I second and third Louis Philippe... It by far is the best and most carefree bloomer ever! I have four of them, and they are all covered right now! But my Show stopper is...a Fortuiana bush I saved from the old Giles nursery that the bulldozers had plowed down when they sold their business... It is 6 feet wide, and spreads at least 12 feet up and over my pergula...In March it is to die for!!!!! So if anyone needs cutting for grafting...please let me know...you are welcome and I have plenty to spare.... You can see it in bloom on my blog "the roosting Hen" It's the main picture....It only blooms once a year...but well worth it...and never gets black spot.....and naturally doesn't get affected by nematodes...hehehehehe.... My other own root OGR are doing really well too...I'll have to find there names...A few other hybrids are Ok...but just not show stoppers...and only thriving ones are grated on Fort...I really need to learn how to do that!!!!! janine

Hey - I saw your post in response to my question about the vermiculite which referenced the $500 tomato. There is actually a book called "the $64 tomato." by William Alexander. I bought it at the end of the summer last year. The book is very funny. Through his absurd and at times, maniacal, attempts at gardening, I actually learned alot. I went to your site so that respond directly to you but couldn't find a link. Being that this is your first year, my first year and we are both learning from errors, how would you feel about trading e-mails???

Laurie, I have that very old 21 year old blinking and humming on its last legs fluorescent light in the kitchen ceiling. Your light is not so bad looking as my light. My tiles looking so different in my light than the home I fell in love with the tiles on the floor is what made me realize how bad the lighting was in my kitchen. If I am not going to invest right now in new cabinets, then I want something for all this effort I put in and instead of undercabinet lighting and instead of installing the small fixture that is not big enough to light up the kitchen (will install in my dining room that only has 60 watts right now since 300 watts in a 15" fixture will look nice there), I am investing in recessing lighting and installing the tiles. I will revisit the kitchen after my busy season. But thank you Laurie for being happy for me. This does sound encouraging and I hope tiling under the dishwasher will help me if I ever replace the cabinets to maybe not tile under them and leave everything the way it is. For now, I may try to paint the cabinets (after removing the tarnished hinges) and if I like the way it turns out, I will add hardware to the doors and change the counters. If I don't like the way it turns out, I will save for cabinets with at least the lighting and floor out of the way. The new guy tonight kept pushing me to get new cabinets and wait several months when he is less busy and felt he could not go under the dishwasher. So far the other installer is winning and has the 2nd best price with the only one bringing a plumber into the picture to making sure the dishwasher is done properly. Your post means so much to me since you and your handy husband are on budgets also and just reminding me that I have been making a lot of progress is making me realize I have and must be patient. My home is so much better looking and functionable before I joined GardenWeb near the end of the 2006 year. Then I had stark white walls with matching white trim, almond appliances, damaged blinds in the rooms (all new window treatments are in my home now), old dirty beige carpets downstairs, and did not have the nice tile I have in my two small foyer areas (tiny area upon entering my home and in between the garage, utility room, bathroom and coat closet tiny hallway that sits between the living room and dining room that I made into my home office). I love my new engineered hardwood floors, love my blinds, love my appliances, love the new efficient central air conditioner/heater/compressor unit, love the new washer and dryer that I bought around 6 years ago now, etc. I just wish I could do more at once.

kam76- The room is 13.5 X 19.5. If your interested you can do a room plan at Bob's Discount Furniture, once your on the site, scroll down to room planner. You will need to register to save your plans, but it is very easy to use and very helpful when trying to decide on furniture placement in a room.