The problem I have with coconut husk (coir) chips is that they tend to hold salts. I live in Southern CA and we have somewhat alkaline water with dissolved salts. Depends where we get our water. If it's from the Colorado, lots of salts. If it comes from your neck of the woods (the Sierras) much better water quality. But now the Dept of Fish and Game has put the kibosh or limited the pumps in the Sacramento River delta diversion because of the the native smelt. But I digress. To divide my cymbidiums, I use a old heavy kitchen knife. I flame sterilize the knife with a propane torch. You don't want to spread virus. I usually try to keep the plant as intact as possible and carefully remove the leafless backbulbs and pot up in size. I use plastic pots because I find clay to dry out too fast. I do use a fir bark, perlite, charcoal, and ground peat mix. Cymbidiums like to be root bound and flower better when they are not disturbed. Always try to repot as soon as you can once the plant has finished flowering. This will allow the plant less stress and to spend the summer re-establishing itself and put out growth for next season. And flowers.

Be sure to do your homework on the silverado sage. There's a dwarf cenizo that will probably work a lot better with the height you want. I saw another plant at the Texas Discovery Gardens that looks a lot like dwarf cenizo, but it's called shadscale. I haven't found it in any of the nurseries around here, but I sure do like how low it grows, and the wood gets twisty and thick sort of like driftwood. Here's a picture I found online: http://www.suu.edu/faculty/martin/shadscale/shadscaleplant.JPG I love flame acanthus - it's one of my favorite plants. But mine has spread all over the place, not in any uniform fashion. If they all grow this way, I think it would take up too much space in an easement. Cynthia - Mine just started blooming last week, too. It needed to dry out and have some good hot weather. The hummingbirds are all over it. Jupiter's beard would be nice with all the plants you're considering. It's not much in winter, but it sort of spreads around and pops up mixed in with the other plants - not in an invasive sort of way. http://www.allisonvillenursery.com/pictures/guide/misc/jupitersbeard.jpg

We replaced the aging water heaters in our home just over a year ago. The plumbers working on the job were very keen on Rinnai, so I spent a lot of time reading up on performance, cost, etc. Bottom line: with luck, you might break even, i.e. get the same performance for the same cost, after about 15 years. But most people think that overall tankless systems are still too expensive, and the costs remain higher than traditional tanked systems even if the tankless heaters work exactly as advertised. The main advantage is if you have a high demand for hot water at specific times. So if you have a houseful of guests who all take showers at 7am, tankless ensures you don't run out and have to wait. Friends of ours installed tankless water system for just this reason. Note that with tankless, you can sometimes wait for a couple of minutes for hot water to reach your faucet or shower. Our friends installed a small electric water heater to avoid this. We went with conventional water heaters this time around. In 10 years things may be different. Cheryl

My only advice is that if your spending that much money, you are at least in part, spending some of that on aesthetics. Under no circumstances would I spend so much money on something I thought was ugly or not absolutely beautiful. These stoves are outta my league so can't otherwise comment. Sorry!