hehe, Greenhaven and Eric, they are so worth the price. I'd have so much bruising, strain, and blisters if I didn't have these gloves. For example I have six 4'x2'x 2'1/2" pots. Being 5'2-1/2" and 97 lbs. I have to grab 40 lb. bags of soil. Because they are too heavy to throw into the pot, I have to lift a shovel and manually scoop the soil into the pots until the bags are 1/2 empty before I'm able to pick up the bag to dump. It takes fourteen bags of 40 lbs of soil to fill up just one chest and remember that I have six of those chests to fill up. I have to use this same shovel to break apart the organic garden soil and stir up the soil real good which is backbreaking work so the gloves are awesome protection. The soil absolutely has to be tilled otherwise the soil remains in clumps so each shovelful of dirt requires additional chopping up of the soil. Container growing requires the soil to remain loose and finely textured. And yes, those chests are all FINISHED, NO MORE SOIL AGONY, hahahaha! So these gloves saved my hands! I've done several pruning as well to get rid of all the canker and diseased canes from the miserable flooding rains we've been getting too, so they do just as fantastic against thorns. Craftmanship of these gloves are so superior that I can imagine them lasting forever! Can't beat that deal, lol! I am one happy, happy camper! I can't wait to hear how you found yours to be, Greenhaven and Eric! whoo-hoo and I've got 8 thorned climbing roses now (2 are thornless). I am PREPARED to the MAX, lol!

Almost anything will do well now, planted in the fall. We just planted two trees. I just bought an American Beautyberry for fall color (purple berries). The berries on my spicebush tree are turning red now too. Pansies going in now I would expect to last til around January and then I might replant them then b/c they will do well til about March in this area.

Where is your tile going? on the floor or on the walls? I have done my own tiling and grouting as a DIYer on a kitchen, and 2 bathrooms. I have done some things successfully and some not so much. But it is all done well with regards to procedure, because of the good people on GW and on the john bridge forum. All of the following information is from my experience and I was not on any time line to complete my projects. Unlike someone that does this for a living where time is extremely important. First, I have heard many complaints about Custom products. I have seen many post here that show variable colors on a project when using Custom cementous grouts. Maybe all cementous grouts are prone to this, I don't know. I used epoxy grout on my bathroom projects. Laticrete Spectralock. It is a consistent blend that is predictable. It is different to apply than cementous grout. I too had trouble with some of the colors for my tiles, so I blended the dry mix to come up with a ratio I liked. I mixed up enough of the dry to get me through the project and have some left over. With epoxy the dry part doesn't have any chemical actions, only provides the color and sand/filler/bulk of grout. Cementous grout has a shelf life and a bulk mix would have to be used in a short time. I loved doing the samples of grout and seeing what would work. With regards to dark verses light grout, I wanted a light grout to blend in with my large format porcelain marble that I put on the shower walls. I mixed a color using 2 epoxy grout colors. I had a great color for the tile. But I did not get the tile on perfectly level with the next tile and had a bit of lipage consistently throughout the field. I guess I could call it "rustic modern", lol. The grout space was 1/16" and I should have made it 1/8" due to my skill level. Those 12x24" tiles, loaded with thinset, were a bear to lift up over my head. Anyway, the darker grout in my mix would have been a better solution to my wall because the lipage cast shadows, with the overhead lighting, and gives away all the unevenness. I was pretty disappointed. I thought that if I had used the slightly darker grout it would disguise the shadow lines. If I would have used a larger grout space, Also, I think things would have sloped better to not show the lipage. Sample board:

The first is possibly Erysimum.