diclemeg, In the past I have treated moderate areas of POA that kept coming back. 20-50 sq/ft areas, and some smaller. These areas are a bit shady and damp, very good POA enviroment. I hit the POA with round up. Waited for the death. Then heavily aerated the spots, or vigorously raked them to loosen the first inch or 2 of soil. Seeded with elite KBG, raked in seeds. Well, in weeks these areas were mostly KBG. But by next spring there were more POA spots in different places. I was able to grow mostly KBG in the areas that I killed off the POA. The following year, more POA showed up, but not because of my actions, but the more due to the shady damp area of my front lawn I was trying to grow KBG. I gave up treating this area until I get rid of the trees that shade it. What's my point? I can't imagine your entire lawn shady and damp like my front corner where I keep getting loads of POA no matter what. You may have just been unlucky in your first attempt at seeding...or maybe it was the heavy dosage of the wrong fertilizer that stunted your KBG growth that allowed the POA to dominate. What can you do? Get some RU now, and carefully spray the POA. Hopefully it will kill it, it is pretty late to try, but worth a shot. Next...wait. Wait until the ground is frozen solid. Then spread some KBG seed on the bare spots, dormant seed. Then wait, do nothing. Enjoy the winter and forget about the grass. Wait until at least the middle of May before doing anything. Hopefully the seeds will have sprouted. Oh, there will be some POA, but there will be some KBG there too. This will improve your situation, it won't fix it, but it will help and really is all you can do now at this time of the year. It is better than waiting for next spring to take action.

Ooops, sorry it took me so long to get back. Thanks for all your kind words. Some torrential thunder storm ripped through my town on Monday afternoon and took out our cable including internet. It's still out this morning but I'm at work today and not totally cut off. An hour of rain did more damage to my garden then all the rain we've had so far this year-plants flattened, paths eroded, rivers of mulch in places where mulch shouldn't be. Oh well... Marian, the banana beside the garage is planted in the ground. It's a Musa basjoo and can be hardy to zone 6 with winter protection. We did have a mild winter this year but I think once you get them established your chances are better of getting them back. Any other bananas I have are in pots but new this season. I enjoy planting and fiddling with shade gardens much more than sun gardens. It seems like all I do in sunny garden areas is support plants or cut back plants I forgot to support. They always look like a mess to me. I may just convert my whole patio garden to tropicals, woodies and containers. Here's a picture of one of my work in process areas-the shed. It still has a long way to go but is alot better than before. What color should I paint it? I'm thinking maybe purple of some shade. A lime green door maybe? lol Tom needs to reshingle the roof. And here's a side view from the circle. It's funny...Deanne and I were talking on Saturday about how people who come to your garden take pictures from totally different views than you usually do yourself. I took some pictures Saturday morning but never got time to post them. Then Deanne put these up and two of the shots were almost exactly the same as two I took that morning. I guess we must have similiar radars for garden viewpoints. Gotta run, Sue

Okay, since my kids were home sick today I did a lot of poking around and found coasters on Shutterfly that you can get photos printed on. I did this ages ago, but at the time, you had to get a set of 4, all with the same photo. But now, you can get 4 different photos. So I ordered 24 coasters all with different pics of DH! From toddler age til now. It was fun to do! I can put one at each place at the table. I may still do the M&Ms because I think they're great -- just have to see how my budget looks later. hhireno, thanks for the idea -- I did put "Last call for 49" on the invitation -- which I also ordered from Shutterfly. I know I'm a little crazy ordering this stuff so early but I have to space out the purchases so he doesn't get suspicious...

Sloedginn, you're correct - very few people can afford curtains out of such expensive fabric. Even a very wealthy person (or her husband!) may well balk at spending $15,000 on curtains for one room. Fabric such as the ones I listed were used when people of means did what I call, "investment decorating", i.e. buying things they expected to love and use for 30-40 years. Very few people do that anymore which is why the to-the-trade fabric houses are in financial trouble and many have merged. People like change. They want to be "hip". Even some very wealthy people are highly influenced by what they see on HGTV. And to quote the late, great designer Mark Hampton, "I wish those with taste would get some money and those with money would get some taste"! Truer words were never spoken! Those who have a love of great fabric and great prints, are using them differently now. Instead of yards and yards of chintz fabric at the windows, they are using the great, timeless prints on one or two pieces of furniture instead, and using less expensive plain fabric at their windows. Here are a couple of examples: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WyL1bv3HRhw/UY0AYHSFofI/AAAAAAAAIuA/W3Ydfo2Mgek/s1600/OD-AS913_CHINTZ_OZ_20120816133535.jpg http://www.elledecor.com/design-decorate/house-interiors/g2508/house-tour-kate-rheinstein-brodsky-manhattan-home/?slide=2 Yes, this is still expensive, but no one ever said that truly great interior design comes cheaply. Can one make ones house look better on a tight budget? Absolutely! But I'm talking about the high end of design and what those people are doing. I did the budget look for decades - often very successfully. I love helping young people on a budget start to build their interior decor and am sensitive that they are putting most of their discretionary income these days into college funds for their children. I can help them make their home very attractive and pleasant. But great fabric is an addiction. I've never used drugs - was in the mid-west in the early 60's when in college and I didn't know anyone who used pot. So I have no experience with the feeling. But I've often imagined it's similar to the euphoria I get when I walk into a to-the-trade showroom with fabulous fabrics. There's a high, no doubt about it! It's just incomparable.