I will probably get flamed mercilously, but I love Angelo's. It's like going to a garage sale. You never know what you'll find and the prices are great. I picked up a very overgrown 1 gal wooly thyme from their "clearance" rack for $3 last year. After dividing and taking cuttings, it has turned into over 100 starts for my non-lawn. A couple months ago, they had 2 gal Leyland Cypress for $20 each. I would have gotten more than two, but that's all I could get in the Miata (with the top down). Another hit-or-miss place is Rosso's at the north end of Boeing Field/Georgetown. The place is pretty scruffy, the plants might look a little disheveled, but everything I've gotten there has been healthy and done well. If it's a slow day, the might even be open to haggling on prices if you are buying lots of plants. Eric is also right: watch for the South Seattle Comm College plant sale. Bargains galore.

Handymac & Innea56. I have installed several of these sliders so will try to explain a little as they can sometimes be an advantage over a regular jamb door. For instance I had a regular door in my bathroom which when open, hid the toilet behind it. The interior wall had sufficient room to install a slider, about 36" for a 32" door. Think I purchased a pocket door track and hdw. from Johnson Hdw. for about $20. Attached the track along the wall holding it out far enough to allow the door to clear the wall about a quarter inch as it rolled along. Installed a closet door bracket at the bottom as to not allow the door to contact the wall when opening or closing(swing). I also did a little trim work to cover the track using about a 3" trim piece along the distance of the track. Handywork, or a masterpiece, as I like to describe it!! I am sure you understand. Now my toilet is no longer behind the door and the room seems much larger since that old swinging door is gone. I did another that had the tub behind the door and the door was difficult to open and close, due to the toilet being on the opposite side of the tub. When you closed the door you had to step aside to permit the door to operate. Plumbing was in the wall for the tub and a light switch was on the wall where the toilet was located so that did not permit a pocket door. So I installed the door on the wall outside the bath. Found an antique piece of wireglass and installed it in a slab door thatI bought for around $20. Another masterpiece with the trim and we have a new conversation piece as visitors admire the handywork. Now when the door is open it works a a piece of art, when closed it serves the intended purpose. Another was a small bath in which the door swung into the hall hiding the linnen closet when open. So I installed a slider on the inside of the bathwall. Now I have access to my linen closet and can close the bath door when necessary. Hope this will give you some ideas for future reference.

Two coats of interior paint done and so far so good, we need to wait at least a week before the color settles in, this one surprisingly takes a week to mature and lighten up. Boy, am I glad I did not attempt to do 90+ gallons of wall paint myself. Interior ceilings will commence on Monday followed by exterior paint, trim, gutter boards, etc., these guys are going to be around a while even though the weather is cooperating this week. Our entry door was delivered yesterday and unloaded without a scratch, phew! Took a quick couple of pics while they were bringing the frame and each door into center garage. It was scary when they had to tilt the huge frame to get it through the 8' tall garage door, the frame is taller. Pic of frame and one of two doors. They covered it all with heavy plastic sheeting before they left. I think we'll install it the following week when I'm working from home. They also left cans of door paint and threshold stain. Really pleased with the results and looking forward to seeing it on the home.

Hardy Japanese banana has been grown outdoors in Vancouver for decades. One planting we noticed just north of UBC we were told by the man who came to the door was present when he started working there in the 1950s. I doubt this planting was being covered each winter the whole time, but we didn't ask. (I have been told by a zonal denial specialist down here that the trick is to get starter plants of the banana through their first winters, with them being hardy after they get up to size). However, Bellingham seems to be colder than Vancouver, presumably due to some detail of how the cold air in winter comes down the Fraser River and where it goes - Bellingham and vicinity is probably about the worst lowland area in western WA for you to settle in with your particular interests. You would do much better with the types of plants you like farther down the Sound, away from the Fraser Outflow - you can see the general pattern of winter conditions here by looking at the western WA Sunset Climate Zone map in the Sunset Western Garden Book. People with central Puget Sound properties right on the water, such as in the Fauntleroy area of Seattle and areas west of there, experience California mild conditions for long periods of time. When I belonged to the local Rhododendron Society chapter during the 1970s one member who lived near the Fauntleroy ferry dock would come to meetings with flowering samples of rhododendrons in his garden that were kinds ordinarily seen much farther south, in northern California for instance. Minimum temperatures on individual planting sites are critical to success with a zonal denial plant collection. There are favored properties that may perhaps seldom drop below 15-20F and others a few miles away that sometimes get near 0F. For instance during the last decimating winter, in 1990 12F was reported from a place near the water in northwest Seattle and 2F was claimed for another, at roughly the same latitude, near North Seattle Community College, over by I-5. Such differences decide whether or not borderline plants can be kept going - there is a lot of stuff that checks out at about 10F or so. Two Pacific Northwest retail nurseries with outdoor settings that are planted to make it look utterly like you have been instantly transported thousands of miles to the south are Jungle Fever Exotics in Tacoma and Cistus nursery near Portland.