Hello Everyone, Since the scope of the listing of unstoppable Texas plants was so broad, I thought I would narrow it down to just super tough plants that add fragrance to your garden! My limited personal experience only consists of a few plants, and they only produce fragrance for only a part of a season (I have parts of the year that I need to fill with fragrance)! Hopefully you all can help me expand my garden so that at least I can have something to walk by at any time of the year and have something nice to smell! Here is my listing of what I know: Lady Banks - My white one actually has some fragrance to it, although it isn't as nice of a smell as some of the other flowers, it does have fragrance. This is a springtime blooming/fragrance plant. Wisteria - Again, another super tough plant, but only blooms and has fragrance in the spring. (BWT, my 5 gal plant that I got last year seems to only produce leaves, but no flowers/fragrance! Did I get a lemon, or does it have to mature more?) Violet Lantana - I was surprised late last summer(maybe even fall?) last year when I walked by my light purple lantana and couldn't figure out where the nice smell was coming from! I had a mental block thinking that Lantanas only produced nice looking flowers! Copper Canyon Daisy - This plant actually has more of an herb fragrance when the wind blows through it, but it does produce fragrance all year (well, actually, I always cut mine back every year, and it takes a few months for it to grow back enough to have enough leaves to create fragrance!) Texas Mountain Laurel - I learned of this one from the FW BG, so I bought a couple 1 gals, but it looks like it is going to take forever for it to get big enough to bloom and produce flowers/fragrance! It is tough and evergreen, but it only seems to produce fragrance in the spring as well. Does anyone have any suggestions for fragrance the whole year round? Even having different plants with different fragrances at different times would be nice too! Here is a link that might be useful: Listing of Texas Super Tough UnStoppable Plants!

To whom it may concern, I am writing this letter to bring to the attention of Blue Haven pools issues in which I have concern and experiences I have had in the dealings of. I recently contracted Blue Haven Pools of 7575 N. Loop 1604 West, San Antonio, TX 78249 on the 30th of June 2016 to fulfill the dream my family and I had of being pool owners. Our sales person was Mr. Peter Herrera. Mr. Herrera remained helpful, knowledgeable, professional, and courteous throughout our entire experience. He was able to help my wife and I find a pool within our budget and went the extra mile when it came to dealing with our local neighborhood HOA. Unfortunately, this red carpet treatment was short lived. Mr. Herrera knew of our dilemma to have approval from our HOA before we could start building. Although we also were anxious to have ground breaking, it was of some importance to us as a family to abide by the rules of the HOA, no matter how ridiculous they were, in order to keep from getting fines. Upon meeting the superintendent, George, we signed the necessary forms in regards to pool layout and excavation. We were told at this signing of certain and possible damage that may occur, but with that, were assured that every possible effort would be made to minimize damage such as cutting and capping sprinkler lines. This sounded fair to my wife and I and we planned to have a sprinkler service come in and mark the lines while we waited for HOA approval on the job. This plan was relayed to the superintendent. However, seven days after the pool layout and excavation checklist and acceptance was signed, on July 15th, heavy equipment showed up for excavation early in the morning. The super was not called and told that the job had been approved as well as the fact that I was not able to have my sprinkler service come out for another two days. Due to feeling pressured and not wanting to inconvenience Blue Haven, which now had a large back hoe on a diesel in front of my house, I gave the go ahead for excavation to begin. I was never informed the excavation would start this day or even that equipment was on its way to my house. As a customer I was left in the dark having to make split second decisions. At the beginning of the job, everything seemed to go smooth. However, upon ground breaking, my sprinklers were uprooted as I had expected, but there was no stopping to cut and cap the sprinkler lines. They were tore up like the rest of the ground which I am sure has caused problems throughout the entire system now. One resonating fact though that began to play a large inconvenience, was the lack of communication by the superintendent to notify us when workers were going to be at our house. Although there is an understanding that this was Blue Haven’s job site, it seemed the relevance of this being my family’s home was overlooked or better yet dismissed. Often we were told someone would be doing something at our house on a certain day, and we would move our schedule to accommodate, only to have them not show. In retrospect, people would show without the respect of announcement or notification, unidentified as Blue Haven employees or sub-contractors thereof, leaving us at the inconvenience of being completely in the dark as to who was walking around in our backyard. And yes on one occasion someone who was not part of the job was walking around in our backyard staring at the pool construction in curiosity, seeing there was a plastic fence as the only deterrent. During these different work crews time spent at our house, it was not uncommon to see the workers walk behind my shed and urinate. This was not just one crew, but almost all of them. Blue Haven did not install any kind of portable restroom for their employees or their subcontractors, and my backyard became their urinal. This occurred not 5 feet away from where I grow my vegetables that my family and I do consume. This was unacceptable behavior. Another reoccurring theme seemed to be the use of my personal hose by various work crews. Even though I really didn’t have a problem with it at first, the disconnection of my hose set up followed by missing washers from the attachments soon began to upset the process of my day to day life. Beyond this lack of respect, the hose was often left unspooled with dirt and debris clinging to it. Something, I once again had to shoulder the task of cleaning up. At one point, construction came to a halt for a little over a week. We were not notified of this. Upon inquisition, we were told that the filter we had purchased in our contract was on back order and work was halted till it could come in. Although it is not my place to tell anyone how to run their business, it would seem logical only to sell something that you possess, a practice that seems well under the standards of professionalism. Instead a compromise was reached in order to keep the work going, so that a smaller cheaper filter would be installed, and when the other arrived, it would be replaced. We agreed to this. However, once the paid for part came in, it was installed with a broken handle / ring around it. Kind of like buying a new car with a flat tire. Once the gunite was put in, my wife and I shouldered the responsibility of cleaning the back walls of our house. Although some form of make shift wall was put up, a fine mist of cement coated our windows and the entire back side of the house. I spent nearly two hours removing this cement and washing my windows and screens. Once the plaster was put in, a whole other slew of problems began. We were amazed that in an approximate 3 hour time frame, a crew had entered our backyard and completed the plastering of our pool. My family and I had left to somewhere, and when we returned, our pool was plastered and the hose was already filling it. Never did we see or hear from the plasterers. We were impressed. However, this two was short lived. Upon the pool filling, as per the instruction of George the superintendent, I began noticing discoloration. George’s response was that the pool needed to be brushed a minimal of 2 times per day for the next 10 days while the plaster cured. THIS IS SOMETHING I DID RELIGIOUSLY!!! However, some of the areas did not seem to be affected. I continued to contact George and make him aware that the discoloration was not going away to which I was told to continue brushing it two times a day. Although I informed him that I had been brushing it two times a day, it seemed I was dismissed with disbelief. After George giving us the okay to swim in the pool, my neighbor’s children and my own began playing in the pool. When they emerged after approximately 1.5 hours, all had raw bleeding toes. I contacted Blue Haven again to discuss my concerns. I continued to complain and even took pictures and sent then to Mr. Herrera. Once Mr. Herrera was notified, a service tech was scheduled to come out to fix the issue. Although the tech speculated as to what was wrong and the issue was not fixed, I was offered a “pool school” sheet to sign in which I would assume liability and responsibility of the pools chemistry. I refused to sign it on the basis that this seemed like a ploy to shift responsibility to me the customer as opposed to fixing the problem. It did not get fixed, and communication began to crumble between the construction, sales, and service departments of Blue Haven. I was being told several things, all of which were different, and chaos ensued in which the problem was never fixed and fingers seemed to be pointed every direction within the Blue Haven Company. Beyond this, the cleanup had been ordered. The crew showed up and worked, however, rain debilitated their finishing of the job. This sat unfinished for another week with piles of dirt in my yard. On Wednesday the 31st of August, Hervey, the owner of the plaster company came out and I was told this was due to the water and chemistry. I was informed that the proper steps to maintain the chemistry during the curing process were not adhered to and I could brush the pool all day without it changing anything. He recommended that Blue Haven add 4 gallons of Muriatic Acid to the pool. In essence, I was wasting my time brushing the pool twice a day with no acid to dissolve the calcium build up. I contacted Blue Haven and let them know of the plaster’s recommendation to add four gallons of Muriatic Acid to the pool. I was contacted by a tech who I explained the circumstances to, although he does not recall this conversation, and was told that either Thursday or Friday the acid would be added. At this point, I had a prearranged business trip to attend to in which I left my wife to oversee matters at our house. I made her aware of the plans to add acid and instructed her to contact Blue Haven if she and the children must use the pool. On Labor Day weekend, my wife took a water sample to Leslie Pools to have it inspected. Leslie Pools said the PH balance was way off and that acid needed to be added. My wife contacted George to know if it was safe for the children to swim and to tell him of the recommendation of Leslie Pools. He told my wife first that he was on vacation, second that his guys had already added the acid, and third that it was safe for the children to play. Anything else was to be directed to the office. Due to this, my wife decided against letting the children in the pool. Upon my return, I was a bit upset to find no acid had been added to the pool. A crew had shown up, unexpectedly again to finish the clean-up, while I was gone. My wife reported she had awoke to find unidentified persons in my back yard working. Although, these were sub-contractors of Blue Haven, my wife was eerily surprised to find several unknown men in our yard while she was alone with our 3 small girls. I contacted John, head of construction, immediately upon learning of these events, I informed him I no longer wanted anyone stepping in my yard without my consent. I felt my patience with unprofessionalism was way beyond its extent. When I returned home, I was further displeased to see that the clean-up done had left various rocks, trash, and other debris within my yard a good 10-13 feet away from the pool coping. This was something not there prior. I once again got to experience first-hand the lack of work ethics as I mowed my lawn and thin wiring that was left in my yard tangled in the blade of my mower causing it to ruin. A tech did come out and remove two of the spots I was concerned of that were raised and of different texture the Wednesday after my return. On the 9th of September, I signed the certificate of completion. I did not sign it because my wife and I are happy customers. I did not sign it because the plaster finish in my pool is beautiful. I did not sign it because the job was completed competently or with finesse. I signed because the job was done. With a discolored finish. With trash in my yard. With rocks I now have to pick up and pay to have removed. With piles of dirt not even leveled out. I signed it because it was better to wash my hands of our dream turned nightmare, rather than to have our voices fall on deaf ears and excuses.

We actually closed yesterday (finally) asking price: $129,000, sold for $121,000 plus we paid some of the closing costs and added a home warranty. Days on market was right at 6 months. We had 2 offers, first one we took at $126,500 but their mortgage app fell apart. Put back on market and accepted second offer a few weeks later at $121,000+ other addins. 3 bed 2.5 bath in Knoxville tn. About 12-15 years old. Just put in a new 8ft privacy fence and other upgrades just to get more attention for it and help it sell (yes we took a loss, but at least its gone) We had approx 15 showings in total over the 6 months before we got it sold. I asked my realtor about feedback many times (by the way my realtor really sucked, she worked for the buyers it seemed more then she worked for me, and the buyers had their own agent!) Anyways, we did get feedback about painting one of the rooms that we had and another buyer had mentioned a loose railing at the top of the stairs. Nothing that we weren't able to fix for a few dollars and a couple hours on a weekend. We did take a large loss on the home, only in it 2 and a half years and put in tons of upgrades but sadly the company I work for shutdown and we had to move to a new job I found. I was told without the upgrades it would still be on the market.

Well, I know it has been a while, but I realized I forgot to post an update! We finished everything in Dec '11, and have really enjoyed it. The house went on the market this weekend, so we got a little over a year in our 'new' kitchen. We got a full price offer today, and our home is priced higher than anything in our neighborhood (the house 2 doors down in 500 sf larger, and priced $5k cheaper). I think it was worth it - total cost was right around $7K. Granite: NVG light Gel Stain: Java (General) - 3 coats Tile: Home Depot Backsplash: Home Depot Here is a link that might be useful: More Kitchen Remodel Pics This post was edited by leightx on Tue, Apr 23, 13 at 12:40