Juliet, the Huntington has fewer Old Roses than it used to, having now more emphasis on Austin roses. I think even most of the older moderns have gone, now. And you DON'T want to see the Teas. The Cactus garden and the new Conservatory will probably be very nice, and the new Chinese garden is supposed to be spectacular. The Galleries, of course, are wonderful. I practically grew up in them, thanks to my grandmother, and I could still spend a lot of time there. (And they're air-conditioned, too!) For Old Roses in the area, I would suggest instead the Descanso Gardens International Rosarium. It's beautifully laid out and maintained. August is not a great season for Southern California rose gardens, but if anything is in bloom, it will be there. Jeri

Yep - that's Mike's site. He loves his hostas. Although if you are looking for a particular hosta, I would call him first. He does run out, and he steadily gets new ones in. He does have perennials, shrubs, a little of everything, and I can always find something I like. Not many annuals, not sure about roses. Give him a call, and make sure you talk to Mike. His dad is..... Just talk to Mike.

We stayed somewhere else. We had our four kids with us at the time and the large rooms/suites were pricey and I suspect look much like regular hotel rooms. We all went on a boat ride on the indoor river and had a family photo taken while we were in the boat. The kids loved that and enjoyed the waterfalls and bridges and just being up high looking out over the gardens. The Frommers link says there's nine acres of indoor gardens. They had three separate atriums but they were all connected. I don't believe the plants were labled like they might be at a botanical garden but still a nice place to visit. Of course, in Hawaii, those plants could be grown outside but this is a little closer, so I thought someone might want to make the trip someday. Bunny - I don't know what the plant is in the first photo. I liked it though. Maybe someone else will know what it is.

Autum it can be staggering on the cost of lots in some areas. We are really low end here from about 12K for a city lot which are 50 by 150 ish. They vary. We bought half an acre for 19K. Wish it was smaller but to get what we wanted on the lot we needed this much because it is a triangle. So we ended up with more dreaded lawn than I wanted. My friend has two houses one huge at 6 bedrooms two story.Daylight basement being one of the stories. Barns out buildings and a second smaller two bedroom house all on almost 10 acres for 160K. So on the other end of the scale there are places going pretty darn cheep. Certainly more than we want to deal with no matter how inexpensive. As far as DIY it is so much harder as you say the older you get. Some thing that I could easily do in an hour and not even batting an eye takes me so much longer now and I some times have to think if it is even worth it. And with my DH 10 years older then I am I can not always ask for his help now as I need to consider if it will cause him as much pain if not more than me. I was just thinking today to get it all done as fast as I can now or seriously consider hiring some one to help me. I just hired a guy the other day to lay some pavers in the dogs yard to lower the mud level in the house this winter. There was just one little corner needing to be finished filled in.He lifted and carried four pavers at a time when I would struggle with carrying ONE. And my knee does not work=bend like it should any more. Needs surgery I have to wait on. My ankle is still healing from a fall a year ago.I struggled to carry an end table this morning to move it from one room to another. A few years ago it was not hard to move.And I still have not finished painting the inside of our house and usually I have a house painted inside and out in the first year. This was a new house but builders paint is crappy. NOW the outside needs painting too. Next year and we all will get to decide what colors. So glad this is a small house. The cost of paint is staggering now and where I buy it in Oregon they added two dollars a gallon fee for?? some thing about the environment.GGGRRRRRRRR