Good eye, Dottie! ;-) It IS a tulip poplar... we've got a bunch out here, too. DH is actually the tree guy in the family... he keeps them limbed up and they've done beautifully over the years. The property our house is on has been in the family since 1970, and years before the house was built he planted tons of seedlings to augment the mostly oak-pine forest out here. Thanks to that, we've got sycamores, poplars, sawtooth oak, and lots of other hardwoods that are all huge now... the one in the photo is actually one of the smaller ones! ;-) DH has a small forest of trees growing in containers, too. My favorite story is of how, a few years ago, he kept coming home with these little inch-high seedlings (usually wrapped up in a wet napkin!) that cropped up underneath the Japanese maples planted as landscape trees where he worked. The landscape crew thought he was crazy... told him to take all he wanted! All together, we've got about 20 now (maybe more), some still in containers and some in the ground. The biggest are between 8 - 10 feet now... can you imagine what they'd cost to buy now?? :-O Love the idea of bulbs around the k/o, too. The bloom has a yellow center that fades to pink to the outside so I may try daffodils... I should be able to get some from my mom. Is it OK to plant them now or should I wait until fall? I do have buckets that catch the rainwater... I use it to water my containers. What I don't have - but have dreams of - is a rainbarrel. Our house doesn't have gutters (yet - that's a project for when we eventually put a metal roof on the house) so I'm still reading about them to figure out the best options. There's so much info out there that it's hard to decide! Thanks for all the tips, Dottie! I've said it before, but this forum has done more for my landscape than all the compost in the world could have! ;-D

Hello, I have some fig research questions that I think Hanc Matthies could help me with. From his membership profile information, he has had a lot of experience growing fig and lives on Long Island. Other collectors that I have visited with have mentioned that he has traded figs and has been a very good resource for information. I last saw a posting of his on the Tomato Forum this past summer but the email address from his membership page is no longer working. Please contact me privately if you can help me with this. bwiley at sbc global net (reconstruct the email address and put a dot before the net - my spam prevention or go to my membership page and send me an email) Thanks! Ingevald

camsi - is it the kitchen with the cream cabs and chandeliers? I can't see the back splash very well - looks like SS behind stove/cook top. the other wall stuff behind sink etc looks like a good color and it's not shiny (good) but is it a lot of little tiles? I stay away from those (lots of grout and grout to get dirty and need cleaned) - too much work to take care of (tho some people don't mind that - I do). That's something to consider tho - do you want something smooth and easy to clean? (I am going to have to go thru her shutterfly site pic by pic - and see everything up close!) I think a dull finish on wall tile is better with a shiny granite. let the granite shine and be the eye catcher. I looked thru some of the pics here and found a couple that would be similar to my sister's in some ways. will post links below. the back splash by cordovamom is fairly close. my sister didn't use the darker tiles as in cordovamom's tho. and the tiles in her 'squared' off area are on the diagonal. there might be a center tile too (don't remember; but it'd be a good place for 1 special copper tile). seems she had some tiles that had some detail on them (but not in a different color or anything) - it was very lowkey tho, like carved into the tile. She might have 'edged' her 'squared' off area with those tiles. the rest of her walls (including between upper and lower cabs) were painted in Navajo white (her whole house is in that color/an off white - it's a SWestern style house). I'm probably gonna use that color in most of my new place (easy choice - I can see it on wall after wall at her house- lol!) also, her tiles are not shiny - so they don't compete with her granite. they're 4x4's or 6x6's - less grout to worry about. her floors are just 18x18 porcelain tiles in a beige color - not solid tho. the tiles have some lighter areas and some darker areas. have no idea what that would be called. I did see a floor in the gallery and linked it also. another backsplash I remember thinking looked somewhat like my sister's was in a big kitchen with a tv on the vent hood, bar stools from costco - she had a big rectangular island - but I don't remember the name of the poster. She did her BS on the diagonal and I remember thinking that the tiles behind her cook top were very like my sister's. gee, the things I remember and don't remember - why? lol! I also don't know how to post more than 1 link so here on the other sites to copy and paste (from this forum). backsplash by yesdear on 2009-03-30 (spanish kitchen); the tiles are not shiny but are longer and not as high. same idea tho - they don't compete with the granite. I would want something smoother tho - I think these would catch/hold dust etc like a textured wall would (hard to clean). http://photos.gardenweb.com/home/galleries/2009/03/1930_spanish_kitchen_3.html and for the similar floor color / tone posted by soovhappy http://photos.gardenweb.com/home/galleries/2006/11/mosaic_kitchen_backsplash.html hope this helps. I'll check shortly to see if she emailed me any pics. your granite is beautiful - make it the star! Here is a link that might be useful: cordovamom's backsplash

You mean rotate it so it goes lenghthwise across your kitchen between stove leg to fridge leg? I'm sorry but the math doesn't add up: Two times 24" counters plus 3 inches counter overhang =4'3", subtract another 3'6", plus 3" for the long length of the island and overhang out of 13' 5" total width of the room, you're using up 8' leaving just 5'5" to be divided into TWO aisles of 32.5" apiece? In addition, in the case of the fridge which sticks out a further six inches (plus the 3 or 4 " shown on plan), that would mean you are now down to a choke point of 22". I wouldn't do it as this will make both the main pathways very narrow and in addition inadvertently funnel increased traffic past the range as it will look like the widest path to enter the work zone. Options: shorten rotated island. Or change shape of island (make it round). Make island into a peninsula attached to cabs by stove or fridge. That would be better for seating. As you now have it, only one seat at island that is viable (on end farthest from sink.) Others will create endless hassles while working in the kitchen. Do you need an island? Do you need counter-height seating? What are you willing to give up to get them? Another suggestion consider 30" deep counters all around to make open space smaller, decrease hikes in kitchen and increase storage and prep possibilities, and skip the island completely, or turn it into a small counter-height snack table out of the main kitchen work zone. HTH, L.