Some examples: On Nov 12, 2007, Kell from Northern California, CA (Zone 9b) wrote: I am not too happy with this climber. I have 2 of them. The one in the front yard I grow as a fountain rose, pruning it every winter to a few feet. It has many canes now and puts on a grand spring show. The blooms are long lasting and it takes a long time for all the roses in the cluster opens. However the repeat bloom is poor. In the back yard, I have this growing on an arbor but not for much longer. Again the blooms are sparse but here even in the spring. The plant has had powdery mildew and just looks unhappy. On Jul 8, 2010, levon1972 from Rio Rancho, NM wrote: Initially, was very happy with this rosa social climber "Jacweave". Planted on two trellises, each plant produced small, lovely, pink roses in its 1st season, then in 2nd season did the same but must say blooms did not last long from April. Now in our 3rd season we had in April a mass of new buds everywhere at first, but we pruned them after blooming and then"" Nada,Zip, Nothing" since then. On Mar 7, 2011, monniemon from Lansdale, PA wrote: Social climber is in her 3rd season, she had taken our zone 6 winters well. This rose is a very fast grower, gives beautiful blooms but did not rebloom for me at all last year. So i have decided to shovel her and to put Aloha Climber in her place. Jackson & Perkins has Social Climber listed as a repeat bloomer, they really need to change that to (occasional/once blooming)!. Iam sure that others purchased this rose and wasted 3 seasons on it to see it grow and then was very disappointed that it has no reblooming cycle. Social climber had one great show in the end of april and has had no other blooms since, not even a bud. The rose only blooms once. I have had social climber for four seasons now and have given it every opportunity to produce the 35plus petals that Jackson Perkins says it has and to rebloom as stated in the JP descripiton of this rose. I find it all to be misleading, first of all, i have seen no more that 16-20 petals on this rose, secondly, it does NOT REPEAT!!! For this reason, i will shovel and replace this rose next growing season with Aloha Climber. And there are good reviews too: Just thought I'd add my 2 cents in here. I've now had this climber for 6 years - nearly shoveled it years 2-3 as it grew, but only had a single mediocre flush in the spring, and nothing more. HOWEVER, the last 3 years, it just gets better and better. HUGE spring/early summer flush, several smaller ones during the hottest part of summer, and then a nice finale in the late summer early fall. Not much scent to mine, but it sure is pretty. On May 3, 2009, patricia4 from Beaumont, CA wrote: Absolutely love this rose! I have two climbing on the block wall fence here in Beaumont, CA where temperatures reach over a 100 degrees every summer and it sometimes snows in March. Plus we get a great deal of wind. In April and May the roses put on a magnificient show. The flowers seem to glow in the sun. Even though the repeat bloom is not as showy as in April, the roses still put on a fine show. Social Climber has been trouble free. My husband and I love to sit out in our yard and look at these beautiful roses. I am moving to Tennessee and hope to be able to grow them there. From others' comments, I'm wondering if this is a rose that really needs to be fanned strongly. If a rose blooms less as it gets older, but still very young, maybe it's growing too upright? I'm going to go on and put mine where she can be trained more horizontally than I'd planned. It could possibly be that she's a heavy feeder? Maybe she blooms less later because she needs a bunch of goodies each year. Hollie

Thanks for the comments. My dog didn't like it. She is a mini dachshund and doesn't like the cold. And she wanted a nice bare spot to do her business. This weird white stuff was interfering with her call of nature. This was impressive considering we are only little under 500 ft. above sea level. I can see the ocean from my house which is only 5 miles away. The weather man said there would be snow at the beach and I guess he was right! It had melted by the end of the day. That's how I like my snow. I lived too long in New England and the Midwest, I like my California sunshine and warm temps.

You've already expressed your intent to build a large and expensive project, yet you have also expressed concern about saving money during the build and the ongoing maintenance costs of your project. You can't have it both ways. If you're spending a large budget on a large home, then it will also have large costs to reside in that home. Making a large home be zero sum in the utilities department is virtually impossible without spending at least double the home's construction budget. You'd have to have a million dollars or more worth of solar panels in order to be able to supply the electrical needs of a 8000 square foot home. And that's supposing minimal HVAC, which is the largest energy consumption in any home. Geothermal is a great energy saving idea to add to any home, but the initial costs are quite high and the payback period is long. It's usually 30-70K more than a traditional HVAC system. You are obviously young, as your questions show that you have a limited understanding of real estate, construction techniques and costs, financing, and several other important issues that will impact your build and your life. At minimum, if you want to do this build in an informed and organized way, you are at least two years out from building. It's good that you are asking questions and learning,:) but you have a long way to go. Don't try to rush your education. The only way that you can afford to do that is if you have a lot of money and can hire only the best architects, builders, and designers to do the prep and supervision work for you. Personal education will help you to keep your costs down. The library and this board are your friends. Read all of the back pages here and learn as much as you can. Digest it a bit and then come back for more specific questions that weren't already answered.

Pricklypear, you are singlehandedly keeping this thread alive. I like your Pacific Northwest design aesthetically, but from what I've gleaned from my Seattle friends and family, I'd worry that the blues and grays would be depressing in the long wet winters, even with the wood to warm it up. The backsplash is beautiful and pairs well with the bluestone. I love the fish fossil tile. All the blues in this one seem to work really well together, even though they are all slightly different. The granite is beautiful. And more white appliances! I didn't see many stainless appliances in this thread--lots of white and colors. Does stainless not say "beach"? Do you still have some more in the works, or should we start a discussion about starting up a new topic?