My Tuscany Superb has 6' long canes that arch over to a total height of around 4'. How big is too big? I've got so many roses that are doing well for me it would be hard to list them all. What are you looking for? Antiques and Austin roses only? Do you want some hardy shrubs, Buck roses, rugosas, etc? Some of my favorite roses right now that don't get too big (for me that's under 4') are: Shrubs & Bucks Quietness (a truly outstanding rose that you can purchase at Sam's...) Dakota's Song Prairie Harvest Winter Sunset most of the Easy Elegance roses: All the Rage Macy's Pride Grandma's Blessing Funny Face Antiques Indigo Vick's Caprice Charles de Mills (around 5') Leda "Reine des Violettes" from Sam Kedem - his is not the true RDV, I believe it is really Portland From Glendora. She is a bloom factory all summer long and highly fragrant but does get to be about 5'x5'. A must have in my garden. David Austin roses: Crocus Rose Christopher Marlowe Redoute Charlotte Eglantyne The Dark Lady Rugosas Snow pavement - new this year but very fragrant and should stay on the small side. Purple Pavement Marie Bugnet Linda Campbell - she gets about 5'x5' with massive hydrangea like clusters of blooms. An absolute showstopper in my garden. I could list many many more but I'll stop myself here..

25 watts per 5 gallons is reccomended. Get one that has a control knob. The 7.5 says it is good up to 5 gallons and may be. But I don't think they have an adjustment on them. If a heater is overworked it will have a greater possibility to fail or worse over heat the aquarium. A 25 watt with an adjustment knob is the way to go. I like the freshwater master test kit by aquarium pharmaceuticals. I prefer the reagent type vs. multi test strips. In the long run the set is less expensive. The color cards are easier to read then some others, IMO. It has the vital tests you need pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. The strips ammonia test are sometimes skewed and are not accurate in some instances. It's like a Jr High chemistry set. You can get a small bottle of Prime by seachem or amquel+ ( I use prime, again a price thing you need less to treat more then amquel+, so it goes a long way) even though this is mainly for dechlorination it also removes ammonia and other crap. It can be double dosed to keep very high ammonia in check. Zeolite also helps. Usually just frequent water changes will dilute the water. If you read any of the bio-chemistry articles in the link I gave you you can see how pH plays a factor in the toxicity of ammonia and nitrites. Having well water is nice but you "could" have other issues to contend with. One major factor is pH, not so much for type of fish but it can really mess with establishing a nitrogen cycle. Water parameters will determine What% water to change and how often. After it is established, for regular maintainance IME with smaller aquariums I have found it better to do a smaller% more often, rule of thumb is 25% every 2 weeks minimally. If you have a Bio-wheel then you can change the cartridge part as the directions for it state. If you want to save a little$, make a slit in the blue fiber and dump out the activated carbon and replace it with new from a bulk container. I never had a problem in the past ( when I was a kid) establishing an aquarium. When I decided to start it up again (after 20 yrs.) I had alot of trouble. The city supplied water in the town I grew up in was pretty good quality and all I did was keep buckets of tap water on hand for water changes. I only had one test kit, pH, the litmus(sp?) paper. When that ran out I never replaced it. The only difference was water chemistry everything else I did was identical. The things I am mentioning are not gospel as the only way to do this. However, down the road when you may want to try different fish, live plants etc. it really helps to know how your system works and what is needed to maintain it. The only time I test the water now is if I suspect a problem or it has been a while since the last test. I always test new aquariums until I'm satisfied that they are OK. If Victoria's doesn't have what you need maybe Fredrick's ?? Also, don't get me wrong, I support independent fish stores but the link below can help for some of the things you may need that they can't order for you. Just click on the fish when you get there. Here is a link that might be useful: The good Dr.'s

Ugh. So today I inspect my roses, hoping that they will look a bit less yellow; instead I find that the hollytone has sprouted big clouds of white mold. I can't have that in my house, getting blown throughout the rest of the house by the air conditioning. I had already been considering if there was any way I could spray them without getting nasty chemicals in my house. So I decided, the heck with it - I hauled all 20 or so pots out in the back yard, put on my gloves and mask, mixed up a batch of the heavy duty rose and grape spray, and did the pots and all the other plants in the yard that needed it. I'll have to leave the pots out there for a few days for the chemicals to subside before I let them back in the house. I hope the wind doesn't knock them over, and if it starts raining I'll have to quick move them to the porch. Meanwhile I have to think of a way to kill off any remaining fungus gnats in the basement so they don't just reinfect the pots.

I think you also need to consider what you're asking the flooring specialists (sales, installation, whatever...) to do. Are you asking them to recommend/sell/install the flooring with a warranty or assurance you can come back to them if the wood moves? I assume the original flooring guy that said he wouldn't install planks wider than 4.5" meant he wouldn't install them and back them with any kind assurance. Maybe he wouldn't install them under any circumstances because he's worried you'll drag his name through the mud if they cup/warp. Even if they inspect your site, how do they know you'll take the proper steps to control the humidity levels in both summer and winter? How do they know how "sensitive" you are to the inevitable gaps and minor cupping. This was much the same discussion we had with our granite counter top dealer. If you want a perfect, uniform look, go with an engineered product. Natural stone has imperfections. Embrace it or pick something less natural. Same with wood flooring. The wider the plank, the more susceptible to movement in all directions. It's easy to get someone on a message board to say they'll be fine with 10" wide planks. They likely understand the installation and maintenance requirements and, most importantly, don't have to worry about you suing them later if you're unhappy with your choice.