Beautiful!! Your pics are clear and crisp and the flowers are beautifully set off by each other. I especially love the pic with the phlox. I also love the pics of the pink tulips with the yellow daffodils--that seems to me like the ultimate spring bulb color combo. Thanks for posting your beauties.

Don't prune rhododendron or azaleas until after they bloom or you will be removing their flower buds. Then you can prune to control the height or to improve the shape. It is good to open them up so that they get good air flow. Don't prune them with hedge pruners. Usually little or no pruning is necessary. Here is a link that might be useful: How to grow rhododendrons and azaleas.

Oddie, Sorry I didn't get a chance to reply sooner. Luvs, thanks for finding that pic for Oddie. I bought my tree 20 years ago and it is showing signs of wear and tear now for sure. It is a "real" tree set into plaster of paris in a cheap pot. Then the pot can be put into a nice container. I wish I knew what kind of tree it is as I would love to do a new one. I did make a smaller one several years ago, but it didn't hold up. I think the type of wood makes the difference.

We are in the process of painting our oak cabinets now. I can post pics later (when I'm not at work) if you are interested. We are doing the work ourselves. LIke the previous posters have said, it is time consuming. We bought a house in foreclosure and gutted the kitchen. I found great cabinets, in a horrible pickled oak finish, at restore. There is some great advice on this forum, and we also found a good article on painting cabinets on the this old house magazine website. Here is the process we are using: (1) removed all doors and hardware--you have to fill in holes if you are changing hinges or knob position. (2) rub down with liquid sander/deglosser. This cleans and roughs up the finish. (3) Sand with 100 grit paper, vacuum, and wipe down with mineral spirits or tack cloth. Seems duplicative of step 2, but this what was recommended to us so we did it. (3) Fill in grain, and fill dents. We used thinned down MH ready patch and applied with a paint brush. This was much less expensive than Brushing Putty and filled the grain well, but not perfectly. (4) Sand with 220 grit paper, vacuum, and wipe down with mineral spirits or tack cloth. (5) Prime (we used instl-x stix, which was expensive and I don't think it worked as well as the much less expensive kilz or zinzer primers (6) Sand again with 220 grit paper, vacuum, and wipe down with mineral spirits or tack cloth. (7) Caulk all gaps on doors and frames. We found we had to sand a bit again after this step, which meant more vacuuming and cleaning. (8) Paint--we are using Ace Cabinet and Trim (we couldn't find cabinet coat in our area). This paint is good at concealing brush strokes, but does not coat as well as some other paints and takes FOREVER to dry. Not sure I would use again. (9) Sand(again!!) with 220 grit paper, vacuum, and wipe down with mineral spirits or tack cloth (10) Paint final coat. (11) let cure (about one week). (12) reattach hardware and hang We just finished step 8. So I am not sure if two coats of paint is going to be enough. Started step one two weeks ago, and we probably have another ten days to go with the sanding, painting, and curing still to go. Not a quick process by any means. Good luck.