I built a Peter Rabbit Garden in 2001 for my Granddaughter & me. We even had the scarecrow and little blue slippers with the Tamashanter hat. We grew: Marvel Peas French Breakfast Radishes French Beans Bib Lettuces Italian Flat Parsley Carrots Cabbages Some Sweet 100s tomatoes Blackberries (served with cream & scones for supper) Chamomile (for tea) Munstead Lavender (rabbit tobacco) Strawberries Muskmelons (Hale's Best) grown upon the back fence... and a Cucumber frame (grown on a wire arch at the back) With fern-like Dill and Calendula flowers planted round about. I set a 1/2 whiskey barrel in the center for our Mr. McGregor's pond with hardy water lilies and some goldfish. :) I used rocks for bed borders and twigs for wattle edging. It was very quaint and tasty! For Inspiration to create your very own Peter Rabbit Garden (er...Mr.. McGregor's Garden), see the Link below. We even had a picnic one afternoon with cucumber sandwiches and Earl Grey tea (my favorite tea). What fun. She loved it! ~Annie

rhome410 - I will see what I can do about getting the graph paper plan to you asap- it's a bit faint, but that coupled with the cad should provide plenty of dimensions. Yes, both of the walls you mentioned are load-bearing (driving me crazy), but I guess I'm fortunate that's all I have to work around, right? I don't care if the kitchen is in the defined area. In fact I intend to take up that rectangular room toward the bathroom for sure. I suppose I should have mentioned that I view the round (10pp) dining table as leading into the living room adjacent to the stairs (and where the wine storage will be). In terms of my own (still very malleable) ideas, I thought the island with the range etc would look out toward the LR and the pasta/baking land would be parked on an island veering toward the bathroom. Main sink under existing kitchen window. I will have a second walk-in esque fridge in the garage (loud and commercial)so not worried about squeezing it in kitchen. In terms of oven, I really want a commercial combi oven, but am fast giving up on it because a. it's huge, b. it's wildly expensive, & c. it makes hooding that cooking island pretty ridiculous as I'd need a span of like 130" which is unsightly. Thus, for now, I'm going to content myself with the 48" and plan to supplement with the pizza oven and my dream-of-all-dreams tandoor. I'm actually not super oven-heavy anyway, what with doing a ton with sous vide and being very heavily pasta focused. YOu've already got me thinking- thanks for your input!! I hope I replied to you correctly, there doesn't seem to be a way to tag people directly in replies.

Well I'm NOT a blue person. Indoors I have NO blue. My husband doesn't understand this. I have no idea why I feel this way. Outdoors things are different! I have a blue/yellow/white garden bed which I love. Yes, delphineums, catananche, campanulas, baptisia and more, are mixed with trollius, coreopsis moonbeam, peony Claire de Lune and low growing white clematis and aquilegia. It is a big mix and wouldn't be any fun at all without the blue! There are loads of clematis that are purple or blue/purple, but also some very nice blues I think. You do get into the question of "what is blue?" My husband and I think this could well be a male/female issue! Also, by saying a flower is blue, perhaps a catalogue gains more sales? * Posted by: coolbeans (My Page) on Sat, Feb 2, 02 at 13:12 This is my VERY favorite thread, and I totally agree with all those who feel that there is just "something" about blue flowers; they ARE magical, they ARE very special; and they make me happier than any other color flower. Don't know why...I just started a flat full of Bluebird delphinium seeds I saved from my one lonely plant last year. A bunch of them germinated, so now I can't wait to have a huge stand of them! Maybe they won't bloom this year, but maybe they will. And also "true blue" penstemons, I'm trying for the first time. I can't get enough of this precious color. * Posted by: Anne_Marie_Alb (My Page) on Tue, Feb 5, 02 at 17:47 WOW....... Did anyone realize that this thread started almost 5 years ago... on Feb. 15, 1997!!!!! I am amazed it has survived that long. Probably, the oldest thread still on the top page! I wonder if "Clare B" (who started the thread) is still an active member of the Garden Web!!! I personally love blue flowers (I mean blue, and not purple, which I also like). I can't believe how many blue flowers I am starting from seeds this year... and that was just a pure coincidence! I also love RED flowers.. Maybe, I should start a "red flower" thread! I will first check the archives! * Posted by: Clare (My Page) on Thu, Feb 7, 02 at 20:34 Yes, Ann_Marie, I am still here! I will be a bit sad to see this thread fade away when it hits the 100 posts mark. After that, the threads are closed. I don't think I have any true blue flowers still. "Victoria Blue" Salvia is the closest thing. I use it a lot. It is such a heavy, long bloomer, and about one in twenty of them will survive winter here. Just wish I could predict which would survive so that I could save seed from those alone and perhaps work up a more hardy strain. By the way, the Hydrangeas in Memphis, Tennessee are incredible. Some are so saturated blue that I'd have to call them navy. * Posted by: Dswan (My Page) on Sat, Feb 9, 02 at 22:37 I'm going to add to this extremely long thread only because there really is something to true blue. I grow from seed a very difficult plant to propagate called Penstemon cyananthus or Wasatch Penstemon. I cold stratify and plant these every year in hopes of gettting one or two in my garden every year. Absolutely gorgeous. * Posted by: Rosa (My Page) on Mon, Mar 11, 02 at 10:24 Did no one mention Gentians-now those are blue! (along with my favorite penstemson of course-some are indeed blue). * Posted by: pineshade7b ) on Mon, Apr 15, 02 at 11:02 i agree with gloria mc coy. i love blue and green , they are my favorite colors in anything. just look in my house and closets. blue..ocean, blue jeans, my own eyes are blue and my husband's are green. many reasons to answer -why blue. although i do not "hyperventilate" , if i should go into a nursery and ask for a blue -flowering plant and the staff looks down their nose at me, i'll know now that they are only doing it because they think I'M a snob. until i adopted gardening as a serious hobby i had no idea that blue was a "snob" color. i just naturally began to look into flowers in the colors i liked personally. you learn something new everyday. i would have been hurt and confused to walk into a nursery and be looked at like a pariah, what did i say? now i know, thanks clare. * Posted by: DesertGardner (My Page) on Fri, Apr 19, 02 at 12:38 Wow - I never knew there was such a controversy over the color blue in the garden. After reading all the posts, I now understand why some gardeners prefer the color. And I have to say that I've never met any gardeners whom I would consider snobbish. Most of them are really quite down to earth! (if you pardon the expression...) I recently tried planting a red, white and blue flower bed, with 'Victoria Blue' Salvia being my blue color. It's a little too purple and doesn't look right as a "patriotic" design. I will probably tear out the red and white and keep the "blue" (purple) since it seems to like this desert heat. Someone mentioned black flowers, and I remembered seeing black pansies in the most recent Burpee catalog. They're a beautiful velvety black with a spot of yellow in the center. I think I'll plant some this winter, and start an obsession with black flowers! (just kidding Clare...) -Kara [* Posted by: yeona_sky (My Page) on Mon, Jun 24, 02 at 0:37 I just bought a blue poppy and am nervously watching its progress. My success with blues has been an up hill battle, but that hasn't changed my desire to spotlight it in my garden. Why blue?, again it's a passion with me. Clare, I hope you get the last word on this thread, and I hope you understand Why blue, a little better. * Posted by: Duster (My Page) on Wed, Jun 26, 02 at 23:56 I agree with the many others about getting annoyed when purple is referred to as blue. Maybe that's why I take up the cause of truly blue flowers! 99% of my Delphiniums are the true electric blue ones. I'd love one of the Himalayan Poppies but just not right for my little yard. I like the blue flowers, rather than the blue foliage plants. And no, blue is NOT my favorite color - I have nothing blue in my home decor. I just like the uniqueness of the TRUE blue and my stubbornness to get people to stop calling it purple!!!!

I admit, I'm a sucker for the vibrant darkish blues - especially on-line with the perfect professional pictures with light flooding the space, apparently. In real life, not sure how these colors actually translate. I took the blue door out in the sun yesterday and it started leaping into life. lol I read an article this morning about how two-toned with a small U can end up closing in the U. I hadn't thought of that, but it seems like there might be some validity there?? I've always thought my layout would work well with two-toned. Huh. We probably can't have this thread without THIS blue and white kitchen, which is deservingly almost famous: Love that kitchen. And, it illustrates exactly what I like about two-tone kitchens with dark lowers and then white counters, tile, walls and uppers. Such a clean, crisp look and doesn't look striped at all. Just grounded and fresh. Amber, I'm not much of a pastel person so I'd be hesitant to go with a light blue. I think I'll only have one wall of uppers, but I really can't afford to give up any more uppers than that. And, the backsplash window would look silly without cabinets above it - and no way in heck we are modifying that as we literally just put it in with a huge header and expensive permit when we did the exterior two years ago. This is a tiny house, tiny kitchen with minimal storage. I'm really only giving up 2 SMALL cabinets on the range wall if I go without cabs there - probably two 12-15" uppers. And, still, I wonder if I dare give up that storage for oils, spices, etc. Tearing down the wall already removed one wall of uppers. Do I dare mention I saw a great induction range in, um, blue? Can be yours, if the price is right ($9,039) http://www.vikingrange.com/consumer/product/products/cooking/freestanding-ranges/viking-professional-5-series/30-w--5-series-ranges/30--electric-induction-range---visc