Roses I would grow are, mistakes or not, Mme. Plantier, Souvenir de la Malmaison, Quietness, Sombreuil, Blanc Double de Coubert, Clotilde Soupert and Pope John Paul II. I have been amazed at the number of blooms it has produced in this its first year. Plants usually take a very long time to establish here. Other plants that I must have include; Anemone japonica 'Honrine Jobert' and 'Whirlwind' (whites), 'Prinz Heinrich' (rose) as well a few pinks, Brunnera 'Jack Frost' (the jury is still out for 'Looking Glass' although I can already tell that it is not as strong a grower), box, yew, holly, Vinca minor, Daphne odora marginata, Nandina domestica 'Ivory Queen' (pale yellow berries), Narcissus in quantity (it is one of those things one can never have too much of), Lycoris squamigera, Scilla siberica (love that cobalt blue), Eranthis hiemalis, Crocus (both Fall and Spring blooming), Cyclamen, Colchicum, Lilium, Paeonia, Helleborus niger and its hybrids. I am sure that I have forgotten something but this is a good starter list. I have done fairly well with hedges and trees for structure but I would focus more on shrub compositions, especially evergreens, both broadleaved and needled, although those compositions must include deciduous plants or the effect becomes too ponderous. A lot is written about plant composition but it is usually directed at the relationship of perennials with each other. More emphasis should be placed on shrubs. They form a satisfying year round structure for the garden. Perennials are the bling. Shrubs can be interesting with flowers and berries as well as foliage and are definitely less labor intensive. Cath

We have 5 hens, 5 guineas, 7 ducks. The hens are in a moveable cage, which allows them to do some of our hoeing for us, but they can destroy a garden in half an hour if turned loose. The guineas do the least damage, a little scratching, but mostly they peck my lower rosebuds. I hear they will eat all tomatoes, though some say they won't. Just got them last fall, we'll be finding out in a few months. The ducks are still under consideration. We decided to give up on the Muscovies, who had free run of the area and sleep on perches over the big old chicken cage, except for full mooon nights, when they won't fly. They sit on the ground and the coyotes make off with them. The drakes are large and heavy and a bit hard on seedlings they walk over. It was very interesting last spring to see them eat all the dandelion seeds, we realised they could change the entire ecology of our garden. So we got some Khaki Campbell ducks, true ducks, not like the cheap imitation Brazilian sort (ie. Muscovies) they only run 4.5 lbs, but as it turns out they adore water and spend more time in the pond than in the garden. This may be a blessing, as they waddle over plants, take their nap on the leeks, and poke around everything that I have mulched. Their cage is the same as the hens cage, but they pack down the grass and clover instead of eating it, and they leave a crust of manure on the ground. We have been adding sawdust to improve conditions in their cage. I am considering a permanent small house for them in the garden, as climbing plants could grow over it and get their roots under it to take advantage of moisture and fertility. Think of it as a sort of enclosed compost pile, I'd frequently add feed, sawdust and water, remove eggs, and about twice a year remove the finished compost. We'd let them out for awhile at advantageous times. The downside of this experimentation has been having to protect certain plants within the garden. My tomato rings have worked very well to protect my young beets, and I have fiddled with them a bit as I put in my tomatoes, putting some plants inside the rings or expanding them a bit to enclose the 7 plants till they get some size to them. but as I put my rings into service, I am wondering if some flimsy chicken wire would enable me to fence off small areas with temporary fences. Would it be worth it? So far we have found the ducks amusing, but whether they will prove as useful and practical as chickens remains to be seen. Donna

Not sure what will happen at night. But I went to my most poorly lit room and took 2 lamps each with a different bulb in them and no shade. I wanted to see how incandescent regular bulb compared to my brande new Reveal bulb. On the wall behind the incandescent bulb, it shines/reflects cozy at a first glance, but looking closely it is definitely leaning towards yellow/green undertones. The wall behind the Reveal "daylight" bulb (much higher kelvin) is definitely much more less yellow/green and is brighter and pulling out the more yellow/apricot undertones (not as much apricot as I would like, but at least the murky green quality has gone). It is now still daylight here, so no idea how this Reveal bulb will impact the room at night. But it may be that this at least diminishes the yellow/green problem at night if I replace all of my lighting with Reveal bulbs. Will update when it gets dark outside. This is a rather interesting experiment and may be of value to those struggling with green undertones in yellow paint at night. I would have thought a more yellow, warm incandescent lower K bulb would soften the colour but rather it really exaggerates the yellow tones in the paint and overrides the neutral/apricot undertones. I now think the daylight bulb may be better for certain colours - will buy more bulbs and replace them in my various lights and see if this at least simmers down the green problem while I debate what to do with the paint in the medium to long term. p.s. Just looked and there are chandelier and halogen Reveal bulbs so I can put these in every room. I am definitely going to do this - cannot wait to see what happens. :) This post was edited by Scarlett001 on Sat, Dec 1, 12 at 17:25

My GC said 4-5 weeks, so my big dog and I moved into a friend's condo with her and her 2 cats. 2 weeks in, they were clearly nowhere close and they provided a schedule showing not done with the bathroom for 8 weeks! My sweet friend said no problem although the animals were driving us both crazy. Then we got to 6 weeks, it was pushed out more, and I said I need to get back in my house. At that point there was a tub with running water, and a toilet within a few days. Several times they had to remove the toilet for tiling or other work, so I used their porta potty outside, then eventually bought this camping toilet to use at night. I showered at the gym. My project included reframing most of the bathroom walls and relocating the fixtures, in conjunction with a kitchen remodel. Much more than simple bathroom remodel. If I did it over, I would have insisted on seeing their schedule before starting work. I think the GC gave me the initial estimate without actually crunching the numbers, and I think they could have done more to prioritize the bathroom completion first (as opposed to the kitchen work, which was lower priority).