I think it's grown more for the foliage than the flowers. Seems to me that "Red Hot" keeps it's variegation better. "Fire and Ice" has more white in the leaves, maybe, but it doesn't seem to stay that way.

Of course you think it's a waste of time, as a pool builder your are considering the odds. It's my money and I have plenty of time and don't believe in paying some outrageous price so a pool builder can make huge profits off of me. I guess the pool builders need to start asking how many bids one is getting prior to setting up an appointment. That will go over well but then again there are plenty of fools that like to waste money. It just makes some people feel better to spend an extra $20,00 for the same exact pool. Funny thing is every single pool builder told me they were the best. Fact is it's all sub contracted out and anyone can be a pool builder, no experience or license required. It's not that difficult to build a pool and the important parts of a pool are done by a few companies in Houston. I'm hardly cheap also, far from it, I just choose to spend my money wisely. I decided not to go with Southbeach though I really like the owner and have nothing negative to say about his company at all. Times are great right now for pool builders but that won't last forever. Poor customer service now will affect them later as always. One simple email would suffice if not interested as I could care less if someone takes my $80,000-$90,000 or not as pool builders are a dime a dozen. By the way, just because one tells a pool builder they are only getting 2-3 estimates doesn't make it so. There are only so many pool diggers and gunite companies and they all work for lots of pool builders. It's not like the so called "pool builder" is building one single portion of the pool. Being "busy" means giving lots of estimates and designs and playing the odds. Also, referring to your comment about getting the pool builders in a "bidding war", I never once mentioned the price of any of the other builders quotes. That would be pure ignorance on my part and I'm not that stupid. Obviously if I told them what the others were bidding some would come in a thousand or so less when maybe they would have been much less. Of course it could go the other way also. Personally, any homeowner who gets only 2-3 quotes is not very intelligent. I got several quotes for price comparison obviously, but also for design comparison. I had one bid for $97,000 which was the worst design and smallest pool by far. Actually, it was a complete joke to me but evidently there are people dumb enough to pay this much for much less of a pool. This post was edited by ktm250sx on Sun, May 11, 14 at 11:24

I just saw you photo of Archie -- looks so much like a female I had when DH and I married. Brings back memories - she was my law school companion ad the reason my once feral cat (all white) adopted us. My experience has been losing them close together. They went about 3 months apart -- the feral had a bad heart and the other one stopped eating when he was gone. Our two more recent felines went about 4 months apart. The last one was last month after sudden onset of seizures. I put everything on hold for a while. I can't imagine having to deal with that and contractors at the same time. I'm glad you had such a great guy to work with at the time. Hope everything else is going well -- haven't seen how the pendant search is going for a while. :)

Me, too, Ken. My biggest heartbreaks this season were June and Guacamole (also Paul's Glory because he put up a fight and was beautiful at the end of the season) because they were really beautiful. :( No, I lost most the year before. The ones that made it- Albomarginata, Wheee, Fire Island, and Blue Mouse Ears, I still have! :) A couple of the "new" ones from last season made it.... Krossa Regal, Grand Tiara, Wolverine, and the 2 unidentified bare roots I got last year.