Pics please... :-)

Even though Queen E is rated as zone 6b, the one I planted last Summer (close to the house on the East side) did survive the Winter with just some cane damage above the snow line. She is a little slower at putting out new leaves & canes than some of my others, but still alive. I am also quite new at rose growing, and tend to spend as little as possible on things that I am not sure will survive here. My interest is mostly in climbing roses, or trying to train ones that are normally shorter than 6 feet into stretching out a bit. Ran out of room in the choicest gardening areas of my property, so decided a few years ago to go vertical. Have a passion for clematis, and am trying to come close to some of the beautiful pictures I've seen of roses & clems growing together. Marie

Some notes on your herbs. Parsley is a biennial, so if you let it go through the winter, it will self seed the second year. Put it in a place you can give it some protection over the winter if you have many nights below 0*F. You will still be able to harvest it all winter. It will go to seed in mid spring the second year, and give you new seedlings in late summer or early fall. A shade cage in spring can keep the seeds in the same square without too much trouble. Sage, dill and basil are all tall herbs. Often a couple feet or more. The more you trim and harvest them the bushier and more dense they will become. I would suggest you flip them with your carrots next to the tomatoes so they don't shade out your other plants. All three are good for tomatoes as companion plants. They won't compete for surface root space too bad (not like the total root share of tomatoes and carrots, but not a big deal). But they will help to deter pests, and the dill will attract bees if you let it go to seed. If not the dill is anti-bacterial and anti-fungal, and does seem to help the tomatoes in that realm. Oregano is a perennial in many areas. It is also low and spreading unless you have a hybrid bred for something else. Thyme is the same way. Both are a freaking pain to keep in a grid. If you can, those are two I would put in pots or somewhere else where they can creep all over and you don't have to hack at them constantly (harvesting leaves for use won't keep them confined, you have to cut back the new growth, which branches, etc.). Rosemary likes it dry, and can be a perennial if you bring it indoors for any temperature below freezing. I only grow my rosemary in pots because I can drown it if I put it in beds with my other herbs. A pot with both rosemary and thyme in it would do well, as the rosemary would grow up with semi-shallow roots, and the thyme would go over the edge with deep roots and keep the roots cool. Both need rather dry soil. Chamomile can naturalize and turn to a weed very quickly if you don't harvest the flowers. Plan to harvest very well when they are in bloom, or be aware of where it will drop seeds to keep it in control. BTW, chamomile and lettuce are in the same family, so you can use that as reference for companion planting. Unfortunately, aside from removing some herbs, you really shouldn't crowd these down any further than they are. If you use them and trim them regularly then they will bush out and fill that entire square foot easily.

Yikes, akamainegrower – no need for the hostility! My comment wasn’t a personal attack on you – it was simply my experience with a pellet stove. And what’s with the “very cold” Virginia remark? Our low temperature for tomorrow is -5 degrees F. Sorry if that doesn’t meet your arbitrary definition of cold, but it sure meets mine!! Here’s the thing: the OP asked about a pellet stove. Only a pellet stove. You’re the one who brought in a non-existent comparison to a wood stove, and an open fireplace, then accused me of misunderstanding! As to your “You clearly value the convenience of pellet heat, and that's fine, but for the op's original request, which option seems to you to more closely meet his/her criteria?” question – I think my answer about an actual pellet stove’s performance more closely meets the OPs criteria, especially since the OP only asked about a pellet stove. Jeez. Maybe step off the high horse? The OP seems genuinely curious about a pellet stove, and I have actual experience with a pellet stove. I get it, you like wood stoves. That’s not what we’re talking about here. To the OP: we did a ton of research when we bought our house four years ago. We looked at the freestanding units from Lowes and Home Depot. My grandmother bought one of those units, as did my parents. They are reasonably priced, and they absolutely put out enough heat for an 1800 sq. ft. house. When my parents bought their dream house, they upgraded to an Edge 60. We did as well. Here’s why we went with a pellet stove (specifically, the Edge 60 – note, I don’t think they’re the best, but they were the best FOR US, and this are how we made our decision): Environmental: Heating with pellets fuels is considered carbon neutral. Pellets are made with leftover material from lumber plants and saw mills – byproducts, which would otherwise go in a landfill. And the ability to burn other fuels if necessary is a giant plus! The Edge 60 has won multiple awards as a green product. It has an efficiency rating of 83.3%, is capable of 60,000 BTUs, and is EPA approved. Also gave us a nice tax credit!! Convenience: Chopping down trees, splitting logs, and drying the stored wood sucks. Big time. I have absolutely no interest in that amount of labor. I’d rather spend that time working or with my family. Fireplaces use A LOT of wood. A bag of pellets is easy to handle and easy to manage. And pretty cheap. And I like loading the pellets, turning on the unit, and having it work flawlessly until I fill it again, usually 2 days later. And we don’t use it as supplemental heat – it is our primary heat. When you load the bag of pellets, you empty an ash drawer, vacuum out the firepot, and wipe the glass front. After every ton or two burned, the entire unit rolls out on rails for easy cleaning. It takes about half an hour to cool down, and less than 15 minutes for a full, thorough clean. Easy peasy. And no danger of a fire from a stray spark or ember. Or soot and smoke damage. Battery Backup: No inverter needed for our unit. It just plugs into a car or marine battery. It runs on AC or DC power, and will run on medium heat with the battery. 8 Hours for a fully charged battery, continuous for a battery hooked up to a solar charger. (Yes, continuous. On medium heat, not low. As long as there is sun, the pellet stove will work.) Appearance: The flame in a pellet stove is beautiful. It’s a “real” flame, because it’s actually burning a wood byproduct. You can even set the flame heights to whatever you want. It’s a true, warm fire. I think gas flames look kind of cold (does that make sense?), but a pellet stove flame is very cozy. It’s a “real live” fire. The Edge 60 was also the only unit we could find that was very modern looking. We got the "natural" front and it's super sleek looking. When you choose your pellet stove, look at the warranty. Make sure you have someone fairly local in case it needs to be serviced. (Note, we’ve needed to have ours serviced once in 4 years, and it was an easy, cheap fix. A fireplace needs to have the chimney cleaned every year.) Go to a fireplace/hearth store and actually look at them in action – you might be drawn to some more than others. My unit is very very modern in appearance, but most of them are very traditional looking. Most of them come in multiple color options. You are absolutely NOT being unreasonable with your “wish list” – ours was exactly the same, and we were able to do it. We got both of our units on clearance and installed them ourselves. Deals can be found!!! Fireplace stores run specials all the time. Buy on the offseason, and better deals can be found. One tip - use a ceiling fan in the room with your pellet stove so the warm air can circulate throughout the house. I don’t know much about the Avalon Arbor, but the reviews seem pretty solid. Read everything you can find on the models you’re considering. See if there seems to be a consistent problem. If you get a floor model, make sure you get the full warranty. Also, is the installation cost included in the price? We use our pellet stove units as primary heat. We have an oil furnace as a back-up heat source, and we haven’t even turned it on this entire winter. It gets cold here - the DC metro area (where I live in Northern VA) definitely gets all four seasons. We don’t regret ours at all. My honest recommendation is the Quadra Fire Mount Vernon – it has the exact same inside as the unit I have. It comes in an insert and a freestanding unit. It’s a workhorse and super reliable. The list price is out of your budget, but you can find it for much cheaper than that if you search. The Lowes/Home Depot models will serve your needs – but might not have some of the extra features like a self-cleaning fire pot, multiple fuel source options, and automatic temperature control. Also, verify they can run on a battery if that’s important to you!!! Sorry I kind of wrote a novel here – just wanted you to have the info requested. :-)