Evidently this has been available for a while before its registration in 2010- Zilis mentions his first notes on BL go back to 1986. From Registry: 'Bright Lights' * (O) P. Aden (N) Klehm Nursery (I) AHS, M. Zilis (R) 2010 Plant: 52 in. (132 cm) diameter, 19 in. (48 cm) high; mound like; slow. Leaf: 9 in. (23 cm) long, 7 in. (18 cm) wide; 15 to 16 pairs of veins; golden yellow; medium blue-green margin; flat; glaucous bloom on top; glaucous bloom underneath; moderately wavy, heavily corrugated; broadly ovate; cordate base; Scape: 20 in. (51 cm) long; green with some streaking. Flower: tubular; Seed: sets viable seed; Clump History: a division of the original; 10 yrs old; Dubuque, IA; Seasonal Variation: center changes from chartreuse to golden yellow during the season [Hybrid of H. 'Tokudama Aureonebulosa'] Interesting that MyHostas notes mention it's a sport of Tokudama Aureonebulosa, yet registration says hybrid. And Zilis in Hostapedia mentions he's heard speculation that some collectors believe Bright Lights is a reversed sport of Tokudama Flavocircinalis. Here's a Bright Lights pic from a tour garden in 2012. Paul

Yes, one cable or pair of wires to 6 lights and one cable to 7 lights, and the lights are in parallel. Each light connects across both of the wires that run past it without interrupting the flow to other lamps. Two terminals on the transformer are used and each terminal has two wires on it, one wire from each cable to each terminal. Using #12 gauge wouldn't hurt, but is probably not necessary. With #14 I calculate a 5.7% voltage drop, and with #12 it is 3.7%. A rule of thumb is to allow 5%. This is at the last of 7 lights spaced 8 feet apart, operating from a 12.0 volt transformer, 7 watt bulbs, using room temperature wire resistance (not the NEC table at 75 deg C). With 5.6% drop, you might be able to tell the last light wasn't quite as bright as the first if they were side by side, but not across the deck. If you put in a full loop of wire there would be scarcely any difference from using the two sections. By comparison, if you ran all 13 lights on one pair of #12 wires unlooped, the drop at the last lamp would be almost a volt and a half, a whopping 12% loss and you would see the difference in brightness.

mommyto4boys, I think the BM concord ivory and maroccan red will look great together. I checked them out on the BM online personal color viewer. They are both warm and very harmonizing. They are similar to the colors we have, and they do work well with one another. Shades of red are so great in kitchens and dining areas. I read somewhere that the color red is stimulating to the appetite. I know others have said that painting a large sheet of poster board or an entire wall will really be helpful in making you sure of the decision once you narrow your choices, and it sounds like you have. We struggled to choose paint colors, and it is definitely much harder than it looks. We had hickory and oak stained cabinets in our previous homes, so we wanted something different this time, but stained wood is gorgeous and timeless. I love it just as much as painted wood. I think the two together (painted and stained) are even better. I do remember one of your previous posts on the cherry stain, and it is really stunning. Your home sounds like it will have a lot of detail and fabulous accents. I should mention that I "stole" the trim color (BM Vanilla Ice Cream) and our kitchen color (SW Flower Pot) from a beautiful home on a parade of homes tour. Come to think of it, I used the same hardwood flooring and interior doors and door hardware as well - LOL. It was great because I saw something that really clicked for me, and I knew I would love it because I did when touring the parade home in person. It really helps to have an inspiration. Jan

Ok, thanks very much all ... and in no particular order: 1. I don't have dimensions yet, but it is not quite that big. The fridge is 30 in. not 36, so that side is more like 8 ft I think. I will measure when I go back up this weekend. 2. Can't enlarge window. 3. Yes, this would include replacing the cabinets. The owner had a local cabinetmaker build the fridge panel, and he already has bid on cabinet replacement (which I haven't seen, but I doubt it addresses what I want to address. Don't know though). Most likely we will reuse the range and DW, as they are fairly new, but change counter, backsplash, sink, and faucet. I really don't want to spend a lot of money here -- it's a condo in the mountains, we don't really cook that much up there (although of course we end up doing Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners for 10 in our tiny condo even when I have a perfectly wonderfully large and efficient kitchen at home that is much better suited for that! lol). 4. Love the induction idea. It's probably not in the budget right now (well, definitely not), but I will keep it in mind when rearranging things. And it's a good reason to hold off on gas. 5. I've been toying with the idea of replacing the table with a counter-height table and stools, and placing it crosswise short end against the wall, sort of like a peninsula, to increase work space. Then we could pull it out when we have to seat someone for a meal down there. Does this make any sense? Again, I'll have to measure things.