Thank you, Lori! I came across pictures of your gardens early in my rose research and you have such pretty taste. You always have good suggestions. Gean, you are just wonderful as always. Thank you. I don't think you've posted any pictures of your gardens this season? You never post enough it seems for those (and there are many of us) who are inspired by what you've created. Jardinera, thank you so much! When I drove in from work today and looked at that hedge I couldn't believe it grew in my yard. It gets more beautiful by the hour and it's nothing to do with me. For all of the pink porcelain and feminine look it has, it is really tough. It's one of those that will root anywhere you stick its cuttings, whatever time of year. Hi, S&S! You have been so encouraging, thank you. When you brought up my old thread I was in one of those places where I was upset with myself because I've made so many mistakes this year. I'm having some growing pains that result in learning valuable lessons but also make me feel badly and quite a bit inept. You must miss peonies, they are something special. I do have a lot of them but a lot of the same kinds. I usually buy a variety every fall from Van Engelen. I'll see what pictures I have so far. We are having a downpour tonight, not a good thing for pee-ownies. Thanks, Janet! Mel's Heritage is taking off and begging me to put him the ground. Red Cascade is doing fine, all three. Mrs. BR Cant and the Duchesse are still snuggled in their pots doing a little here and a little there. Thank you. I am going to really try to improve my rooting this skills this season and I will send you a note with my successes and you will get first choice! I am so glad you are a part of my garden. (Janet's own garden is a fairyland!)

The furniture industry refers to it as the "North Carolina problem". Local dealers feel that NC offers buyers an unfair advantage over local dealers. Large NC dealers who cater to out-of-state buyers deal in such volumes that they can typically offer large discounts. Several years ago, bending to pressures from their local dealer network, many furniture companies implemented a Minimum Retail Price (MRP) strategy which forces all dealers to sell furniture for a minimum price. Fortunately, not all mfg. have this policy and great discounts are available. Two retailers are mentioned frequently here. Boyles is located in the Hickory Furniture Mart in Hickory, NC. Boyles sells a lot of furniture and owns and operates their own fleet of delivery trucks as opposed to contracting out to delivery companies. Delivery is a recurring problem with members on this site and Boyles has, for the most part, negated such problems. I say most part because there is much involved in mfg., delivering and setting up furniture and things can go wrong. I have bought furniture from Boyles several times and they have been excellent. A number of members here recommend lexfurniture.com which is based in Lexington, Ky. They are aggressive with their discounts. I have never bought furniture from them but would based on feedback in this forum. There are a few to avoid in NC and I can mention one. Southern Designs in the Hickory Furniture Mart. We had problems from the beginning and their customer service was non-existent. Knowing which companies to avoid is as important as which ones to consider and that is true whether you are speaking of local or NC dealers.

I saved a large amount of money on a recent trip, shopped in Hickory and High Point. If I had to choose one place it would be Hickory. We purchased from many spots, The Hickory Furniture Mart and Catawaba Furniture Mall were the 2 largest. If you go to the chamber of commerce you can get a map that shows all the places and "30 miles of furniture" You should have a plan of where you will go and exactly what you are going to buy - I did a lot of research before going and had the whole trip mapped out - we stayed 5 days. You can buy a good book - "The Furniture factory outlet guide" (I'm not affilated) The book tells you where to shop and which stores to stay away from, this was my 2nd trip to NC for furniture and my 2nd time buying the book. You may want to call some places ahead and get prices over the phone to compare your local prices - just to verify it is worth the trip to "you". I think it is worth going just to see all the different furniture - and not have to pick something out of a catalog and order sight unseen! I have also heard some people think they didn't save that much - mostly (imo) because they were looking at lower end (not bad..just not the really high end stuff) furniture.

The best thing to do if you want to save time is to spend a couple nights looking on the internet for some ideas. Most times you can get a pretty good feel for the vendor by doing some looking online at styles and prices. Obviously the cheaper the goods the lower the quality as long as you are looking at the average price (try to find stores that breakdown the cost of the goods from the delivery cost, this will give you the best idea of what something is worth). You can spend a lot of time running around to stores only to find nothing at all. If you do some searching online and then go the stores to see the vendorsâ goods first hand you will save yourself a ton of time. We have a store north of Greensboro that carries a lot of traditional styles on our showroom floor, since this area calls for that style; however we also ship many modern looks across the country. So if you came in our store and did not know that we had the modern style you may walk away and overpay some where else. The biggest thing that I can tell you is stay away from franchise stores or chain stores. You may think that you are getting a good deal only to later find that you could have saved quite a bit by going with a family run company. We do not have the big markups, advertising, and buildings to pay for and can be very competitive even without buying in bulk. If you need any suggestions on vendors to look at just let me know and I can get you pointed in the right direction. Just be very cautious with this style; there is a lot of really cheap knock offs in the modern style.