Hello, colonel_kernel. Several years ago, I was able to buy a small-leafed 1.5-2' high tea plant locally at a nursery called Calloway's (called Cornelius in Houston). The plant did not make it through the summer-fall season though. If you plant one, I would add extra care and effort to monitor soil moisture levels. And additional hand watering on the first years may be needed until it becomes established. I planted two different camellias in the same general protected area that year and the tea plant was the one that did not make it. The other one was a large leaf japonica. The japonica was planted in early Spring whereas the tea plant was planted in the summer months. Very disappointing. That may have been the year when I decided not to plant anything whatsoever during the hot season.Hee hee hee. So, go for it! I would recommend an extra effort monitoring it in Year 1's summer and if possible, planting it very early so it can handle our hot temps asap. I have not looked for them online. Maybe a Texas-based nursery might carry it or just drive to East Texas and see if anyone carries it. When Sudden Oak Death (AKA, Ramorum blight) became a well known issue in California, Texas instituted restrictions in the importation of camellias & other selected plants from "the outside". When buying sinensis, you may want to order more than one shrub so as to have an adequate supply of leaves, especially if you drink a lot of tea or the plant is small to begin with. You should be fine in Z9 as long as it is exposed to afternoon shade by 11am-12pm-ish and protected from our summer drying winds. It may do better in environment where you water with a sprinkler as opposed to drip irrigation since drip will not moisten the top's tiny roots. Luis This post was edited by luis_pr on Sat, Jun 28, 14 at 3:25

I knew that ryan, I just figured I had to respond with something to this post. Judging from the amount of free advertising some newer contractors are trying to get out of this thing it looks like the forum gods are snoozing anyway. :-)

It's probably not an issue with roller cover selection, but more of a wet edge problem. The goal should be to have the entire piece wet with paint at the same time so that it will all dry down evenly and together. Of course this is easier to do on smaller pieces. What is happening is that you work on one section and it is already too dry by the time you work on the next section and you are rolling back into that first section which is already too dry. So, you pull off some paint there that is really starting to set up already and that's why you have the dead spots there. I would try to add some extender to the paint to give it a longer open time and then roll all the way from one end to the other and don't stop or take any breaks between dips of paint. Modern day paints are very sensitive and fast drying and even letting an edge sit for 20 seconds may be too long. Also, the brand Behr probably isn't the best and the color is also a factor. Blacks are just tough to get to look nice unless it is sprayed or the product is oil based. Good luck!

shades, I have a dolly (no straps tho) but I still couldn't move things. could maybe stack a few smaller boxes on it. jed has some stretch bands? with hooks on the ends that he uses. I actually have 2 small ones like his. should buy longer ones. yes, I have different people say they'll come do stuff - but then something happens and they don't show up. I've been trying for over 3 wks to get new front tires. my mechanic said he'd get some for me and put on. then stuff happened at his shop (to do with wind storms here), after that his elderly mother needed help up in phx... I had a test scheduled and had to cxl it! he got here and took wheels off to have tires put on... then many days later on NYE day he made it here and put wheels on front. and left. about 2 hrs later I got in car to go to store and heard horrible noise when backing the car up. couldn't go anywhere. he finally made it back here on sat. Tires were wrong size. too big and were hitting the struts. He put those on the back and my back tires on the front so I could at least go to the store. he's coming back tomorrow to take car to the tire shop to have them changed and rotated back. good grief! that something so normally simple would be such a bear to get done. this has also had me stranded in my own house for days. I wanted to get out and pick up take out from local Mexican rest. - tired of my own 'cooking' - lol! (finally got my 'dinner' today!) Then Jed over watered my plants last sunday and ran me out of water - but I didn't know it... had to shut down the pump til more water could be delieved - on Wednesday! (that was today and I now have water again). just thinking of these things tires me... oh, and in between these things my son landed himself in the hospital in the Midwest with a blood infection. been in there 5 days, has something connected to him/in him by his heart. could have died / or lost his leg. will be able to go home (info from dd) but will need to return to hospital every day for 10 days to have more antibiotics put in whatever that 'thing' is attached to him. he says it's called cellulitis (what he has). I would have guessed that meant he had cellulite - he's way too thin and fit for that! And with my fibro I've been sleeping a ton again. and cold, damp weather outside here - that doesn't help. I hope anyone reading this survived...