I know that chapel hill had a hail storm late one night maybe last week or so. Could that be what is "eating" the plants? Perhaps it could just be damage?

It would be such a shame to lose that and replace it with yet another "modernistic" home. I for one would dearly love to see a sketch of the original floor plans with dimensions. Who knows, maybe someone on this site will have a flash of inspiration and see some way you could restore it while modifying to give you the masterbath and walk-in closet. But for me, even if I couldn't add in a master bath and closets, I'd still restore it. Do you have any other pictures?

Lazarus - again, thanks so much for another reply. What he told me during the first conversation was that there is a shower pan liner, mortar bed, and some kind of paint on system with the Sioux Chief 821 series drain. I went and talked to my friendly neighborhood tile shop and they basically agreed with you. Given what I see I doubt there is any kind of paint on barrier given the amount mineral deposition or the mortar bed and barrier have failed and there is a crack allowing the mortar to absorb water. Does the mineral deposition come before mold or vice versa? Would think they would appear at the same time but I don't see any mold and there is no foul odor. I talked to the tile shop about doing something temporary because we will likely redo the bathroom at some point in the future (5-10 years). I specifically asked about tiling directly over the current tile and how to potentially do that with the intent of completely sealing the shower pan. He suggested using a product called Mapelastic 315 to seal the current tile/grout and then to apply the new tile with an appropriate thinset directly to this surface. The junction between the wall and the new tile would be sealed with 100% silicone. I am curious about folks opinions on this temporary fix. Fun, fun, fun! Brian

Hi Laurie! The American Peony Society has a link that shows peony sellers in most states, I'd start there if you want to buy local. I know here in CO the only time any are in stock at nurseries is in the spring--everyone wants instant gratification and it's hard to sell a potted plant that's quickly going into dormancy. You might want to look online, there are several reputable peony growers who have websites and ship bareroot peonies in the fall. I have no reservations about recommending a bunch--you can't go wrong ordering from any of these companies. Some that I've ordered from in the past (and am ordering from this year!) are: http://finagardenspeonies.com/ Fina has sent the biggest roots I've ever seen from a US peony grower for the last 3 years. Almost everyone guarantees a 3-5 eye division, Fina routinely sends 10 or more eyes. If you're new to peonies the eyes are like the eyes on an old potato and is where the stems will grow from the next spring. I really don't know if planting these bigger roots guarantees a bigger plant in the spring, my experience says no, but you could easily divide most of Fina's roots to have 2-3 plants next spring. http://www.hiddenspringsflowerfarm.com/ http://www.hollingsworthpeonies.com/ Hollingsworth is one of my personal favorites although at least 1 forum member had a very bad experience with them last fall. If you order several from them they tend to throw in a bonus root. Don't know what that magic number is but last year I ordered enough to get a free Itoh Garden Treasure root from them! http://www.songsparrow.com/catalog/shoppingcart.cfm?pagetype=viewcart Klehm's Song Sparrow always has the most unusual blooming peonies of all of the growers. Klehm hybridized a lot of the "cactus dahlia" bloom style peonies. http://www.adpeonies.com/peonies A&D have the absolute nicest customer service that I've experienced. They also send a bonus root with a large order. http://peonyparadise.com/ Carol Adelman is one of the nicest ladies! She responds personally to a lot of the questions emailed to them--a great resource for anyone new to growing peonies. http://www.gilberthwild.com/ Gilbert Wild has the best bareroot prices out of all of the website peony grower/sellers that I've found. They have had a reputation in the past of sending mis-labeled roots, though. I love them, order from them every year, but I label all of them just in case! http://www.brooksgardens.com/ Brooks has some really good prices on a lot of their peonies this year. And the last I'll mention, having a problem calling up the site to get a web address, is Select Plus Peonies. They're actually in Canada but have a decent shipping price and sell Itohs that you can't find anywhere in the US. Sorry, I know this isn't what you asked for! Unless you are near a grower (I personally don't know of any in NC but there could easily be) you most likely won't be able to find healthy peonies this late in the year. The exception would be I saw several forum members post about getting healthy and really good priced Itohs at Lowes or Home Depot. Neither carried them in my area, sadly, and it has been a few weeks so they're probably all gone anyway.