NB jasmine needs a lot of water during the growing season. It's also a fast grower, so it may have outgrown the 10" pot already -- hard to tell without seeing it. It also needs at least a half day's sun to bloom well, so it needs enough soil around the roots, and a sizable root ball, to soak up all the water it needs. The spots suggest either too much salts in the water -- do you have water softening in your tap? -- or, maybe, spider mites. Have you looked under the leaves and in the flower buds for what looks like tiny spider webs? If it's mites, spray with insecticidal soap every couple of days for at least 2 weeks. Don't spray, of course, when the plant's in full, hot sun; morning or evening is best. Hope this helps rescue your plant! Jim

Our club recently received some rhizomes dug in Sept. that were newer varieties. All the fans were brown and shriveled, some were small, but the rhizomes were firm/ok. We immediately potted them 2 weeks ago, and I left town for a week. WeÂve had a good frost when I got back, but in spite of that, I see that some are poking out some new green tips. I donÂt expect them to do much through the winter but maybe try to start some roots. However, I expect all of them to survive and IÂm sure theyÂll have a lot of green growth in the spring just not bloom until the following year. Our club members will have to wait a year for bloom, but otherwise theyÂll get some new varieties at little cost. I often tell people "itÂs hard to kill an iris", and a friend of mine adds to that saying "unless you pay $50.00 for it". So if you decide to get some discounted irises, be patient with the bloom, and perhaps consider getting some other irises next year as well. Consider your climate/zone, as northern states would not advise planting in winter, whereas here in Calif, our ground doesn't freeze solid.

OK, so first of all, I want to thank GreenDesigns, jakuvall, and azmom, in particular, for this last round of feedback. Your points were very helpful. There are some things I need to do. To clarify on a couple of comments: GreenDesigns, it's not backwards here, for some reason. It's more common than not to hire a CKD for concept to completion. Maybe it's because there's not a lot of reno work going on. For new home construction, what you say about the builder being contracted, and then bringing on the ID and CKD is absolutely the way it happens in my area, as well. But according to my CKD, most reno projects are being done by his own network of subs, and so builders are not often used. So with his clients, we're going to the CKD first, determining scope as a result of the initial plan that gets put together, and that's when we decided we needed to bring in a builder. To jakuvall's points - this is exactly where I'm at. I don't think my expectation that the CKD provide a line of sight into when decisions have to be made is unreasonable, or that I should pay extra for PM services. I think this is ridiculous. I'm paying a kitchen designer $35,000 for cabinetry in a 10x12 kitchen, who is also responsible for selections of countertops, tile, and finishings. He can certainly drive that bus. I don't expect the GC to be responsible for this piece, nor do I expect the CKD to be responsible for the build timeline. But again, I see two phases here: design and build. I expect the CKD to present and manage a timeline associated with design decisions for the design phase, and I expect the builder to present and manage a timeline associated with implementation. On another note, I spoke with the builder today. He said this is typical of our CKD's approach. He needs to be pushed on quite a bit, apparently. On the one hand, I feel somewhat better that my expectations don't see to be out-of-whack. On another hand, I do need a designer with strong PM skills, and I clearly don't have that. The builder is willing to help with that piece because he cares about the experience we have, and knows we've hired experts for this because we don't the time, ourselves, to dedicate to managing this. He also is feeling a bit of the pinch with decisions lagging, knowing his demo date is coming up and we still haven't seen cabinetry options from the CKD, and the order has to get placed in a week. Lastly, he offered that the CKD might have confusion relative to what role he is expected to play in some of the finishings, as he is accustomed to the ID driving that piece. Despite the fact that I had already told the CKD that the ID was playing less of a front-end role, and more of a back-end "yes, that palate will work with the rest of the house that we will be designing for," the builder has offered that both of them might benefit from some clarity. He offered, himself, that he is confused about who's making what decision. So, clearly, I need to step up and carve this out for everyone. Based on a successful call with the builder and all of your input, I plan to get the GC, CKD, ID, and us together to piece this out one-by-one so everyone knows what I need them to do. Then I'm going to ask for timelines for both phases, confirm the budget, and request weekly meetings with them. I wish that the CKD had taken charge of this. I've never been through this, admittedly, and don't know what I don't know. I thought I had been clear at the on-set that this was a new experience for me, and that I needed him to inform me of what, and how, all of this should be done. I made the assumption that the CKD took PM responsibility for the design phase of the project. I still think I'm right about that in theory, but clearly only the real-life situation is all that matters. :/

For me, everything I put in my house has to have some meaning for me, and I hope this has meaning for you, but for me it does not strike a chord. A beautiful painting, something that is art and not just some print that they offer in five different sizes, would give color and movement to this area, with something at each side of the console to hide the cord. A wider piece of furniture would have looked nicer there and hidden the cords, but I'm sure some solution could be devised to hide them.