Exactly how much sun are we talking about, kandy53? Azaleas need some protection from the hot summer sun. Here in the south, I have to provide shade starting earlier than 12pm although in states around the northeast you might be able to give them more sun without problems. Luis PS - I included some information on variegation on the link below. Azaleas that bloom late in June include varieties such as the Satsuki Hybrids, some Gumpos, R.viscosum, R.cumberlandense and R.prunifolium. Have in mind that, except for some Satsukis, the blooming date and the size limits somewhat the choice of variegated azaleas though. Here is a link that might be useful: Variegation Information

I'm over in the Sandhills in NC and this was also my first year growing garlic. Didn't do so well then realized I planted all hardneck which do well up North, not so good down here! Elephant ear are about the only ones that produced cloves, the rest just single bulbs bearly larger then what I planted in the first place. I ordered 6 varieties of artichoke garlics from a grower in Louisiana and have a few cloves to spare if you are interested... I heard creole grow well down here but am having a hard time finding any to even buy, everyone seems to already be sold out. Anywise, yell at me if you want to try any of my artichoke. And yell to me if you end up ordering creole and want to share a couple cloves with me! Laura

I don't know that you can get a real looking Shaker hollow door because the flat recessed panel area would have to be very thin in cross section. In my experience the raised panel portion of a hollow door is much thicker than the raised panel on a solid wood door, almost as thick as the stiles and rails themselves in cross section. Stylistically I don't think a 6 raised panel will work well on closets with the Shaker on the room doors. In a hierarchical sense, the Room door is the Primary door and should be fancier or more detailed than closet doors if they are not all going to match. I see nothing wrong, if you are not matching doors, with using a Shaker door on the room door and using plain slab doors in a paint grade with a good paint job on them for the closets, so that the closets take a stylistic back seat to the room doors. As for hollow vs. solid. I am strongly biased toward solid even for pocket doors. It is the hanging hardware and the workmanship of the hang that dictates their proper function, not the weight of the doors. The houses in my neighborhood have pocket doors that are 10 feet tall and four feet wide that are Very heavy. But you have to get good hardware, have a good carpenter do the install, and *make *sure * the *finish *carpenters *don't *nail *the *baseboards* and *door *casings *through the *drywall *and *into *the *pocket *doors *themselves*. It Happens. A Lot.

This is the second year for my Falstaff, and so far I'm loving it. It's not pink, but deep magenta, fading to purple (and a nice purple, not a sickly one). The flowers are durable in rain, the flowers nod, which I like (and which might help them from collecting water). So far, not much frying in the sun (although smaller flowers with the 90F heat). Biggest disappointment: almost no fragrance, but when detectable, it is old rose. First flush flowers were about 3". Flowers don't flatten out but keep this cupped form. It's starting to put out a second flush now when WS2K is busily frying its first flush in the sun and mildewing. Most remontant roses (i.e. hybrid teas) here put out a nice first flush, then a few miserable looking flowers in the heat if any, then another nice flush in the fall. Falstaff mildewed a bit this year. We don't get blackspot here. Photo bloom color is accurate. In my tough climate, it takes a while for plants to grow. Planted in the spring of last year, it did nothing the rest of the year. This year the bush is very vigorous (like climber vigorous), upright, but not stiff, and the new basals are almost as tall as the bush now. The leaves are matte and nicely formed, very old rose. Here's the first flush. I hope it gets all big and gangly.