Yes! I didn't think my plants would bloom at all this year, so it was exciting enough to see them spitting out the flower stalks, and now they're actually giving me flowers. I cheated a bit of course sometimes, for the Stapelia I chose one that had a little bud already xD

Seedmama, I forgot to mention that we also used white nylon cord instead of surveyor's tape one year, and it stretched and sagged too. I like Diane's idea about using fishing line. And I need to add that sometimes our garden 'contraptions' baffle people. lol My scarecrow is made out of sheet metal and is welded to a sturdy pole stuck deeply in the ground. The guy who made it for me cut the scarecrows arms and legs sticking out at "jaunty" angles, sort of like the scarecrow is dancing. I've never given the scarecrow much thought other than (a) feeling deeply appreciative to have a talented metalworker friend who made me such a lovely and useful object for my garden, and (b) observing over time that the scarecrow scares no one (except, apparently, folks who are driving by and think someone's body is hanging from the pecan tree) and, in fact, the mockingbirds perch on it and sing. Surely this embarrasses the scarecrow and he would blush were his skin not painted a flesh color that has no hint of blush in it. One day a local sherriff's deputy pulled up into our driveway and stopped at the end of the garden to look at the scarecrow. I said to a neighbor later "I wonder what that was about" and he told me it likely was because when you're driving by our house, the scarecrow sort of looks like a body hanging from the pecan tree. Uggh! Mia, It wasn't me. But that's pretty hysterical. His story of the groundhog trapped in the garden by the electric fence reminds me of the night I left the garden gate open and 4 deer strolled in. I walked outside early in the a.m. and there they were--4 deer standing in the garden. I stopped in my tracks and quietly began backing away from the gate. Unfortunately, they went insane running wildly all over the garden, trying to jump the fence, etc. but making no effort to exit through the open gate even though I was, by then, back inside the house and no threat to them whatsoever. Being nice, friendly deer, they had delicately picked their way along the garden path (you could see the light indentations of their hooves in the garden pathways) and hadn't even nibbled much of anything yet. Once they saw me, they overreacted and ran around madly trampling everything. Everything. They kept jumping repeatedly into fencing they couldn't leap over and even bent the fence posts. These tracks were made by wild running and jumping so left deeper, wider hoof marks. Finally they left the garden. I learned an important lesson about always double-checking the gate to make sure it is closed and secured. Hopefully the deer learned a lesson about remembering to leave through the same gate you enter through, because if you can't jump the fence to get into the garden, you likely can't jump the fence to get out of the garden either. As far as I know the deer haven't been back in the garden since then, and I generally do remember to close the gate. Anyway, I generally bribe the deer to stay out of the garden by putting out hen scratch or deer corn for them by the compost pile, and by filling up a small watering hole (it is about the size of a large sink) with the hose so they always have water. I usually feed in winter, and sometimes in summer if a tired doe brings her baby or babies to eat. They are showing up here 3 or 4 nights a week now, undoubtedly because of the drought, and if I don't have food out there for them, they patiently stand by the compost pile waiting. Tim will say "your deer are waiting out there". Then, I go out, they run away, I put out food and go back inside, and they come back and eat. My garden lives on, unmolested by deer. Come to think of it, we have mafia deer here, because they are shaking me down in a typical mafia protection racket, only they just want corn and not cash. Dawn

Hi Hunter, Ii hope u can get to Va! You will be able to have more of a variety of tropicals here. So, Brian and I are keeping our fingers crosses for you to head to Bedford!!!! But watch out for Brian, he'll try and bend you to "The Other Side.." LOL...He likes the Hoo's....(UVA) let us hear where you are going!!! Take care.. Im posting some pics for you on another thread of my trees here in VB Take care.. Laura in VB

They're bigger, but still not legible - at least the top one is illegible. Rotag - can you zoom your PDF to fit your monitor screen and then take a screen shot? Then, save the screenshot as a JPG file and post it here? Can you also post specific measurements rather than general? I.e., the width of each window/wall/door/doorway and the distances b/w each window/wall/door/doorway. You do say windows/doors can be moved - any/all of them? I can already tell that most likely your overhang is too shallow - you have plenty of space, so increase the island to 41.5" deep. I also think you need to move the DW & sink over to have more landing space to the right of the sink - you risk splashing water all over the floor as well as knocking things off the counter (like glass!) You could move the DW as far as you can to the left into the corner and then have a 27" cabinet turned 90 degrees on the other side (facing the seats) rather than deadening out the space. It could house seldom-used items or items for the living/dining area.