oooh, Ingrid, I'll tell DH we have lots of money. He'll be happy. :)) Here's a pic of Rosette Delizy that I just took. Diameter of flowers is about the same as length of leaves - less than 2". You might think this is a heat thing, but they were only a smidge larger in spring. Here's the bush. Quite wide and about 6' tall. Do yours and mine look at all like the same bush?? Location, location, location. Yellow teas here are quite disappointing to me except for Anna Olivier who maintains a huge petal count and diameter even now. She has the same almost white yellow color but is more pleasing to me due to size. Veronica, honestly, I didn't look for the pink wash since I could barely find the flowers, and they were more white than yellow, too. She's thornless and came from RPN so I'm sure she is MDC. Don't know what effect my soil may have on yellow teas. And truly, this summer my roses look pretty good, well leafed and blooming for the most part in the front anyway. Being in the ground, getting fed and watered more must be good things. :)) I'll mark you down as a vote for Alexander Hill Gray. It's good to know he's a good bet here. Too bad about Reubens. I read it's a beautiful rose. WRS's flower size now wouldn't bother me too much because of its shape if it really is like the Cochets. I'll try to be very discreet about what I dig up. It will almost kill me to dig up RD so I would rather not, but I think I would really like Carefree Beauty who really looks like he can put on a show - even though not an antique. Sherry

Well...I'm the OP and macv is right, we DO have plans already and all I THOUGHT I wanted was to SEE stone/siding ideas on the exterior. We'd been feeling like chickens with our heads cut off and thought at least let's focus on THAT. What nobody here knew, and I didn't think was important at the time to mention, is we're still tweaking interior walls/rooms, etc. Now, after a recent conversation, we might even move out an exterior wall! PLUS, the whole thing was drawn using one brand of ICF with certain dimensions and we might not necessarily use that particular brand. We thought this was irrelevant if just wanting to try and figure out stone choices! I see now maybe it's not. Because I'm finally understanding (from this whole discussion) that the "shell" and interior walls and roof, etc. need to be accurate and drawn in first, in order to see the house in that awesome 3-D! format, I can't even begin to start with the outside look until the floorplan is figured out once and for all! BACKGROUND: I don't know if any of you have experienced this, but...because our building site is sooooo particular (ie: 1 side goes uphill, two sides go downhill or is close to a CLIFF, and one side is possible to alter) we actually did hire a designer to put our ideas to paper. The PROBLEM is that he charged us for every discussion (NO, we weren't pains in the butt and didn't bother him or change our minds over and over, it was just a major misunderstanding about how he charges and we didn't know any better). We've already spent $5,000 when we finally said enough is enough...and as I said before, we're discovering the floorplan is still not really right. (example: he drew a "winder" stairway that's only 36" wide not counting railing); the master suite is really, really cramped, etc! We trusted him as the "expert" and let him draw in a "bedroom" and the "stairs".....(in his defense, this is a Y-shaped home so spaces are a little tricky to fit everything in.) So. My dilemna wanting a program suggestion is probably NOW more to do with HAVING to DIY while we tweak the plans ourselves and THEN hiring someone AGAIN to put it in usable blueprints. ALL that everyone has said here has really helped me to understand the guts of architectural design and what one gets with one program over another. Being a real novice, I'm in the boat that I feel I HAVE to learn something (so, please...user friendly) because we just can't keep paying and paying and paying for more and more discussion about it. Don't get me wrong, I RESPECT the professional and I don't presume to be able to take their place when we need the REAL building plans. Does this make sense? PS: The above "cut & paste" idea is about my speed right now, but I intend to learn the technology to automate this process! One primitive thing I've already done though is make a foamboard model that I can hold in my hands and SEE! My original inquiry on this forum was resorted to because even my model is NOT FAST and easy to CHANGE if I'd come up with different ideas. ohhhhhhhhh boy...This project is fun...and isn't fun sometimes! Thanks for reading. The OP

I looked at the paints you posted and if you want to paint green above the sink and stove, you will need to have it directly relate something else in the Kitchen scheme. This would mean you would need to find a glass tile that has the green in it or go with a totally neutral backsplash like the 4x4 tiles you are showing with the glass tile. A viewers eye will look for a relationship between the paint color and the backsplash or other features in the room and not find it. Even if those colors exist in an adjacent room, the relationship needs to be clearly there in the Kitchen. In this case, I don't think matching accessories will get you there either. Now for a little design editorial. I think the basic design concept that you should bring colors from one room to another throughout the house is a good one, but has been overused. The theory is that having each room relate makes the house flow. Whether that works or not really depends on a lot more factors. The premise is that each room should not be a completely different color, yet in some cultures it is the norm to paint each room a completely different color and looks quite wonderful in context. Okay, enough of that. In effect, you do have a color relationship between your rooms already and it is your basic neutral Khaki. There are some advantages to keeping the backsplash completely neutral if you want to use accent paint colors. You can change your color scheme very easily without having to change tiles. Basing your scheme on the neutral allows you to paint accent walls while the overall effect remains pulled together. Either choice is a good one. It's what works best for you. If you decide to keep the glass tile as you originally selected it, and still love the green, try to find somewhere else to use it. I used my green in the Laundry room.

In zone 5, your best overwintering is in the ground. If you don't absolutely have to overwinter in pots, don't. In zone 9, the ground doesn't get cold enough for hosta to get an adequate winter chill/sleep if overwintered in the ground, and so overwintering in pots above the ground gives them a bit more winter cold than they otherwise would. (If I'm not mistaken, it's about 2 zone differences in temperature for plants left in pots vs in ground, meaning that potted hosta in zone 9 should feel like they're in no more than zone 7 for the winter.) I think it's safe to say that Spring outdoors starts sooner in zone 9 than it does in zone 5, and therefore zone 9 hostas might not get long enough of a winter rest if they are watered as soon as the zone 9 Spring rains start. Similarly, in zone 9 you may want to protect your hostas from too much water outdoors during the winter too, either by covering them with a tarp or keeping them in a shed, otherwise these hosta would stay awake or keep waking up throughout the winter (if simply left in the pots in their usual outdoor spots, that is). On the contrary, pots left outdoors during the winter in zone 5 can be left in their normal spots because they will be frozen for the winter. Trouble arises when the temps drop throughout the winter and thaw the top of the pot but not the whole pot, which is when the crown ends up "soaking" in water since the water cannot flow all the way through and out of the pot, and this is why people suggest laying the pots on their side. Anyhow, just wanted to remind everyone that some of the advice given here is very much zone-dependent, so it might be helpful to keep in mind the poster's location at all times. Hosta can handle awfully low temps during winter, but not warm, especially if they have access to water during that time too.