I just mentioned on another forum that most hobby growers give all glory to the top of the plant, while it's the roots that serve as the plant's heart and do all the heavy lifting. As long as you don't have an insect infestation, we can prolly get your plant straightened out quickly, though it will take some guts on your part. Can you hang? ;o) If you're willing to do a full repot, which includes sawing off the bottom 1/3 of the roots, bare rooting, and then cutting off even more roots, concentrating on the largest, then adding all fresh soil, you can put your plant back on track. If that frightens you, or if for some reason you don't want to do that, the prognosis is a continued steady decline. Once plants become rootbound, it permanently and negatively affects growth, unless you take the initiative and correct the condition. Copy/pasted from one of my other posts: We know for certain that growth is negatively affected at about the time the soil/root mass can be lifted from the container intact. We also know that once the tree has reached this state of root congestion, growth is affected permanently, unless the root congestion is corrected. We know these things because tree growers have a vested interest in seeing that their trees put on caliper as quickly as possible. Dr Carl Whitcomb goes into some considerable detail about what the impact of being root bound has on growth. Practically speaking, after spending thousands of hours digging around in as many root balls, I can assure you his observations are accurate. You cannot expect a tree growing under root-bound conditions to grow to its genetic potential within the limits of other cultural factors, and it will not/cannot. When you regularly tend to root pruning and and replacement of collapsed soils, you offer your tree the opportunity to grow at as close to it's genetic potential as other cultural factors allow, but when you simply put a tree in a container & do nothing in the way of root maintenance, you deny that plant that same potential. On a scale of 0-10, with 0 being a dead tree and 10 being perfect vitality/growth, trees in containers are capable of somewhere around an 8. A scenario re the range of vitality: Trees that are repotted (includes soil change and root work) will vary over a 3 year period (between repots) and at some point soon after repotting will be capable of growing at a level of 8. They will decline to maybe a 5 as they become root bound. When you repot, they go right back to 8 again, so the trees can be maintained indefinitely at good vitality levels. Let's consider the tree that is NOT repotted. Some may feel that because they see a growth "spurt" after they pot up or scratch some fresh soil into the top few inches that all is well, but lets talk about that growth "spurt" It's not a spurt at all. It's simply a very stressed tree temporarily growing a little closer to it's potential, which has been misinterpreted as a spurt. *A tree starts at a vitality level of 8 and declines to a 5 over 3 years. * It's potted up and some of the vitality returns, but not all, so it's only growing at a level of 7. *Over 3 years, it declines to a 4; when potted up again, it can only muster a vitality level of 6. * It declines to a 3 and is potted up to a 5 * It declines to a 2, and is potted up to a 4 * It declines to a 1, and is potted up to a 3 * dead tree "What about the leaves? How can I get the leaves looking healthier?" The leaves only THINK they are in charge. Get the roots right & the leaves will follow. ;o) Al

Oh, this thread is great. Sorry khallock about the marital drama. Nothing like a reno to bring out the worst in both spouses. My DH and I remodeled after a house fire. We were under tremendous schedule pressure and are very different in how we process decisions. Plus he is color blind, not great at visualizing spaces and prefers to be a nay-sayer rather than idea proposer. Fun times! We also went round and round about the fridge. I really loved the columns and we desperately needed more freezer space than we could get in a standard 36". We agreed on a counterdepth appliance but struggled for a long time over what to buy. The budget was what finally killed the columns for us. We ended up with a 42" Thermador side-by-side, and we still grumble about the freezer size. My DH was the one who fell in love with the Wolf 36" cooktop and I just went with it. I don't regret it, but I didn't have strong opinions about it otherwise. The biggest conflict we had in the kitchen remodel was over the backsplash design. I chose a colorful tile early on and then played around with countless patterns. He was very firmly fixed on having a traditional, regular, repetitive pattern and I was not. I posted pics here and took a vote and the winner was a random pattern, which I liked best too. Other more experienced designers here helped me understand why it was more appealing and gave me some words to use to explain it to my DH. I insisted that we would have a random pattern, trying to explain why it made sense. He was very unhappy. I held my ground and the backsplash is awesome. Now, whenever we have guests, he takes them right into the kitchen and says "My wife designed this. Isn't it great?" Establish your shared vision for this kitchen. Make a mood board. Learn to use a 3D sketching software so you can play with different things like the fridge, etc. And accept the fact that sometimes you are just going to have to stand your ground.

I had two cats that were raised with a squirrel and cockatiels. Once the squirrel got big enough to go outside and live, he would come call them, and they would play chase with him up and down the tree. They would lie on the floor and the birds would just walk all over them. They never hurt one of them. Feral cats are a whole 'nother can of worms, though. There were 13 feral cats around here when I first moved in. They had all been "CatNipped" (neutered), and one neighbor fed them. She moved about 2 hours away to take care of her mother and took them with her, all but one, who still hangs around occasionally, but don't see him much since he doesn't get fed here anymore. I've tamed feral kittens before, but once they're grown, they're pretty much untameable.

I suggest you look at SW Gossamer Veil. It's a neutral that SW recommends as a complement to Relentless Olive. It's dark enough to contrast with the trim, but still light instead of dark. But there are limits as to what we can do for you online. The way you paint without regret is to sample. If you don't want to paint swatches on your walls or on a board, buy samples from Samplize.com. Once you think you know what you want, have one room painted instead of having the whole house done right away. Or even just one wall. Live with the one room for at least a week before having the rest done. Also, sometimes it just isn't possible to find one color that will work in every room. There is nothing wrong with mixing it up a bit so each room looks good as long as nothing clashes. Gossamer Veil is part of SW's Naturalist collection. Go to the paint store and pick up the brochure for the collection. This might give you more ideas. Also look at all the Top 50 colors. There has to be something in there that would work. There is a reason they're the Top 50.