or electric, he didn't care or he wasn't understanding. I didn't want to be rude, but my nerves were frazzled and I just wanted to see my house and whether it was still standing. This is my first time selling a house. We've lived in it for almost 40 years. I wasn't prepared for the stress and amount of work involved. I did pack in advance as much as possible but we were still living in the house. I was trying to sell furniture and other items which took time and we both work full time. Plus, we love our house and enjoyed the time it was off the market. Those four months before closing were like a vacation. Guess we could have timed it better, but we still would have faced the snow storm because we allowed a long closing. So we pay the price. Tomorrow we agreed to meet the buyers, their agent and construction people at 2pm. My house is a mess from the movers and I will have to try to clean it up before they come. They want to inspect it again and worry it was damaged in the storm. I understand their anxiety, but they don't seem to understand mine. I need to hire a tree service to clear the mess but no one is even answering my calls. It will be Spring before the snow melts and work can begin. We were told money will have to be held in escrow to cover any damages. The tree work will cost us a small fortune. My problems could have been avoided if we closed earlier. Azmon, there was no 'double-standard.' I could have refused any of their requests which was my right. Jane

Buyers who look at homes for 6 months are not motivated buyers in my book, I would establish a different preview regimen to save the buyers and my own time. We looked not-seriously from March until June. We looked SERIOUSLY after that until we signed a contract to buld about 10 days ago. A few things happened. One is that we learned we couldn't have what we wanted and changed what we would have accepted. The other is that with the current market, people who don't have to sell yet are waiting--nothing new has come on the market in the last few months here. I was looking daily on-line and our agent was looking for us--we were hoping to have purchased and moved before school started. Nothing new was coming up--even up to another $200k over our price limit. We had some non-negotiables that made it hard to find a house. We need 5 functioning bedrooms (one could be in the basement), a kitchen at least as nice as the one I was leaving, a basement, at least a 3 car garage and we didn't want to change middle school districts. DH wanted a newer house since he didn't want to spend every spare moment doing home improvement. We increased our price range. We increased it again. I was looking at houses that were *double* our initial plan--still didn't find something 'perfect'--and at double our price range, we didn't want to have to finish the basement, replace the floors, re-do the kitchen, add on a garage or anything else in the $10k plus range. Out of curiosity, after we raised our budget and relaxed some of our earlier wants, I went back and looked at the flyers of houses we'd looked at earlier--and still wouldn't have bought them. We might have done better if we'd been seriously looking May and June, but we were too busy planning our wedding to househunt :-) But 6 months didn't mean we weren't serious--it meant we were *particular* (or fussy, if you prefer). Up until the day we signed the contract to build, we'd have bought a pre-existing one if we could have found one. --Beth

I agree! I bought my A.R. Hybrid double oven (1 gas & 1 electric) in 2012 and it is now 2024. The gas oven has not worked at all since the igniter was replaced (at my expense $600.00+) under warranty. A.R. sent me the free part! It lasted about 2 months. Technicians refuse to come out because they are not trained or because A.R. does not pay them enough. Both anwers were given. After the warranty expired, technicians were told that the oven weighed over 600 lbs, the model number, the part number, the igniter needed replaced, and that I could not help them remove it. BEFORE they came out, they knew this information, and 6 times we paid for service calls, and $200-300.00 trip charges because they had to drive 17-65 miles, and we were told all 6 times that they could not fix the oven. The did not even pull the oven out. They also did not order the part in advance. The electric oven has design flaws. The broiler comes on too often when baking. Everything burns no matter which rack you use, and the temperature about 50 degrees off. Plus it takes over an hour to preheat to 350 degrees. In the summer, my kitchen gets way too hot. So, every once in a while, I make sure people know to NOT buy an American Range product. I saw this post and I added my 2 cents worth in. I am now using a Breville Air Fryer Pro Smart Oven, and I have had no problems with it. I love how quickly it preheats. I understand why "The Right to Repair" movement started. It is ridiculous that appliances and cars and other things are expected to fail prematurely. Especially, expensive ovens and refrigerators! I have a really old upright deep freezer from the late 50s or early 60s that still works. I have to push a concrete block against the door to keep it closed. I also have an old single door Westinghouse refrigerator that is still working. It belonged to an uncle who lived and worked in Vietnam in the early 60s. When he died,in Vietnam, his company shipped it to the U.S. to his mother. We use it in the garage. I am afraid to buy a new oven. Plus, it is inside an enormous oak cabinet that will probably have to be replaced since a different brand will probably not fit. American Range's lack of quality products is going to cost me a lot of money.