Stush, so you think it is Snow Flake? I was thinking some sort of Major due to the rib patterns and crimson growth leaves on top. Yeah, I plan to keep them piled up but do plan to at least repot them soon. Everyone check your Home Depot and Lowes stores because the one in ny pic I found at HD. Yesterday I checked the other HD in town and struck out in finding another but across the street was a Lowes where I found another one labeled as E. Cereifornis, a variation of Horrida. It's not as big as the first but came with several good sized starter columns and a few babies. Will post pics soon. Idk why but they have out out some expensive stuff this year. Among the Horridas I have found I have also scored several high end echeveria, variegated agaves and aloe as well as huge pots of x Crosby's Prolific aloe. Plenty of PPA plants too. All for $20 or less. Been a good year for bigger stuff.

I wouldn't worry if you can't find that violet fertilizer. Though a few people swear by it, I do not recommend it at all. Its 5-50-18 formula has around 30 times more phosphorus than most plants can use, which just unnecessarily increases the mineral concentration in the soil. The goal should be to provide what the plant will use, and nothing more. Any fertilizer with an N:P:K ratio near 3:1:2 would be a good choice. I really like Dyna-Gro's Foliage Pro 9-3-6, but there are plenty of other good choices as well. Miracle Gro's all purpose plant foods (24-8-16 or 12-4-8 depending on solid or liquid) fit the bill. Even a common 10-10-10 formula will work if that's the best you can find. I would just try to avoid extreme formulas like the 5-50-18 mentioned above.

Ok, a couple of additional thoughts: 1. In the backyard.... between those 2 spruces, I have 3 black lace elderberries.... 2 years in a row, they died to the ground, but came back. This year, with all the snow cover, they maintained their wood and are leafing out. But this winter, to me, seemed more like a zone 5 winter. 2. If I container plant, can someone please recommend a good potting medium and/or fertilizer regime to keep the tree looking its best?

Hi home4all6: Congrats on your new (to you) house! Very exciting. We went through a major renovation 2 years ago. (It started as just a mudroom, and grew to be a 2 storey, ~ 1100 sq. ft addition, plus we demo'ed and reno'ed the kitchen and 4 bathrooms.) So, here's my 2 cents from what we went through: - The addition might grow. We had several "while we're at it we may as well..." moments. It meant that the addition and cost grew significantly, but we also got a house that will suit our needs for a long time. (We both work at home, so we're here alot.) It's a balancing act between thinking long term and sticking to a budget. - Live-wire is right about remodels being costly. You never know what surprises they might uncover. - We got quotes from very different types of firms: design/build, and a GC builder. It was hard to compare apples to apples, partly because the design/build firms here are known for high end work, and partly because the d/b firms we worked with guaranteed the price no matter what surprises would happen in the reno (and therefore priced on the high end.) In an attempt to compare apples to apples, we hired an independent architect to draw up plans, and gave the plans to our top 2 choices: a GC firm and a design/build firm. Turns out that the d/b firms won't bid on plans done by someone else -- they have their own in-house architects and draw up plans as part of their fee and contract. So much for comparing! We ended up going with the GC, but know many people who worked with the same d/b firm and were very happy. It's just 2 different approaches to pricing and building. - There are some economies of scale when it comes to an addition. For example, the cost per sq. ft. was much higher when we were considering just a mudroom and a bumpout above it to expand an upstairs bath. The tiny bathroom bumpout alone was priced at something like $44k (for a space that held a bathtub and toilet and that's it)! We learned that was because it required a new roof and plumbing (among other things), so a small space doesn't necessarily mean a comparatively smaller price. On the other end, when we changed our plans to bump back 2 more feet than what we thought was the final plan, the extra square footage didn't add that much to the cost because the major factors were already in there (foundation, roof, etc.) - Fancy rooflines are more expensive. One of my (many) plans had a few angled corners on the back. The roof lines to accommodate that were kind of complicated, and added to the cost. (We ended up with a different plan.) - As part of the contract, ask what allowances cover and then go look at those things in person. For example, we exceeded our granite budget (didn't like the basic granites that were part of the allowance), carpet budget (ditto) and lighting. Probably others as well like tile. We found that what the builder considered 'average' we considered not so great. (e.g., builder-grade lighting. no thanks.) We chose and paid for our appliances separately by our choice; not sure if that's standard or not. - We found it a bit more costly but very helpful to work with our bank on financing the renovation. I don't remember the details, but basically the builder was paid by the bank, not by us directly. That meant that the bank would do an inspection before paying, and that we were covered in the event that the builder didn't finish work, or the builder didn't pay the subs, etc. It was slightly more costly for us and slightly more work for the builder to get paid, but we liked the security of that arrangement. - your contract should be very detailed, including things like who pays for permits, how to handle change requests, how payments will work, and down to details like what brand and style of windows will be used, etc. This was another area where working with our banker was helpful, because he had seen hundreds of contracts and this was our first. - We asked alot of questions about who they use for sub-contracting. We also had some rules, like the workers couldn't smoke in the house and had to keep their shirts on. - We spoke with and visited references in our area. (That was pretty easy in our case, because the builders we spoke with all had several references nearby.) Phew! I guess that was a really long-winded 2 cents. Sorry! We've only been through this once, so I'm probably just scratching the surface here. But those things above are some of the things that we learned while going through this. There are a few things I would do differently, but overall it was a very good experience for us and we in turn have been references several times for our builder. HTH!