Sid, I agree with Paul, you could make 3 tiers on the South and West walls, but I would only go with 1 lower bench on the north and east. I would also suggest make the middle and top teirs only say 1 foot wide, otherwise the lower benches will receive too much shade in summer. Also be mindfull of the top teir being too lose to the roof, I've found some plants can't hack the heat/light up there in summer, so you may need to run black cloth behind it to cut down reflection. That's what I've found anyway in NZ with my set-up, which is quite similar to yours. Also, remember most of the light entering (April-October) will depend on what you are using for the walls too ? Are you putting shadecloth, windbreak or panelling on the east & north sides ?? Good luck ! Graeme

Hi Patty, I actually bought Peter's book as a preorder from Amazon after reading about him and his book in Fine Gardening. I gave him his very first Amazon review and got a very sweet thank you note from him! I love the book and he seems to be very realistic and non biased in his assessment of a rose's performance when guaging his assessments against the few roses I already had like Easy Elegance 'Centennial' and 'Julia Child'. I had purchased several roses prior to his book and was happy to see that many I purchased came highly recommended by him. I have 2 'Poseidon' and these so far have bloomed nicely and are very healthy, and performing as he stated. We both garden in same zones and similar conditions although he is more coastal ME and I'm more inland MA. I would love to see his gardens but don't know if they're open to the public. He's only about 2 hours from me so it would be great to meet him and discuss roses with someone who is so knowledgeable. Whiteout is interesting. I just bought (against my better judgement since it's so late in the season) 2 Radler Rambling Red Climbers from High Country Roses (gallon size so hoping they'll be well established) 2 own root Double Pink Knockout Roses and 2 Livin Easy from a vendor on Etsy. Keep your fingers crossed that we have a loooong fall, lol. It's always a gamble here on when old man you know who will arrive! Sharon

The day I wore one new loafer and one old loafer to work. November will be the last month we have this dear one in our home. We have been fostering him for over a year and he will be moving in with his adoptive family soon. Our hearts will be sore but also joyful knowing he will be raised with love and care. Sweet snuggles while we have them.

I love Virgil's pictures and think design should often trump function but feel the need to point out many of those overhangs wouldn't meet traditional passive solar criteria for south facing windows. The overhangs appear very deep, and close to window tops, which could easily be the intent of the designer. If the windows are south-facing they will be brightened by winter light, but there's plenty of opportunity for those seeking to squeeze more performance out of less windows. A crude rule of thumb for the middle latitudes of the US is 12"-24" deep, 12" to 24" above the window, which is a pretty short overhang compared to the pictures. Taller windows are harder to shade and northern latitudes actually benefit from deeper overhangs. The most simple overhang tool I point to in my above passive solar design link is sustainable by design's overhang tool. You can plug in your latitude and window height to find the best balance of shade and sunlight for the time of year, generally aiming for full sunlight on the winter solstice and full shade on the summer solstice. The left side of this Springtime Cottage design faces south. The picture was taken near the winter solstice, notice how the shade line is at the top of the windows. The upper level has shorter windows and benefits from a shorter overhang. Around the summer solstice, those short overhangs completely shade the windows. This home was designed by a local architect and takes advantage of a westward sloping lot. We excavated and retained the south side to open the basement up for passive solar design while the west end is mostly shaded by a deep, two level covered porch and carefully protected existing trees. Designers don't need to follow these principles exactly to achieve good light and energy performance, I just wanted to point out that traditional passive solar overhangs are relatively short.