Belinda's Dream really is a great choice. Especially if you want fragrant, perfectly shaped roses. She's the one that got me hooked. It was my first rose here in South Florida (I have since gotten another one) and I now have over 50 roses in my garden. I grow them all in containers though because I don't have garden space in full sun. BD has been a no spray dream and is always full of buds and blooms. Thrips do like her, but her blooms are so full you wont even see the thrip damage when she opens. Another really good choice is Duchess De Brabant. She has smaller less formal flowers but very delicate and she is no fuss. My knock outs have not done that well. They do bloom alot but the flowers are small and not neatly formed with no fragrance so they are just boring to me. Try Quietness. She's also a beauty and easy to grow. I've also had luck with Mr. Lincoln (though it grows gangly, but still blooms even with black spot). Joseph's coat is doing well too this year despite its first two years of being down-right-ugly. About Face is doing superb as well. She's had BS in the past, but seems to have outgrown it. Olympiad and Love rose have also done well for me as well as Gold Medal, perfume delight and All American Beauty. I've also had luck with Huntington Rose and Jubilee Celebration from David Austin and alot of the Kordes roses have done well for me too (the fairy tale series). But they are all in their first season so its hard to tell what will happen. Spraying is a real b*tch, but almost a requirement if you are growing HT roses here. I spray mine but only when absolutely totally necessary (like when i hear there's going to be a week of non stop rain). Otherwise I just let them get black spot (hand pick off the infected leaves to limit the spreading in the summer and do my hard pruning in the fall. Once October comes around you can pretty much get away with not spraying at all until May :) If you grow them in containers they require a little more work. You have to water more often and feed regularly, but its worth the work. You wont have to worry so much about soil conditions, nematodes etc and you can move your roses around so they get the optimal amount of sun during the changing seasons. So it has its pluses and drawbacks. If you want to grow them in the ground, make sure to get them grafted on fortuniana rootstock. That's the only way your roses can survive for more than 6 years in the ground here. Make sure you amend your soil with store bought top soil (miracle grow makes one especially for roses) at the very least. Dr Huey roots will do well too, but they may only live to about 5 years. (most store bought roses are on Dr. Huey) Then again, roses in our climate live much shorter lives since they never go dormant in the winter, so either way they don't have long life spans. Pruning them hard once a year helps them to go somewhat dormant and will help them become bushier healthy plants. Even if we don't have freezes. Good luck!

"look, scrugly, lichens ladden, loose irregular shape old-looking trees. " George, this is what I like about them! I didn't realize they tend to be that short-lived, but I'll be somewhat surprised if I'm still here in 25 years, so a 25 year tree might just work great for me. If I am still here, I will likely be ready for a change by then. I do like C. kousa, but it is a bit too cultured looking for what I have in mind for this spot. I want something more cottagey and typical New England, a bit course and unrefined, with precocious flowers preferably. Whitegarden, magnolia is one of my back-up trees. Which variety, I'm not sure yet. I am concerned that they are so slow growing. Not that dogwoods are fast, but I think they tend to be faster than most mags, correct? Which variety did you plant? kt, I'm sorry about the death of your tree. I do understand the heartbreak. Was that a resistant variety? One of the varieties I am considering is "Appalachian Spring", which was mentioned in the article you linked and is available at Broken Arrow. It was developed from a tree in Tennessee that was the sole survivor in an area devastated by anthracnose, and is supposed to be resistant. I will do a bit more research on it. Another variety I like is Cherokee Princess, but I'm not sure about its resistance. Here is a picture of my house, should anyone have any recommendations as to flower color for whatever tree I choose. This was taken in the evening, but the spot is full sun with exposure to wind. Do you think a white-flowering tree will be too bland against the light gray house? If I was to go with a mag, would you vote for yellow or a pink?

stayincool, your not really comparing apples to apples. The Trane XL20i definitely has more beef to it, but is it worth the beef? Higher Price, no tax credit. I actually like the no thrills 2 speed Carrier/Bryant systems. It's a two speed scroll compressor and the FV4C air handler is variable speed with a tin plated evaporator coil. The 5 ton you are looking at is 17 SEER and that's hard to beat and then it's $1400 less. I would recommend a Carrier Edge Thermidistat with that system. The good news is you live in South Fl, and installation of new A/C's are as low as they come in the US. so you should get the best install price per the equipment you choose in the country no matter what system you decide on.

Bamboo in Florida these days? Choose what you like, but it's been on the way out for years. Harder? Ya, know when I first got into this business I never heard how hard a hardwood floor was. Nobody chose floors that way. Of course back in those days it was red oak and maybe some Maple here and there. My opinion is the internet created the 'hey I need the hardest wood floor." Granted strand is tough, but I wonder how somebody could work with (all the resins used to create it) it if you wanted to change the color down the road or Fido did dig intro it. Some hardwoods work better than others in disguising the inevitable scratches, dings and dents. Some folks can be obsessive. Read some of the chatter here and there. "You can't see it until you get down on your hands and knees..."