Thanks for the comments, I'm grinding away on the front yard changes as well now. Taking a break and then it's back out there. One thing at least that is nice about our mild Winters is that when it doesn't rain, we can work the soil. Ken, you are and were right, the grass was eventually all going. It was mildly amusing to mow the lawn for 40 seconds last year once a week. Now I can water for a few years and then leave the maintenance to nature. The deer nibbled off two leaves from a Japanese maple and quickly exitted stage left once I came out to film them. I haven't seen them since - maybe because I'm at about 400 feet elevation, they just don't seem to be around much. Richard, it's Pseudotsuga menziesii 'Fletcherii' - a gem of a dwarf discovered in 1923. :) Edwin, I did indeed, and made many corrections - thank you! I also DO have your nursery list favorited for future access as I make changes and look for confirmations/errors in plants amongst my collection. Are you 100% with every name you list there being accurate? Thanks, as always. Alex, 'Catharine's Golden Heart' will be much more pronounced gold this year with more sunlight. It's previous spot was about 5-6 hours of direct sun, now it's more like 8-10 hours. Bob's golden seedlings, at least those wothout 'Lemon' in their name, don't seem to burn much/at all even with full sun and warm days. Speaking of warm days, I water the pots about once a week during hot stretches, twice a month for the rest. They are doing surprisingly well and since some are very very large, they can stay in their locations, dependant on variety for many years. Some plant ID's. Yes, Abies NORDMANNIANA 'Starker's Dwarf'(caps for emphasis, Iseli is still selling it as Abies koreana) Also from the last photo, the taller fir at the top, Abies forrestii var. forrestii. A Conifer Kingdom product. The fir I noted above for Richard, actually a cultivar of doug fir. The golden spruce is one of Bob's seedlings, I'll need to check the name. It's pouring right now. :( From the second photo, the golden plant towards the bottom is Pseudotsuga menziesii 'El Dorado', a new, VERY choice golden doug fir from Conifer Kingdom. It can burn in full sun, that spot gets about 4 hours and it's brilliantly gold. The large oriental spruce is Picea orientalis 'Skylands'. :) I'll update with more photos as I finish up the front in the next few weeks. -Will

yayagal, the room definitely has a cozy feel. I don't know if it's the scale of the room or the angle in the wall from the roofline, but it has always felt cozy to me too. I'm excited to be making progress here. pps7, you're right about the Wythe Blue having a lot of green in it. I have now put huge samples of the Wythe on the walls and am communing with the color. While it doesn't MATCH the blue in the rug, I still think they play together nicely. Maybe I'm even a little happier that they don't match exactly...I tend to like things to be a little off/quirky. I have a picture that I want to hang in here that looks really good with the blue. Lacking a backup plan, I will most likely plow ahead with the Wythe. (And thanks for your comment about my living room. I'm still surprised by how much happier I am with it since my small changes.) jillinnj, thanks for your vote of confidence and the compliment on the beasts. The floors are heart pine and are in every room of the house except the baths. I think the attic floors are even heart pine, though we have yet to have them refinished. trailrunner, I'd love to see your rug...is yours the same colors too? Regarding the chairs, I might be crazy, but I'm toying with the idea of mohair velvet for the upholstery. I have 3 samples of gray mohair coming in the mail. I've always yearned for some, and have been inspired by sueb's soon-to-be saphire chair. I'll post picture of the samples when I get them. schoolhouse, yes, you're nuts. : ) When we moved in, our walk-in pantry was covered, wall to ceiling, with alligatored, chipping, peeling paint. A good friend of ours tried really hard to talk us into keeping it just like that. Theoretically, I admire a relic as much as the next guy, but it's much nicer to live in a house that isn't cracked and peeling.

Hi rox! Gorgeous, great job! My Jeannie M. is a tall one, but kind of lanky, so hopefully before long, yours will fill in the space for you. I love the air plant/sea urchin jelly!! I made some of those as well. So cool!

Sounds like a good plan to me. The seedlings tend to like more moisture to germinate in and also as youngsters, but it can be a bit of a balancing act not to drown them! Perhaps not the ideal time if year to start seeds but with your set up they should be ok. What kinds have you ordered and from whom? You won't necessarily get what is seen on some sellers sites as they rarely come true from seeds, except in the case of the true hybrids from top sellers that some if the growers on here use, such as Rinoa and Mr Ko for example. I'm sure you will be able to get your plants to flower in the near future given your zone. Your growing season will be much longer and sunnier than mine I would imagine.... only 8 hrs daylight during the cooler months and we have had -17f temps a few years ago! Some growers can get them to that crucial stage within their first year, that is extremely good progress, most should flower within two years I would say. Here in the UK mine took 5 years to form buds but they never opened that year, nor in year 6 or 7, but this season two plants have opened their flowers. It was mainly a problem I had with my fertilisers, that's now sorted and my plants are thriving. It would be good if you post when you plant the seeds, then any extra tips/info can be discussed. Watch they don't get too hot in the closed boxes or whatever as its amazing how hot and steamy things can get in there....I'm famous for boiling seeds to death on more than one occasion! Gill