http://davesgarden.com Dave's Garden costs $20 per year to join, but in my opinion it's worth it. It has forums a lot like these, but they tend to be much more friendly. There are also free portions of the site like Garden Watch Dog (http://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/) which lets users rate mail order nurseries. I think Plant Files (http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/) is also free but may limit your searches per day. Plant Files has lots of information and pictures about almost any plant you can think of by regular gardeners. It's nice to get opinions from someone other than the nurseries trying to sell you plants. I also like http://www.hort.uconn.edu/Plants/index.html for information about plants from an unbiased source.

I can't decide on just one style. I have a small formal boxedged garden on the lawn near the house with lowgrowing polys and floribundas. Beyond this garden are the wilder areas with tall shrub roses among fruit trees and a woodland with species roses. My garden is only half an acre in a rather dull suburban setting but I've tried to create a few longer vistas with shade alternating with open areas, as close to garden rooms as I can make it with my limited space. There is no room for an enclosed secret garden but there are at least three secret nooks for the grandchildren to hide in.

I enjoy the "Kitchen of the Month" feature in House Beautiful. The kitchens are often lovely and I enjoy reading about the details, even when I don't care for the kitchen. I wouldn't subscribe just for that feature, but, if you can find some old copies or get them at a local library, they have a varied and sometimes instructive content. I do enjoy that magazine, BTW, because the editors include many details about sources. Also, many of the featured projects use one of my favorite vendors: Chateau Domingue in Houston, Texas. A day spent there is the next best thing to wandering around in European ruins. I have stopped subscribing to publications that use mostly non-U.S. sources because, even though they're interesting reads, they usually have items that I cannot access readily or economically. World of Interiors is wonderful, though, if you want just one such mag.

I'd have to say it's the island. I never had an island before and I love island living. It does everything it was supposed to....lots of work surface for baking and cooking, works great for entertaining and parties so people can talk to me but not be in my way when I cook and I can spread out lots of food for everyone to enjoy....the prep sink allows me to cook while DH can be in clean-up mode at the sink on the side, out of my way....it works as our breakfast table...there's a TV in the cabinet above the fridge and DH has his breakfast and watches the a.m. news there every morning...on the end is a bookshelf to stash all my cookbooks and it has an outlet in it for a charging station. Across from the cooktop, it has my viking convection oven which I also love. And it has large drawers in it for storing my knives and woodboards and such that I use on the island all the time...so convenient.