to add to Kanielak, in 9 or less zones, it is better to wait to plant broken pieces or cuttings until spring to late spring. Branches kept cool but not cold will keep for over 6 monthes. Depending on your zone and climate, leaves will yellow and drop into the fall. Lower zones will often get deadly fall frosts so plumeria growers anticipate this and cut off the leaves to force dormancy and then bring the plants in before the frost period arrives. Bill Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Never heard of this, the HD by me sells Behr which I used to paint just about every rom in my home. I am no professional. My father-in-law was and I learned a lot from him. Preparation is the most important part of the job. The walls should be cleaned, spackled and primed. I suppose if they were white and a flat or Satin finish they could be painted right over after cleaning. If a higher sheen I'd think you would at least need to lightly sand. Experts here can help you on this. After prep, good tools make for a better job. The roller covers I used were about $3.33 each (White Dove brand?). I do not recall the brand but they were just about the most expensive sold there. I am sure there are better out there too. I used 1/4 inch had had little stipple and no streaking except on the ceilings and that was likely my fault not having much experience on ceilings. They take me about 10 minutes to clean. I rinse an use a scrub brush and scraper to clean then hang dry. I used a Perdi brush that cost about $10 as well. I did notice a BIG difference here between that and the $2 brushes. Again no streaks. If you have all the right stuff (above) perhaps it is your technique. Practice makes perfect. If you have a good technique then I wonder if its the color you are using. A family member finished his basement and painted half the wall dark red and half beige. He used BM paints. It took one coat of beige over the primed drywall but 5 coats of red. Perhaps some colors are just more difficult with coverage. Be a little more specific what your issue is. No doubt someone here can help you out. PS: Pop Pop used to clean his stuff in something that smelled as....I'd rather not monkey with chemicals in the house!

I did not have time to read all of the replies but to offer a bit of friendly support from someone who has recently been there and done that...we fnally sold our house about 9 months ago after a year on the market. Prospective buyers, especially in today's market, are just very fickle sometimes and trying to predict what they will go for is beyond me. We had redone our kitchen with Wolf/SZ etc (all top end appliances) nice granite etc so it was very updated (and the house was only 7 years old anyway). In the beginning everyone said "That kitchen will sell your house in a minute and bring a premium. Well, as the market tanked, the most common comment was "Nice kitchen but we really don't cook that much" or..."Kitchens are not our thing" etc. Another dig was the wall color in one small room. Many people did not like it at all. Hello! It was one room...2 gallons of paint at most...paint it whatever floats your boat for about $200. I even stipulated in the fact/seller allowance sheet that we would repaint rooms for an allowance up to $1,000. My point is that in such a down market, people focus on what is wrong or they don't like (not what is right or they do like) to negotiate the price down even further. What a difference 24 months makes! Anyway, good luck. I know selling right now is stressful at best. FWIW, when you least expect it, someone will walk in and say, "I love it!".

You might want to read (or listen) to the news piece NPR did on this subject, dated April 22 2015. Found in the Salt, titled http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2015/04/22/401536105/buzz-over-bee-health-new-pesticide-studies-rev-up-controversy I purchased several flats of thyme from HD a few days ago and found the same plastic marker shown above stating the plants were treated with neonics. These ground covering plants were to replace the lawn, as we are looking for water-saving alternatives to grass. What I find particularly disturbing is that in the NPR story, the study mentions that crop seeds are treated (coated) with this chemical. After the seed germinates (typically corn or soybeans), the plant grows, incorporating this nicotine compound into its cells. There is still enough active compound remaining in the plant after it has grown to a mature size, bearing flowers, to be an effective insecticide. The nicotine is found in the pollen and nectar of these flowers, and is consumed by bees. What?! That is a very powerful compound if what is coated on an individual seed is enough to deliver a dose to leaves and flowers after several months of growth. I mistakenly thought that most pesticides had to be sprayed on the plant repeatedly over the growing season. The benefit of a genetic alteration, like having a plant make a Bt protein, is that nothing is sprayed or added to the soil. But in this case, a seed treated with a coating is able to permeate every cell of the plant as it grows. I understand there are many chemicals used in agriculture that are labelled "systemics", but I envisioned that such a product required it to be liberally spread in the soil or sprayed on the leaves, where the plant takes it in and distributes throughout it's tissues. Somehow the idea that something coated on a seed could last this long is just not something I had considered. I certainly would never chose to use these chemicals in my garden. I hate to think this ground cover will harbor this compound for many months. I will have to research this some more before I decide what to do.