eh, according to HelpMeFind, the two vanillas are different plants-introduced in different years at any rate...but at any rate they both seem rather short plants. Looks pretty tho:) I'm not familiar with it, but I grow Frederic Mistral, and he can get to be rather tall; a sort of upright but wide hybrid tea shape.. I have seen in ground versions top 7 feet when they're happy here. Not sure what zone you're in, but we don't get snow or even much frost here, so theres no winter kill. Not so sure you could get the two to be the same size-Vanilla Medilland is described as being able to be used as groundcover, which implies a totally different style of growth to Frederic Mistral.

Still looks like VS. Blooms prematurely brown out when the environment is not favorable: very high temperatures, root disturbances, not enough soil moisture after watering in the summer, etc. Here in Texas, VS blooms open just as our daily highs exceed 100F from June through September. They stay white for just a few days or a few weeks, then directly going to brown. Maintain the soil always mulched and always evenly moist at a depth of 4” during the summer. In locations with high summer temperatures, consider providing some late afternoon shade by 3 or 5pm but maintain the soil moist always at a depth of 4", the typical depth of hydrangea roots. The problem here is not limited to VS; the same thing happens with other panicle varieties‘ blooms in full sun in the Texas sun. I try to select very early blooming varieties though like the Quick Fire Collection, etc. In other places, addressing watering issues can improve performance.

I haven't tried it, but don't see how it could work. You'd have to melt the ice cream to soft serve consistency, at least, to combine the juice, but without a bunch of sugar, I don't know how it wouldn't curdle, and you can't really melt that stuff. It's full of gums and gels and stuff to keep it from going icy, and feel good, without the fat and sugar that makes ice cream work. I don't know about easy—depends how well you bake—but pavlovas can be made very low sugar (or with a sugar substitute, but you need a little something not just for sweetness but also to stabilize the meringue, and crystals like a sugar or salt work best, but only a tiny amount is needed. If you can deal with making them, they're impressive and delicious, no gluten, very low sugar, fun textures, and did I say impressive? You can top/fill with fruit, pastry cream, etc., but a flavored whipped cream would also be GF very low sugar, and you could make custard balls or something like that with the yolks, if fruit has too much sugar. I'm not sure I like this recipe, but see what's said about the sugar. https://www.columbian.com/news/2016/nov/29/how-far-can-you-reduce-sugar-in-a-pavlova-surprisingly-low/#:~:text=The%20answer%3A%20surprisingly%20quite%20low,testing%20and%20reducing%20the%20sugar. I commend you for making something that's inclusive of your granddaughter. No one wants to be the drag, especially at her age. I hope you find something that suits.

That is a beautiful mood board! I love the mix of gray with the warm woods and the gold tones of the bedspread and rug. While I personally love gray, I won't do it here. I'm thinking that the seeming shifts between khaki and gray might make Soft Chamois a great true neutral--worth seeing how it appears in a larger sample.