First of all don't be too sure that those clematis are dead. My Gravety Beauty has just emerged from the crown. This is one that is usually very full and flowers prolifically. Will be interesting to see if it flowers before frost. I have another that did not appear last year and is growing this year. Maybe give yours some alfalfa pellets (or if on a farm part of a bale) and keep them watered to see if they return next year. Though I grow both P2 and P3 clematis I treated most of them as P3 and cut them back hard either in November or early spring. Proteus I wait until spring and cut back to new buds as it blooms double on old wood. Clematis are my favorite vine and I have over 100 plants though some are duplicates. Not sure I have favorites as each has its attractions. Here are some that grow and bloom very well for me. Asao First to bloom in the spring and covered with bloom from top to bottom Fireworks: Though this one has some light purple color it mostly fades out so blooms look pink and white Another prolific bloomer top to bottom Perrin's Pride blooms early, prolific, dark purple Elsa Spath gorgeous bluish purple blooms H. F. Young another good bluish purple Natasha three year old plant covered with bloom from top to bottom Warsaw Nike a trooper, good reliable bloom every year Blue Angel have these two together on a trellis, BA starts about a week after WN good blooms Hagley love this pale pink bloomer Proteus both single and double blooms at the same time Prince Charles didn't think I would like this pale bloomer but it has been a prolific bloomer and good contrast with darker clelmatis Gillian Blades an early white with hint of purple, ruffled edges blooms top to bottom Ernest Markham reliable bloomer Mme Julia Correvon small blooms cover plant from early summer until frost (this is my oldest clematis--10+ years) c. texensis Duchess of Albany huge plant mid summer to frost blooms c. texensis Gravety Beauty closest to red that I have V. Purpurea Plena Elegans prolific bloomer, Integrifolia Bushy Blue Bell non-climber blooms from early summer until frost Inspiration lax climber that needs to be tucked into trellis blooms early summer until frost Others that do well for me Jackmannii, Comtessa de Bouchard, Rhapsody, The President, v. Polish Spirit, Piilu, Rouge Cardinal, Ville De Lyon, Voluceau, Alionushka, Recta, Roguchi, t. Etoile Violette, Petit Faucon, Bourbon, Bijou, Because I grow so many clematis some are planted in less than ideal conditions, too much shade, tree roots, etc. Those varieties may grow well in better conditions. And I can not keep Sweet Autumn alive. The first one I had was wonderfully fragrant and prolific but died three years later, too much shade and disturbing the roots. Others since survive one year and don't return. I know it is invasive in many areas and have decided that I will not replant. I have a new computer and lost my bookmarks and now can not find my Photobucket albums. If you want to see photos of my clematis you can go to the clematis forum and search with mnwsgal in the search box on both the discussion and gallary sites. Lots of other posters have photos as well. V. Purpurea Plena Elegans

I wrote out a whole long response and then lost it when my browser crashed . . . here's the main essence of my suggestions, although I still would vote for no foundation plantings. I would suggest that you map out any paths with flour, not just as a single line, but the actual width and location of the path and try walking it to see if it is comfortable, even if they are paths you won't use much. You don't want to leave so little width that anyone walking the path has to brush up against your plants. You will want your plantings to stay low as well as narrow. If you grow them up to the bottom of your window, they will be against the shingles and you will have discoloration and rot issues. I'm making some general suggestions of shrubs that stay low, but I don't know how much sun this area gets, which will influence what does well. For instance, the red color on the Midnight Wine weigela will be better in more sun, while the variegated leaves on My Monet weigela will do better with some shade. Also, there may be some lime leaching from the foundation, so you may want to do a soil test in that area to see how acidic or alkaline your soil is. I'll let you look up requirements of plants that appeal to you. Here are some low bushes to look into: -Small weigelas include 'My Monet' and 'Midnight Wine', both of which will stay under 2' height and width. -Rhododendron 'Checkmate' is a PJM type of rhodie, but unlike regular PJMs my Checkmate, which is probably 6 years old and went in as a 2' high plant is now only 3' tall. It might be a bit wider than you want, but should be easy to keep in check with light pruning. Some other rhodies with shorter stature can be found on the site linked below, which allows you to search by height, and then the database entries will include width. Not all of these will be easily found, however. -There are some small boxwood varieties, like 'Morris Midget' and 'Morris Dwarf'. -There are several varieties of short, golden leaved spireas, though I am not sure how wide they get. -Some of the new varieties of Hydrangea macrophylla are quite short, such as the Cityline series (Berlin, Venice, Rio, Paris, etc.) though they aren't hardy enough for me to have any experience with them. Another option would be to have plants that stay skinny enough so that they won't be against the foundation. A trellis with one of the smaller clematis might work for you. 'Piilu' is one that is fairly restrained (usually 4-5 feet) but still flowers well. 'Bijou' stays under 2 feet. You could ask on the clematis forum for other suggestions. If you put the trellis between the windows, it would have the decorative metal work for winter interest, and the flowers in the summer without blocking the window. Here is a link that might be useful: American Rhododendron Society database search

Oh, does time fly ... My white Ikea kitchen was installed 5 years ago and I thought a follow-up would be usefull. I regularly see questions like: ¨Do Ikea cabinets hold up well over time?¨ and ¨Do you regret choosing white cabinets?¨. Well, the answers are quite simple: the cabinets look like the day they were installed and the drawer hardware is running as smooth as ever, even when filled to capacity. I have no pantry, so everything is in drawers, and you can stow amazing quantities of dry goods and cans. As for the colour (a white comparable to BM ´Simply White´), yes, you see everything on them, but in a positive way. Meaning that you clean them up sort of straight away and therefore ending up with a clean kitchen. I am still thrilled to bits with my hard working Ikea kitchen. HTH, Petra And totally not kitchen related, but beautiful, the garden in spring:

I could spend a ton of money on my remodel, but I am a cheapskate so I'm looking for the cheapest way to get my dream kitchen. We will probably be in this middle class condo till we die, so I'm trying not to cheap out in a way that I will regret. Where I plan to spend is for a powerful 36" 6 burner rangetop. On my short list are Capital Culinarian and GE Monogram. I currently have a 20yo Kitchenaid with open burners. The two with 12K btu I routinely wish were more powerful. I am ready to pay the premium for the rangetop vs the cooktop because of the extra space....I like to cook with big pans. For a hood, I probably don't want to spend too much on looks. We upgraded the useless noise box to a 600 cfm about 7 years ago, and I might just paint it stainless. But I will probably get a new one with better lighting, more cfm now available, baffle filters, and stainless housing. I don't want to spend a lot on a dishwasher, but I do want paneled one. I have used DWs of all price points that worked fine getting dishes clean. I'm not too picky about them. I'd like it to be quieter than our current 20 yo Whirlpool. But I sure hope it will clean as well as this old one, which cleans and dries GREAT even with the dry cycle off, without rinse aid. I'm looking for deals on KA or maybe Bosch or a used Miele on Craigslist. My other splurges will probably be for ovens....I'd like a Wolf L or maybe Electrolux Icon single oven plus a Monogram Advantium. The microwave has to be built in because our kitchen already has this, and I don't want to downgrade..plus there is little counter space. Or current MW is underpowered with no turntable, so I definitely want improvement there. I'd like an oven with a dehydrate mode so maybe we can get rid of the bulky dehydrator my husband uses to make jerky (best jerky ever). I am looking on craigslist for both of these items. The fridge is a dilemma. I love the build quality of SZ, and the true counter depth. I looked at a 736 tci on craigslist....I would love the look. But the interior was so bare bones! One tiny shallow drawer. Not as good a setup as our current fridge. No ice maker in that SZ for some reason. There was also mildew. My dream fridge would be 36" bottom freezer CD paneled integrated, great build quality for all shelves and drawers, icemaker no dispenser, and filtered water in the fridge. Alas, this either does not exist or if it does, costs a fortune. We actually really like our GE Profile bottom freezer. Shelves are great, drawers are much better than most of the lower end. We bought it about 5 years ago used for 300 bucks. So right now I plan to have panels fabricated for it, and add an ice maker for 100 bucks. I will recess it into the wall which will give me a nearly flush sightline. So I'm planning to spend more for the cooking appliances, especially since they will be fitted and built in to cabinetry and/or countertop, thus more difficult to swap later. Notice I'm trying to save by buying used, or through outlets/scratch and dent places. We've bought things used from private parties before and been very happy. We got our fridge about 5 years ago, and an LG dryer a month ago. Each was 2 years old and looked nearly new, so we got $3300 of appliances for $650. I will admit it is a hassle moving them, especially the fridge, so we earned some of our savings there!