Your site looks great! You should be proud of it. It has a lot of useful information and shows that you are really enthusiastic about this topic. The pictures are beautiful too. Thanks for sharing your site. Kim

I will gladly come down and help you establish a lawn if I can stay at your house free of charge!!!! I don't need much space, but you will have to feed me :). The first thing you need to consider is water. Establishing a lawn, from either seed or sod, will require a lot of fresh water, especially with your sandy soil and hot windy climate. Will this be a problem for you? If it is a problem, or too expensive, then it will make a lawn somewhat difficult. It might be a good idea to become friends with a local golf course superintendent, as they will have plenty of information as well as sources of things like fertilzers and amendments. In terms of what type of grass I think you should consider paspalum. Paspalum is a salt tolerant grass that spreads well and does best when cut short, like a golf course fairway. It can be grown from seed or sod. Are there any sod farms on your island? If not, sod might be very expensive. Again, a golf course superintendent might be your best source. When establishing a lawn, the best results generally happen when you start from scratch. This requires killing whatever grass/weeds you have with a herbicide, and seeding a few weeks later. P.S. Your English is very good, much better than at least one member on this forum.

harryshoe, Thanks, no I don't use a tripod. I just take lots and lots of pictures and choose the best ones. moccasinlanding, What's a bears paw shell? The large clam shell came from my Mom's house when she died in 1989. It was there along with 2 others when I was growing up. My sister insisted we take the three. I couldn't figure out why. When I saw how cleverly she'd used hers in her garden I brought this one home. Bernd, I never realized there was a relationship between our tendency for icicles and insulation. You're probably right. Most of the house has open ceilings so I don't know where the insulation would actually go? Faye is right. We do have resident squirrels. We've been trying without success to banish them from their main home in the space above the front porch. That room (an add on to the house) must have some space that they live in. Don't let Faye fool you. She's a softie. She told me the other day she's feeding her squirrels cheerios and strawberries. Theresa, Believe me I have problems with cutworms, slugs, tree roots, falling tree debris, sun scorch etc. I just take so many pictures I can usually find some that hide the damage.

Most of them are fragrant, but the dark pink climber that's blooming its fool head off in the picture foreground is not even a little fragrant, at least to me. I will probably dig it up and trade it at the next Raleigh swap. It's called Laguna, and is very blackspot resistant, but also fairly thorny. I want to replace it with something more fragrant and less thorny. The other roses hiding behind Laguna are: Madame Isaac Pereire, Graham Thomas, Felicia, and Buff Beauty.