Sorry -- I think I fell off the end of the earth -- no that was just the first week of school, meetings almost every night since then, football and band going full tilt and I thought I could function with little or no sleep. My son had a big roller coaster experience with his college and life plans over the weekend and the first of this week. I'm still not certain where that will wind up, but the crisis moment has passed. OMG -- I'm not sure I'm ready for this senior year. I'll be okay when he leaves for college, but deciding where he will go and all that goes with that is not going to be easy for this one. I was supposed to be somewhere else hours ago, so I will quickly tell you what I was playing with and see if it sparks any interest rather than spending more time trying to get back to drawing it up and then finding it's impossible or whatever. I'm really getting caught up on the living spaces and flow of the home more than the knit-picking of the kitchen itself. The main thing that is bothering me there is the pantry being so far away from the cooking and prep areas. If you have enough cabinets to put your spices and most used staples in them near your baking and cooking zones and use the pantry for extra storage, small appliances and extra bakeware -- the things you don't need daily or won't have to go grab as you adjust or improvise when cooking, it might work. Or if you cook in an orderly fashion -- all by recipes or can gather everything once and not need to run to the pantry to get something you forgot or decide you need to adjust or improve something, it may work for you. I had a kitchen with a pantry across an aisle -- not as far as this one would be, and it drove me crazy -- to the point of hating to cook. I had very few cabinets in the kitchen itself and no room for any food other than the fridge. Even my spices were in the pantry. The walk-in pantry was one of the reasons I loved the house when I first saw it and one of the reasons I hated it by the time I left. -- but it was the whole package and you have more to work with. Just make sure you know where things will go and how it will work for you. I was thinking that instead of moving the laundry you simply move the door and reorient it, but if that has moved already, it's a moot point. I was kind of hoping that would save some expense so you wouldn't hate me if I suggested taking the kitchen to the right instead of to the back so that you could create a large great room rather than having things divided. It doesn't sound like you live divided and need the two living areas and two dining areas. I will forget that for now -- looks like it might be too much and too late. However, I would not wall off the area in front of the master. I was thinking of moving the desk that faces the kitchen and putting it over between the coat closet and the master BR door, then make that open area (overgrown hallway) a reading or game area with comfy reading chairs and/or a game table for playing cards, board games, crafts, extra dining for get togethers, etc. That's an area that will work with your family room but still give you an added function. I think I would still do that and even if you go with the kitchen pretty much as planned, the area that was patio could be a crafting/activity room that is more segregated and can be closed off from the much used door. I think that closing off that space and having traffic right through the middle of it would make it a mess in terms of too much hall and too little room to work with. If you make that area a game/study area, you could make that wall separating that area from the kitchen a peninsula - go all talls on the back wall and then have a pass through so that you can do snacks, coffee/beverages and even buffets there. If you have island seating, you then have three eating areas for when the family and grandkids are all there -- possibly even room to set up another folding table - and everyone can see each other. The thing that really stuck with me was that this house didn't flow and you wondered where the space was. I am afraid that if you wall it up and box things up like you have them, you might not improve that at all -- maybe make it worse. As I said at the start -- I have been out of the loop on all that has preceded it, so if I'm off on the wrong track I'm sorry.

The answer to the title of your post is obvious. We're always delighted to get someone else hooked on hosta. We always need fresh faces. You're right about the water thing. The hosta must have water regularly. You cannot spot water in the ground, because it just attracts the tree roots to that area and they compete with your hosta for water and nutrients. I think whomever gave you the mulch advice was from another part of the country. The only problem I can think of is that it can provide a perfect environment for the slugs, which are a problem for most hosta. Here, it helps cool the soil and preserve moisture. We definitely need help with both of those. It's recommended by almost everyone, including the organic folks. There is some validity to the "wasting away" of hosta that may not be related to the water issue. Below is a h. Victory in August, 2011. Then there is the same hosta in 2014. This is at the Dallas Arboretum. (notice the mulch) 2011 below 2014 below All of the hosta were not that way, though. Some were really a lot bigger. Besides "wasting away", there could be many other problems. We lost our director of horticulture and trial gardens to The Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney, Australia a couple of years ago. He loved hosta. I'm not sure our current director of trials is all that enamored with hosta. So, the sprinklers could be broken or something like that. There are hosta that do better than others in our climate. There are hosta that are more sensitive to our alkaline soil (black or white dirt, red or tan is usually acid) and water than others. I have a August Moon that turned to the ugliest shade of green you've ever seen in one season. I have hosta I've had for years that never show any signs of chlorosis. So a big part is choosing the right hosta. I have a list that came from the Arboretum a few years ago. Let me know you're interested and I'll send it to you. Many of us grow hosta in pots. If that interests you, let us know. They make great patio pots. They come back every year and look great until August, when they start downhill. I'm not familiar with black oak. You can plant under Red Oaks without any problem. Pin Oaks do not like their roots messed with AT ALL. They will go belly up in a hurry if you mess with raising the soil. A good group to ask is your county extension service. You say Dallas area, so you could be in any county. Dallas Master gardeners are at 214.904.3053 from 8:30 to 4:30 Monday thru Friday. One of my favorite photos is below. It's not my hosta or my photo, but it's one of my favorites, anyway. It's tepelus' photo and plant. Let us if we can enable you further. bk This post was edited by bkay2000 on Sun, Jan 18, 15 at 20:19

Lol. Well there are some nurseries I frequent that I don't care, others I feel like I should at least look half way decent. I had to sort through the packs of allysum, some only had two plants when they were suppose to have three (which is why I ran out in the first place). I casually mentioned it to one of the clerks and he just laughed and said, "Yeah I find that sometimes too". duh. I was kinda hoping he'd give me a break on the price even tho it was only $.99 to begin with. This particular nursery hardly ever has sales and usually has lots of plants, trees, and shrubs left at the end of the season. I don't understand how they make a go of it unless most of their business is to landscapers. Bought a bag of mulch too. Normally I use my shredded leaf mulch but for some reason I thought the bark mulch might keep the moisture in better. It's triple shredded, pretty nice stuff actually. Not many wood slivers. I use it in the edging around my boxwood hedge borders. Which is another job that should be done soon.

I hear you loud and clear. My life has been devoted to art and I paint, sculpt, do pottery, carve etc and have done nothing for a whole year and now I've become complacent. Ugh. Both of my hands had to have surgery, had one done in January and the other in November. I still can't close my right hand all the way as I had damaged ligaments. Plus I have my first great grandson and I'm in love with him and like to spend time with them as my granddaughter comes over frequently. In this past year I shifted my routines not to include painting and started filling it up with my friendships which I've so enjoyed. I never thought I'd see this day come. As soon as we go back to our lake house I am determined to get cracking again, I hope.