I'm not quite counting anyone as being down for the count quite yet. But now that spring is starting to rear, well, its at the forefront of my mind, most notably the butterfly bush since it is "half-hardy" here. Ultimately, I wont be too heartbroken if certain things don't come back (it gives a good reason to buy more!) and I don't know that I'm "worrying" or "stressing" about these but I am thinking of them. And of course, no walking on the grass/ground - just the looking at what I can see from the patio... though the dogs don't seem to mind squishing around in the mud... Did I mention all three are white? I hate this thaw! jebfarm - good to hear witch hazel is blooming! Hopefully not too long now! I'd love to get one of these, too! Woodyoak - I know what you mean about everything being sheeted in ice. We had a nice little defrost for about a day or two before it dropped back to the negatives and everything was encased in ice. We were like living in a snow globe where the snow didn't move when shook because the water itself was frozen. lacyveil - I second the gardenweed's sentiment about agastache and mint being not one to worry about. I left mine out in a metal filing cabinet we converted into a planter... I can see some little basal leaves underneath the fall leaves I put around it. I thought I killed it the year before by leaving it in full, direct sun in a very hot hot hot summer. Never bothered to pull it out of the container, which was left out all winter, and come spring had some springing up! I can't speak exactly to agasatche itself (just planted my firsts this past summer) but if its anything like its cousin... You're good :) Love the input everyone - the best part of the gardening community is you're never alone!

"polygamous" or something LOL! Thanks talley sue for the backup! :-) You already own THREE houses? I should've known I couldn't post any personal info on this board without offending SOMEONE. FWIW, I only own 2 houses. The third house I am leasing (so I guess I'm really paying for someone else's mortgage as well as my own two mortgages). No, we are not landlords - that would mean I'm getting an income to cover some of that $8000, which I'm not. How about...selling those three houses, I'd like nothing else!! That's what this whole thread was about. I'm dying to consolidate my life right now - to end the bouncing around, living in 3 different states, paying for 3 separate households. It's a crazy scenario we've been living for the past 5 yrs b/c of jobs, etc. Finally, in July of this year, we have the opportunity to settle down in one spot. Hence, my "dream" house dream. In my mind, if I can afford to carry 3 mortgage payments and still be flush, I should be able to have just one "dream" house with one big mortgage. As for that downpayment... With the resulting total money, you'll have 20% down Unfortunately, that's not the case. The one house I desperately want to sell has been on the market since last year with not a single bite, and if I do ever sell it, I'm quite sure in this market that I'll be bringing money to the table rather than recouping any cash. (yes, sparksals, this is the TC house - still out there. Obviously chose the wrong REA or maybe it's just a sucky market. We'll be listing again either FSBO/flat fee or with someone else as soon as the snow melts.) Back to the original question, it looks like the jumbo/conforming? cutoff in NJ is around $600K - $700K. And I found lots of mortgage websites that say they still offer options for less than 20% down, even in the jumbo category, so maybe there is hope yet. (Unless someone else here can tell me otherwise.)

not sure august is the time to moving annuals around the garden ... you might lose not only the one you move.. but also severely impact the one you leave ... besides.. in mother earth.. i dont really see why they would need to be moved ... they arent necessarily going to kill each other ... plz include your location in every post ... not so important here.. but it might be in that lonely rose post ... ken ps: in my rural area.. if i were throwing uncomposted kitchen scraps around my plants ... i would probably have fights out there from raccoons.. skunks ...ground hogs ....and mice ... trust me.. if you dont have them now.. you dont want to be attracting them to your garden ....

"...We’ve been gardening here for more than 20 years and it is always a bit of an eye-opener to see how many plants we’ve gone through..." THIS! "...HAHA it's fun to look back at old pictures or plant tags or notes in the binder -- like hey, yea, I remember that!..." AND THIS!! I recently found some three ring binders from when I started gardening here 25 years ago. Not only was I impressed with myself for the detailed notes (complete with catalog photos and tags) I kept on every plant I bought (have no idea when I stopped doing that lol) but I was rather horrified at all the plants I've apparently killed over the years! (and had forgotten that I killed!) And I tend to be a plopper - put it where's there's a spot of sun, put it where there's room, put it wherever I can dig deeper than three inches - so I don't tend to put plans on paper. Any plans I have are in my head and perhaps on a scrap of paper that doesn't get saved longer than the day I drew it, went out to the garden, and planted. Which is just as well since as I scrawl it minutes before planting, it's illegible and I forgot what it says hours later anyway! I noted the delosperma on your plan immediately lol, mostly because I tried to grow it and failed miserably. I had it on a south facing slope with rocky, sandy soil, near the street so plenty of sun and heat and drainage, but after three tries I gave up! I have lately been lured by some seductive photos of it but I am trying to resist... :) Dee