The first one (the one that died in the week) was bought at Walmart and the second was bought at a University's agriculture program's plant sale. The one I have now was bought at a local greenhouse. I'm not sure what is in the potting mix, but it seems to be quick draining, at least compared to what I remember of the others. The container is also smaller for the plant's size, which I've heard helps. Lately we've been having very sunny and hot days, not a lot of rain. It's soil is pretty much dry now but the plant seems fine. If the leaves start to go limp I'll water it, but should I let the soil dry out like this every time? How can I tell when it needs a bigger pot?

I have a 220 volt Miele 1926a washer which sounds similar to yours (no honeycomb drum, etc.) We've been using ours for many years with none of the issues you are reporting. We've washed literally tons of clothes in our Miele, and haven't had any of the fraying or holes that you write about. We've got kids shirts and pants that have been through 3 different kids now, so if our washer was destroying them, they wouldn't have lasted this long. Are there any strange noises coming from the machine? Have you felt the drum to see if there are any sharp or broken parts? We've noticed that our front loader seems to cause less wear on our clothing than our previous top-loading agitator model. Your experience is puzzling to say the least. For wrinkling, I've found that the amount of time spent in the dryer has more effect on wrinkles than anything the washer does. Try drying for a longer time on lower heat. For cleaning issues, try changing detergents. I don't have any experience with BioKleen, but have had good results with Persil, Sears HE powder, and Costco (Kirkland Signature) Environmentally Friendly liquid. As for the rust stain, could it be a plumbing issue? How old is your home?

There's also individual variation between plants of the same variety. Genetics are not identical--just stable for the traits of the variety. The way 2 German shepherds will meet the breed standard but not be clones of one another at all. For example, I have 2 Earl of Edgecombe plants in similar sized containers right next to one another, getting fed and watered the same. One is very branchy/bushy and has twice the fruit set of the other. But it had early BER, has smaller fruits, and is slower to produce ripe fruit. The other is more tree-like in habit with a clear main stem, has fewer fruit, but average fruit size is larger, and it's ripening earlier. Both have the same foliage, though, and fruit characteristics are very similar. It's hard to draw solid conclusions from small sample sizes. You'd have to grow out a bunch of plants in identical conditions except for the variable you're testing. Or, if you wanted to do a very small sample size, you could probably take suckers of the same plant and root those and grow those to compare. But you'd have to account for the time difference/maturity difference of the suckers.

I wouldn't worry about putting anything in the area above the cornices you're taking down. The focus should be on the view outside. I think it might be a good idea to place the sofa on the opposite side and the two light chairs on this side. This would make for a more inviting view. A small table between the two chairs would add more interest and give a parking spot for drinks or small food plates. The lamp between your two chairs seems too short for a living room lamp, and I would choose a new one with a thinner base to give you more room on the table and it will also look better. Perhaps a fairly thin metal base of some kind would suit this area better. Since this room seems a little dark I would think about getting a lighter-colored rug and also a larger one so that your chairs are sitting on it completely. The visual of the chairs from the side will be much more pleasing. I think this area needs some warm accents like yellow, gold and terracotta to play against all the cool colors you have, and you might think about changing your pillows. Your rug could also have some of those colors for a warmer, friendlier look.