Ornithogalums??? Oh vetivert, you are bad, but Ornithogalum is the first thing that comes to mind when I think of spring chores and getting to work outside, usually in late Feb. Now I realize my question could have and should have been phrased a lot better. How about this? If the Bulb Forum members would submit their (own) pics of plants and blooms grown from bulbs for a new forum picture, what should it be? . Should it be open to anything grown from bulbs? Should it maybe exclude such things that have more 'specific' forums of their own, such as Lily, Tropical, and House Plant? Should it be an individual bloom, or as you suggested, maybe a still life flower arrangement of numerous delectable blooms grown from bulbs? Please 'scuse me for just having tunnel vision and tunnel thoughts of just Daffodils. At any rate, the folks who are having their spring now, can hopefully be trying to get some great pics. Ok...so when does anyone think we could/should start taking picture submissions? Should we wait until late 2010 so glads could be included by those in the US who grow them? Should we wait a full year (or nearly) so the members down under have an opportunity to have another summer blooming season, like for glads? hmmm...what is fairest? I guess before proceeding, I should check with the 'Powers that be' to see for sure if they would be willing to get the pic changed and updated with a pretty pic of our choosing. I hope lots of folks will give their input and in time, post their pics for entry. In doing a search here on the forum, it seems that Tulips and Daffs are the 2 things most often posted about. I imagine though that tulips are most frequently asked about, due to them having problems, or emerging early, or for not blooming a second season when they are thought to be perennials like daffodils. Here is a spring 2009 pic of a bouquet of Daffodil Show rejects. Hopefully in 2010, I can put together a much better arrangement and pic. Sue...hoping/planning to start daff planting today...maybe

neesie, I just realized that the thread we had earlier on siding you mentioned the company Royal Building Products...I believe this is the same product you liked? If so, when you get into the colorscapes colors are they a great deal more expensive? I really like the pebble clay and the cypress (I know, two completely different colors). Thanks!

Thank you Summerfield! Sorry it's taken me so long to get back. We've been out of town for a week. I am a mother-in-law now! After the wedding, we went to Kentucky, Tennessee and Arkansas. Along the way, I looked at houses, and noticed some differences in houses in other areas. In my area, most of the houses that are about the same size as mine, have siding above the brick done like mine. There was a house in St. Louis that was almost exactly like ours with brick color, long front porch, and shutters, and they used a dark sand colored paint on the siding, and white on the trim, with darker brown on the shutters. It looked great. The house was also about the same age as ours, but the colors made it seem a lot newer. Most of the houses in Kentucky had brick all the way up the gable. Tennessee had a diving board between the brick and the siding on the gables, like in jakabedy's first photo. While I don't think it's possible to add a bigger face board there, I do think it will work to just paint the one we have in another color, like in Summerfield's drawing. It would help if the board were wider than the siding, but since that board can't be changed without redoing the siding, we'll just have to see what difference the paint will make.

After a certain length of time, the post can't be deleted. The rendering above looks like it has two extra filled-in half-wood garage doors out front. It also has a half completed chimney in the front. Are those the impressions you want to convey? Does the roof have the appropriate slope for your snow load? The huge windows in the front will show a view, if that's the right direction. I hope you have geothermal heating or some other way to reduce the expense of heating the house with huge heat-losing windows.