Well, they are tidier anyway. So many of the spring flowers had turned brown in this heat and looked just awful! Upon cleaning them out, I also removed the hiding places for insects, so was a double bonus for my efforts. :) I had the prettiest white Baby's Breath this spring. With the deep blue Larkspurs, and the pink and orange roses, I had bouquets growing right in the flower beds. That lasted through May and into early June and then this heat hit all at once, and they croaked! (Sigh) I'm still revamping things. Last night, I dug up my big Needlepoint Holly and moved it down into the back of the daylily bed. Everything that was or is growing up on the hill is getting moved down closer to the house where the soil is deeper and the yard is cooler. I am tired of trying to make that old dry hill bloom! There is a Fairy Rose, the Variegated Willow, some Sweet William, Mums, and other things up there yet to remove. I have moved about half of the flowers and plants already. All are doing really well since I moved them. There is a small Liquidambar styraciflua 'Sweet Gum' tree to be dug up today and potted until I can figure out where to plant her. She looks so pitiful right now. Gotta move her before she dies! She needs a lot more moisture and that was just such a fool's errand to think that I could make it work up there. You live and learn. I lost the clump of Tennessee River Birch and two of the South Carolina Red Maples that I ordered several years ago. They were so pretty and growing really well. The River Birches died last winter and the dad gum drought and heat got two of the Red Maples. ~Annie

Orchid_pixie, 1. Buy a heavy duty tiller, if you decide to try to cultivate your soil. Don't do what I did and get the "cheap" $188 model at Walmart. It will only leave you $188 poorer & shaking your fist at the sky as you realize you wasted your money on a puny tiller that got you nowhere (and which, to boot, is hard to start unless you have the upper body strength of a titan). 2. I too, love gardenias & have been trying to grow them, with varied success. So far I've killed 1 1/2 plants (I would say two, but I won't know if the last one is dead until it warms up & I can tell if there are any remaining signs of life). Of the plants that have survived my attempts to grow them, I currently have two indoor veitchii (one at home, one at work -- I'm conducting an experiment to see which lasts the longest before dying horribly, or preferably, which blooms first!) and four frost-proof gardenias that I bought at Pike's and planted outside in my front garden bed. As for the frost-proof, they seem to be doing okay, and given that you're in the northern part of GA, I would give those a try before buying some of the less cold-hardy varieties. However, whatever you decide to do, do yourself a favor first and read the suicidal gardenia thread I'm posting for you below. The first time I read it, I literally laughed so hard that I had tears streaming down my face. Enjoy and good luck! Here is a link that might be useful: Suicidal Gardenia

In 1977 we installed very dark wood cabinets in an old lake house we were remodeling to be a year-round residence. I loved them for a lot of years, but by 2001, when we decided to tear down and rebuild on the same lot, I simply couldn't do a dark wood kitchen again! I struggled for weeks until I saw a white kitchen I loved. I'd never considered paint: "Wood should be seen!" but we did the white kitchen and loved it. We moved in 2008 and rebuilt. I would have reproduced exactly the 2001 kitchen if I could have, but neither the cabinets nor the countertops were available. I realized I wasn't tired of white, so we did a different white, and added a charcoal island. The two-tone look may be outdated quickly, but this kitchen is for ME, not for some style guru. Follow your heart! And realize that you'll always be second-guessing . . . because there are so many truly lovely choices out there!

Yes it is a bad situation for sure. My friend that just bought a house in the okc area sent me pictures of the deep piles of snow in her yard. She had to venture out this morning to stock up on stuff including candles and batteries. Hers are all still packed in one of the many boxes. Friends in Dallas are just devastated by the broken trees and devastation all the ice has caused. Nasty stuff. The area is just not prepared for those kinds of winter conditions. Sure am glad we are safe home in Houston area and not still in Oklahoma!. Stay safe everyone,