Thanks again, especially for the candytuft ID, they are the stars of the spiral right now but they're starting to go to seed. I have a fountain in the front yard, and although I agree it would look great I wouldn't want to deal with the hassle in that particular spot. Birds love fountains, consequently they need to be cleaned frequently and it always involves splashing a lot of water on the ground and walking around the fountain a bit. Maybe I could get a birdbath and hook it to the irrigation system, but a statue would be easier and require less maintenance. I think I'm a one fountain person, a second is not something I relish taking care of but I wouldn't dream of getting rid of the one I have. Most recently a bench has been added to the garden, I realized that the place where the path brushes the raised bed is the coolest and most comfortable spot to hang out so I mentioned it to the DH and next thing I knew we had a new bench. I love it, it's perfect for sitting and enjoying my new area.

Stupendous Celeste!! The tour was amazing, we all very much appreciate you sharing your gardens with us. Hum... maybe I need to take Gardening 101 all over again. lol So very inspiring, gorgeous, breathtaking... A hammock is on my to get list also. We'll see how many band- aids get used with my kids flipping it over. lol Rena'

sunny, Look at it this way. The comments on here can sometimes seem rude but they will make you question choices you probably wouldn't question otherwise. Friends and family are not always the best people to go to in these situations because they will not want to offend you and will therefore tell you what they think you want to hear. It's better to decide now if this is really the house you want vs. spending $400,000 and then deciding it isn't what you wanted. If you love this house and it is your dream then who cares what anyone else thinks, but if you are feeling a little uncertain then maybe you should take a timeout before making the largest investment of your life. Whatever you do be honest with yourself. Don't feel like you HAVE to build something that you will not like if you have already invested several hundred or even several thousand dollars. It's better to cut your losses on $2,000 then to regret something worth $400,000.

@ livebetter No, I'm not a chemist * LOL * In fact, one of my worst teachers in high school was a chemistry teacher. From my limited knowledge, silicates are generally included in detergents as "washer protection agents" or "anti corrosion agents". Perhaps some detergents are more aggressive and require this ingredient while others do not, I don't know. I purchased a laundry soap made specifically for conditioned water that contains as it's 2nd or 3rd ingredient sodium metasilicate, which is a corrosion inhibitor. Softened water is notoriously aggressive against metals. The salts in conditioned water corrode the anodes in hot water heaters pretty readily. Soft water can also do a good job leaching copper out of copper water pipes, sometimes causing "blue water" to come out of peoples' taps. This sometimes happens in newer homes, but the corrosion will eventually form a coating on the inside of copper pipes that acts as an insulator against the corrosion. Did you know that the name PERSIL comes from the two primary ingredients in its original formulation? The PER comes from PERborate and the SIL comes from SILicates.