Thanks for the advice Alex. I think I'll give that a try in the spring. The trunk is 2 feet in diameter and overall it is quite far from dead. It was infested long before I moved in 2 years ago and I've only had to remove a couple branches from it in that time. The upper half of the tree appear to be quite healthy still. My plan was/is to anchor one end of a trellis directly onto the tree (there's a post that won't move) and plant the fruting female plant about 10 feet away to run along the trellis. The male non-fruting plant would be planted at the base of another side of the tree and left to run more or less wild up the tree. I don't have any experience with kiwi's, so I'm not sure if 1) the asthetic will be any good (aka wife factor) and 2) how well the tree and vine will interact. It's my understanding that eastern hemlocks have very shallow root systems, so not sure how well the kiwi would establish. I have rhubarb and a paw paw I planted about 8 feet away this year and both seem to be doing quite well. A foot away may be a different story though. I guess there's no harm in giving it a go and seeing if it works or not. Worst case, I just buy another male and fit it in somewhere.

You'll save initially buying pre-finished siding, but it will cost in the long run. Proper installs require caulking that will need touched up with pre-finished along with the bumps and bruises that happen with shipping/delivery, installers, and other various trades. Touching up areas and trying to match it all up are difficult at best. Imo, it's cleaner and more reliable to have an on site finish applied by reputable painters.

I will be putting Hardi plank siding up in less than a month. I live in the middle of a woods. I want to blend two different shades of paint. Gray primer(dry) than (light green first...(dry) than a gray over it,(dry) and possible another charco gray lightly to give depth to the cedar mill. Pain staking but I got time and I want my house to blend with the woods surroundings. Could someone please guide me on how to do it right. Thanks!

No problems with our smooth non perforated Hardi soffits either but they've been in less than a year. 'd think that waviness might be a result of not having adequate support behind them or insufficent nailing. Hardie has really good directions online for use of their materials. You might want to check out nailing and support recommendations. I'm not sure that this is the version that you're looking at but here's a link to Hardie soffit installation from the Hardie website. Here is a link that might be useful: Hardie soffit installation