I deadhead every day also as long as the weather is fit. When I get home from work, supper just has to wait until I have taken my daily stroll through my flowers with camera in hand. I like to dead head for the same reason as daylilyluver. Here are a couple of shots of my beds: Just added this section on the west side of the house a couple of years ago and I call it my sitting garden. My husbands only stipulation was to have enough room at the back of the lot so he could drive the truck between our property and the neighbors if he has to. Still have room for more, but am taking my time to see how big everything gets first. Already have a few second thoughts about the size that I had hoped on some things. A weigela was the only thing back here a couple of years ago and I didn't mind it's size then. Now, I am going to cut it waaaay back after it blooms every year. A different angle of the sitting garden. Not sure if the porcupine grass was the best thing to put in here (it's the striped thing behind the green chair on the left). I wanted to use it as a back drop, for privacy, but am thinking that maybe I should have used something else because it looks like it's going to crowd some other plants that I really like. The arborvitae trees in the background belong to our neighbors. As you can see on the far right, one of them is dead and we thought they were all going to die. I wish they had all lived because I liked the privacy, but as it is, they lost over half the row. I try to avoid getting those dead ones in the picture and our neighbor is being stubborn about removing some of them. This has been a 5 or 6 year problem, but that is another story... Love having the plants around the oak tree, but am having a difficult time keeping the poison ivy away. I just saw another start of it a few days ago. This is another shot where I tried to keep the neighbors dead trees out of the picture. Small section of our 125 foot long border at the NW edge of our lot. We made it 8 feet wide so we could use the 8 ft landscape timbers in between sections. It makes it nice for mapping where the plants are. Unfortunately, my map is still a work in progress. Vickie

Perhaps it's a little late, but I strongly advise AGAINST using carpet under your paths. After a few years, the mulch will break down, the carpet will heave up in places and it won't look good. I speak from experience! The worst is short looped carpet. After years, the backing breaks down and the threads become long and straggly and stick out. Shag at least doesn't have long strings. After years in the ground, the dirt permeates the carpet and it weighs 3 times what it did when you put it in, and it is backbreaking work to remove. Most importantly, though, it is NOT necessary!! A 6 inch layer of woodchips will smother any weeds. No underlay is necessary! Doesn't matter if it's carpet or black landscape cloth, there is no point in putting it down. Let me repeat, a 6 inch layer of woodchips will smother any weeds! And after about 2 weeks it will have settled and compacted to 3-4 inches. I have done many paths, many ways, carpet, landscape fabric, stones, and woodchips. My preferred path now is simply woodchips. From Side Garden in July From 2c June in the Garden 2011

mom2-3boys - I have New Venetian gold and also had the same problem finding something without the pink. I had wanted tumbled stone, but they are all pinkish and when you added the protective coating, they got even pinker! I finally found something for the backsplash but never got around to having it installed. lol It's called Ambra Ecru by Magica Here is a link that might be useful: Ambra Ecru

Here's our previous living room...cream painted paneling & ceiling, cream cotton damask armchairs, camel herringbone sofa, two Chinese-style bamboo side chairs, cream sheer drapery with deep hem-stitched hems at windows, brass lamps, a few pieces of neutral green pottery, small oriental rug, bare medium cherry-stained oak floors, and that's it. And this is our current (very different!) front parlor about two minutes after we moved in...haven't photographed it as it is now, but not a lot different. Yellow-toned cream walls (BMoore Linen White), same armchairs, same coffee table with different top, different oriental rug in shades of camel, rust, palest steel blue, and a wee bit of black. Added color with copper silk Roman shades in tops of windows.