i'm sorry. no, we have the brick picked out. i'm just wondering about the siding that goes on our dormers, etc. that house that i found in the above pic is about 20 minutes from where we are building, but it's the only house that i can find that has both white siding, white front porch, almond windows, and almond trim. i'm thinking now that i may stick with the almond trim that will go along with the windows, but then add an off white (possibly BM lancaster whitewash or something) as the front porch and siding color. that wouldn't be so STARK and stick out so much. i do love the black. i think it just looks so classic and of course, it looks wonderful with our roof color. our contractor said today that they are going to start bricking tomorrow. so, i'll be able to have a pic of the house with the actual brick on it, instead of some that i've applied from another home. thank you all so SO much for your opinions and comments. i need them! since i'm now a stay at home mom. . . .all my buddies still teach school, so i sit here and think about all these crazy decisions and drive myself insane! my sweet hubby says he doesn't care. as long as we stay in budget. . . .so he's not the greatest help!

Wow! I thought I had seen all the posts the other day and I come back to see even more! I haven't really had a chance to check out or post much, but that will change. I am just moving from the city to the country in the same town. Actually we are moving back to our ranch. We've remodeled the house after having some terrible and destructive renters. We've repainted the entire interior and exterior, put in all new flooring (carpeting and ceramic tile)updated some of the lighting fixtures, replaced all the toilets and one bathroom vanity. I might be forgetting something, but it has taken a while to do all this. Also in the middle of it all we had either a small tornado or very strong straight line winds that caused damage and added to our list.

Welcome to the forum! Well, the leaf structure is called, "winged petiole", for that small leaf on the petiole (leaf stem). The long thorns would suggest what you've got growing is just rootstock - the cultivar scion having died at sometime in the past, or, being overtaken by rootstock shoots. Please provide some photos of the base of the tree. We need to see where the graft line is on the trunk, where the actual cultivar was grafted to the rootstock, if this was a grafted tree. If you have many shoots emanating from the ground, most certainly just rootstock growth. If you have just one trunk, and there is no graft line, it is possible this is a seedling tree (citrus trees grown from seed also tend to be more thorny). Citrus cultivars with these winged petioles include Yuzu, grapefruits, grapefruit hybrids, pummelos, pummelo hybrids, some sweet and sour oranges, and rootstock with this sort of winged petiole would be citrumelo. If this tree is 15' tall, and has been around a while with no fruit, probably time to dispatch with it, and plant a citrus tree of your choosing that will provide fruit, now. If it is, indeed, rootstock, the fruit will be inedible, so why wait (possibly many more years), to get inedible fruit? Post photos of the trunk of this tree, that will help us quite a bit. Patty S.

Hi Sophia, I can give little input on repetition. I don't pay attention to that here in non-winter land. Poor Abraham Darby got suckers from his Dr. Huey root stock after 4 yrs. and I thought they were the octopus canes I'd read about. By the time I figured it out they had taken over. I battle them every year (difficult access). Poor Abe is now only 3 feet high but in my climate grows easily to 6 feet +. Dr Huey is stealing nutrients and water. Large petal packed wafting uber fragrant blooms. Some blackspot in a non-spray garden. Evelyn is in the path of the wind. She has a lovely spring flush (no winds) and sporadic bloom thereafter (regular winds). No blackspot this year on either as yet. Disease wise I'd say they're equal here (very little). Evelyn's blooms are probably the same diameter as Abe's but not as deep. I keep her under 5 feet with pruning. A 7 ft. arching cane appeared after 6 or 8 years. Colors - Abe is usually a pink fully infused with peach-yellow-mango. Full bodied oomphy color. Lasts no more than 3 days in a bouquet. In Sept. mine changes to a warm medium pink, not as peachy as spring but never bluey-pink. A boring everyday color. In Nov. it is back to a prettier peachy pink. Evelyn, ah Evelyn. The pink dawn touched by sunlight? Not pink, not peach, but a sophisticated blend on gossamer satin petals. I think it is the delicate iridescence that captivates. If I could only have one rose bloom a year it would be her. So you see I am terribly prejudiced and pay little attention to the bush.