scorching would indicate to me ... that it is lacking water ... before i would worry about too much sun is it properly watered for the amount of sun it gets ... if so ... then it needs more protection.. as you think ... green versus gold... all depends on the light level.. and it is nearly impossible to guess what might occur in your garden.. in your light ... ken

So, how has this one been performing? I must say, I love the 'idea' of sea hollies, but the variegated one I have planted in my front (jade frost?) is making me nertz. Any good rainstorm (and we've had some fantastic ones this season) and the thing is splayed down and growing sideways. And I am truly loathe to stake plants - I guess I resist that finicky side of things for some reason. Does anyone else have this problem? Though maybe I can invest in some good stakes and be done with it.

Lily, I'm sorry to hear your GC died. Its a great bloomer here. Smells terrific too. as for WE? Get her. Lol. Thanks Sara and Iris :) Totoro, with less sun she will prob stay more sprawly. Mine are in full sun all day.

@Beth, first thanks for all your tips and ideas on the hardware. Good idea to mark them out and good to know that 4" is the min (they sell 3 and 3.5, which are cheaper, so I wondered if that would work. thanks) I know; You had a lot of good ideas on painting. Thank you. I am still waffling on what to do. I guess my concerns w/ the painted floors are the effort to do it and the maintenance (I have wear patterns on my front porch and the kitchen gets more traffic). Plus I want to limit my exposure to chemicals. FWIW, this morning I emailed my house painter to check his schedule if I choose to have him repaint the cabs. (he's a much better painter than I am) Painting would allow me to fix the placement of the holes on some of the cabs (currently, most of the cabs do not have holes). I could also put a cab to the left of the stove. And I made an appt next week with the interior designer who was going to help me pick finish materials etc with the big remodel....to get his opinion of a scaled-down remodel. i.e. how to make this house a better version of what it is without spending a ton of money since I may move in a few years....thanks for all your help! I don't want this to be all about $$$, but everything is so $$$ and I hate the idea of investing a lot of excessive $ that I won't get when I sell. (when my former realtor came over this summer, she kept saying "do what *you* want; do what makes you happy; you don't need to do anything to fix this house to sell it" etc). So I guess my dilemma: what can make it more live-able for me for the next few years. (but possibly longer? who knows?)