I don't necessarily agree with taking out the maple tree. For me it depends on the variety. I have a sugar maple that I would never consider removing. It is a beautiful tree with great fall color. It casts quite dense shade, but I do grow hostas and other shade tolerant plants under it. What I've learned from others is to water and fertilize the whole area, not just the hostas. If you start with a large planting hole and a good-sized plant, it will compete successfully with the tree roots if given enough water. On the other hand, if the tree is a silver maple I would not hesitate to take it out, the sooner the better. The roots of silver maples actively seek water and the tree's wood is soft. It has no redeeming value. Mark

I live in Tennessee and really wanted to deal with a Tennessee nursery. It's a good idea to deal locally, I assumed. Maybe not, though. The tnnursery website currently has "Fast Shipping Nationwide" scrolling across the top. So naturally, I thought this would work for me. I could have my guys here in maybe ten days and the trees would be here. Nope. Unbeknownst to you when you order, it takes them 7-10 business days to ship out an order (they don't tell you this until you inquire as to if your trees have shipped). That's two weeks, give or take, before the order is ever put on the truck, then you have 3-5 business days transit on top of that. That's normally not an issue, except when you voluntarily set the expectation that the shipping is "Fast" and "Nationwide". I didn't need the 'Nationwide' part. I'm right down the road. Fast would have been nice, but if they had simply told me prior to ordering what kind of time frame I was looking at, I probably wouldn't have minded so much. But they set the expectation at "Fast" repeatedly, and so looking at other nurseries, who ship within a couple of days of ordering, I thought they would as well. Turns out, their shipping isn't fast. At all. In fact, it's so not-fast, that it may actually be the slowest shipping nursery in the market right now. Without exception, every other nursery I checked into ships faster. They probably get your order correct, too. I ordered the BOGO Free apricot trees, paid for two, so should have received four. I didn't. I got two in total. I ordered trees advertised at 3'-4' tall, and received trees that were 33" tall. When I have ordered trees in the past from other nurseries, they're always very generous with the height of the trees they send you. Order a 5'-6' tree, and you'll almost always get on that's 6 1/2 feet tall. When I called to let them know, the sales department answered, and when I tried to tell them what was going on, I was told that they don't accept phone calls, and that I would have to email someone. So I began emailing them, and received a few responses back and forth over a few hours, which is super annoying to have to constantly stop and restart again. Once I left them a bad review on their own website, someone reached out to me and called. She informed me that they include the length of the root ball in the total height calculation. I was ready for this, having called TyTyGa, Fast Growing Trees, and another I can't remember, all of whom (not only took my phone call) confirmed for me that if a nursery is telling you that they calculate root ball length in overall tree height, that they're probably being not terribly up front with you. In the end, they agreed to send me the two trees that I was short, and credit me with, I guess, a partial refund for the trees that were short, which doesn't help me a lot, since I'm not interested in planting those trees because they're so small. I asked if they could ship out the trees that are the correct height for me, and was told that they would be happy to do so, but only after I sent the short ones back (I sent them photos of the trees with a measuring stick next to them to verify the issues for them), and that they wouldn't send the correct trees out to me until they received the rejected trees, nor would they send me a shipping label. I would have to pay for shipping. I was told that a manager would be reaching out to me, which never happened. My whole planting schedule is screwed up now. I've sent my guys home twice, and they've let me know that I'm back at the back of the list - four weeks out. You got me this one time, but you won't get me again. It's a shame that a local business doesn't care as much about me as I did them. That's how I see it. I'm not asking to be favored, but I am asking to be treated fairly, and this isn't that. FYI, I believe that TNNursery also owns or is owned by Tennessee Wholesale Nursery. Also, pay attention to the positive reviews on this site; they all sound like American names, but the diction is terrible and the English is either from the Indian subcontinent or from China. It seems as though all of the positive reviews have that in common. I'll never do business with them again.

Great discussion topic... Makes me feel less bad about my place. After all, I have a traditional no-name lilac which blooms quite tolerably in spite of being squeezed in between some other bushes. My hill is actually chilly , windy and shady, so the lilac likes it. My background makes me want to grow edibles though. This does not work. Vegetables that grow like weeds in normal gardens - radishes, squash, carrots, potatoes, dill, - it it a good thing nobody ever sees what becomes of them here. Tomatoes and peppers succeed occasionally, with much care. Yes, I have been searching constantly for varieties that will agree to grow and fruit here. I am quite depressed about it.

Thanks for the tips so far. As for the ceiling, I'm afraid the cold, hard rapping sound my knuckle makes confirms I'm dealing with only 96" from the floor slab to the ceiling. On the oak comment -- I agree it is not the most contemporary look, but I did have concerns about going too light (might show more wear) and/or too modern (which I associate with being somewhat stark & antiseptic. Would maple still be something to consider? Are my worries unfounded? My thoughts on wood vs. an alternative surface were around wanting to have a little warmth (of texture/color) and, quite frankly, resale value. Realizing we will not want to live in a small concrete box in the big city forever, I can't help thinking there is a greater risk with materials like bamboo or cork being perceived as "so 2006" (of course I'm also making an assumption around traditional wood flooring having more timeless appeal). One of my other assumptions that I would welcome folks to challenge (or confirm, if that's the case) is around the decision to stay with a lighter color for the flooring (for the reasons in my first post). The walnut color of the old floor, by itself, is pretty attractive by my eye, but my impression is that it is also making the apartment feel darker than it needs be. Thanks again. Ed