I maintain a local volunteer museum cottage garden downtown Calistoga, which is still a learning experience after 10 years. The front garden faces south east with a large expanse of blacktop which draws heat like a magnet. Most of our visitor traffic is in the summer so keeping the garden colorful through the summer is important. Last week I took out the primroses that lasted well through the winter and replaced with Lantana, well rooted in one gallon containers. Two containers, three gallon, flanking the stairway which contained Ranunculus(which fried there)I replaced with "purple dome asters"that had been cut back once to keep more compact. I am trying this year for the first time Phlox paniculata planted a month ago, which so far is holding up to the heat. Roses do well if I can keep up with the dead heading, the only one to get black spot is a David Austin variety. An old fashioned rose red peony does well while a white one sunburns badly. Summer planting is not impossible, just difficult. Al

here is a blog with great ideas April 10, 2009 Ten Fantastic Fillers for Apothecary Jars I really love apothecary jars. There is something so innocent - so refreshing - about an empty vessel just begging for a beautiful display. When I find apothecary jars at thrift stores for $3 or $4 each, I snap them up like crazy. You've probably seen me grab one in Goodwill and give a Tiger Woods fist pump because I'm so excited with my new score. Because I know you love them as much as I do, I want to give you a little encouragement and a little push towards filling them with unique displays. People, it's time to start thinking beyond pasta and pears, cotton balls and cotton swabs when it comes to filling your apothecary jars. Using your jars to showcase unique finds will give your vignettes much more personality than filling them with the lemons you bought for 5/$1 at the grocery store. I've put together a list of 10 fantastic apothecary jar fillers that will hopefully guide you in the right direction to update those displays. 1. Vintage Spectacles - Just imagine the scenes that have been viewed through these lenses. Antique glasses are available at thrift stores, antique malls, estate sales, and even yard sales. Add two or three pairs to a simple jar, and you'll have a display that everyone will want to "see." Country Living 2. Soap - For an apothecary display in a bathroom, nothing beats a collection of beautiful soaps. Choose natural-colored soaps in the same hue, instead of in a color that matches your room. Find wonderful guest soaps at discount home stores, or use drugstore bargains, such as Aveeno or Ivory. Better yet, purchase monogrammed soaps to add a personal element to the display. Pottery Barn 3. Vintage Photos - One of my favorite apothecary jar fillers is vintage photos. I have always loved the boxes of photographs I see in antique stores, and I decided that I wanted to replicate those displays myself. For my jar, pictured below, I found a selection of vintage photos online, printed them on cardstock paper, cut them out, and then tore the edges and creased the image until it looked appropriately worn. Don't you think they actually look like real photos? Because I knew that you'd love this idea, too, I assembled the photos into a .pdf file for you to use in your own displays. Find that document HERE. Am I the nicest person ever or what? 4. Vintage Hairbrushes and Combs - Along the same lines as the antique photographs, I would love a display featuring vintage hairbrushes and combs. You can find some really beautiful dressing sets in antique stores or online. Keep in mind that a child's size set would probably fit into your jar easier than an adult's size (unless you had a very tall jar). 5. Sea Shells and Starfish - A universal favorite apothecary jar filler is sea shells and starfish. Keep your shells in the same color scheme and only fill the jar halfway so that you don't end up with too much of a good thing. Break the mindset that shells and starfish only belong in the bathroom. What's with that anyway? Do we think shells can only be displayed where there's water? Does the ocean remind us of the toilet? Weird, huh? House Beautiful 6. Knobs - Some of the most interesting (and cheap!) items to add to an apothecary jar are vintage knobs and drawer pulls. Find them for $0.25 a piece at places like the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store or yard sales. Your collection will be eclectic but will have a fantastic quality because the pieces are all variations of the same theme. 7. Rocks - Using natural elements in the home is very important, and nothing could be more natural than my son's rock collection. Adding his treasures to an apothecary jar meant that I had a natural (and FREE) filler, and it is extra special to him because he got to use them to "decorate with Mama." 8. Silver Cups - A few sterling silver baby cups displayed in a large apothecary jar would make such a sweet display. Stack them randomly on top of each other to create a tower. I've seen several of these little cups at Goodwill lately, so start hitting your thrift store in search for a few. They don't even need to be in great shape - the more dings and scratches, the more personality they have. 9. Blown Eggs and Found Nests - What's not to love about real birds' eggs and nests displayed in a beautiful apothecary jar? In one of my jars, I used Spanish Moss in the bottom as a "nest" and then added 5 or 6 blown quail eggs on the top. Check out these gorgeous egg displays - quail eggs on reindeer moss and Robin's eggs on a found nest. I love them! Romantic Home 10. Indoor plants- Apothecary jars take on a whole new life when used as terrariums for indoor plants. Add plants purchased at home improvement stores or a local nursery. Dallas Morning News You could even grow your own grass. Did you see Kimba's wonderful wheat grass project? A Soft Place to Land Are you ready to find something unique and interesting to put in your apothecary jars? Little makes a jar more interesting than filling it with something completely unexpected. Tell me what you are going to add to yours! Enjoy your beautiful life! Head over to The Inspired Room to see how others are making their lives beautiful, one simple way at a time. Here is a link that might be useful: scroll down to april 10th

I sealed my honed white marble after the "pros" said they did but didn't. One test of when to seal is when plain water darkens the stone. I resealed after a year and was glad I did. No stains and not so many etches either. I use the Akemi Nano, which I like a lot. It is very easy to apply. I also bought the Akemi conditioner, which removes some of the spots and gives the stone a slight luster. No need to have a pro put that on -- I've done it twice now and it's a snap. You want to use rubber gloves, keep the windows open for 10 minutes, don't do it on a super hot day and read the directions first. Also used Akemi in our shower, which has been great.

tina, thank you, and yes, we lost our home and everything in it to Katrina. We built this new home last year, further inland, high elevation and a good distance away from the water. We moved into it in November, 2007, so have been here almost a year. Our old lot/property is for sale, along with many other slabs in the neighborhood. Losing everything, as you can imagine, had a big influence on how we wanted our new house to be - a simple, warm, backdrop for whatever furnishings and accents we could afford to come up with. For instance, a casual, open dining room suited our needs, more than a more formal one would. Since we lost our china and china cabinet, we focused more this time on windows and views, and the beadboard ceiling, brick, hardwood floors, etc. But, getting back to the mercury glass. Definitely check out Tuesday Morning - I was there a few weeks ago and saw a few that were left. So yours might, as well.