I wonder if I'm the only one who doesn't really like these. They look to me like bad haircuts with dried split-ends. The petal tips are dark in some cases and the first set of peteals look like they are spent before the center petals make their appearance. Some look like they've been in a vase with the same water for a week. What kind of staying power do the blooms have? Is the photo misleading in that respect? Do the blooms stay fresh as long as the old single Echinaceas? There is one which tickles my fancy - the first white in the photo with the greenish center. As per the rest, I just don't see it.

Those do grow fast! And I wouldn't worry about the cats having bothered them. These plants are very resilient. I'm constantly battling volunteer seedlings in my yard. The birds drop their seeds everywhere, and all all times of the year I'll find new seedling popping up out of every possible nook and cranny, among my flower beds, in my vegetable garden, and right up against the foundation of our house. I usually let them get to a certain size and then harvest the "palm hearts" for eating :) They taste just like asparagus and are so crunchy! Good luck!

Glad you enjoyed looking at the house. I took some pics of the exteriors of other houses on the same street (see below). I love driving down this street! The house that's for sale is on a 12,000 ft. lot (which is large for the city). It is not uncommon to find houses in Providence where the square footage of the house is larger than the square footage of the land. This street is located on the East Side of Providence (not to be confused with the separate city of East Providence). The East Side is where you will find the better homes of Providence, Brown University, Rhode Island School of Design, and several private prep schools. Property taxes in Providence are very high; the house for sale has annual taxes of $10,000. Also, if you have kids, you had better be able to afford to send them to one of the private schools. Trust me, you wouldn't want to send your kids to the Providence public schools. Amysrq - where in New England are you thinking of moving to? I used to live in Mass., so I could give you some info. on RI and MA. I know there's others on this forum from N.E. that could probably provide you with info. BTW, one of the photos below looks like there's bodies on the steps (they're just Halloween decorations!).

Its a beautiful photo, but there is something strange about it. I think its a combination of two photos. Here's why. The stars are round dots. To produce a round star image in a time exposure the camera (or telescope) has to mounted on a tracking drive. Because a tracking drive slowly rotates the optic device, ground objects in the image will be 'smeared'. If the camera is on a tripod and held steady for a time exposure, ground object will not smear and the stars will leave arc shaped streaks. This photo shows both non-smeared ground objects and perfectly circle shaped stars. The only way that can happen is with a short exposure, probably too short to capture the detail seen in the sky. The sky shows blotches of bluish color. These may have been added or are are patches of blue sky showing through wispy clouds. Stars could not be seen in the blue lighted parts - too much light and stars would not be seen through wispy clouds. This leads me to believe that the stars were digitally added to a wonderful early night sky. The sun glow is still seen on the horizon.