Which way is the shade? in front of the trees in the afternoon, or behind. Could make a difference. How about glossy abelia? It is evergreen, or red tipped photinia, also evergreen. Moni

Thx yes was going look around the control valve next. Looks to me that the tile has not been routinely maintained (sealed). So some aging and cracking in grout may have added to the problem. Been in the house two years with no visible issues with daily use, it looked perfect (e.g. no staining in bottom grout until suddenly now). This disscussion really makes me wonder about the way tubs are sealed to walls. A Silicon seal acting like a ~1/4" water dike trapping and holding water makes no sense. Seems to me that there should be a 1/2" gap under the wall backboard with current recommended water barrier behind extended 1/4" further overlapping the tub flange. And their should be engineered a flexible polymer strip to be inserted in the gap to seal between the tub ledge and the tile. It should have antimicrobials in it and be treated annually with an application of antimicrobial treatment. The invention could be a firm microbubble nondegradable polymer. And it should have a GoreTex film like property, where free water can't get across it, very little moisture is held so it dries quickly, and moisture settling behind the bottom tile can excape as water vapor. Slight permeability to the flexible material and a fused backing of the Goretex oriented towards the flange wall could accomplish this. It could have a thin flap on the back topside so it is installed along with the bottom tile and act as the standard 1/8" spacer below the bottom tile. Being flexible and supported from the back edge it could flex downward if the tub ledge moves downward when weight loaded, still helping block water entry. If the tub settles a little permanently, the permeable membrane would still help block transport water out of the gap. A spongy expandable sealed bubble like strip material would allow the most water blockage with flexing and also be best at preventing any air gap developing. Just an idea ... on my wish list.

"... Goldspire Ginkgo, very columnar variety that is yellow in the fall and should mature to 14' - 16 tall and 5' - 6' wide." Oooh ... I don't think that's gonna happen. It will become much larger. Whenever size information comes from selling sources, it's 100% of the time going to be wrong. And they're stating a size after only a few years of growth, where the tree will not stop. Figure at least double size of whatever you're told. A fat clump of lilac in the tree form sounds like a great solution to the back right bed. You need some groundcover there, too. consider lily of the valley (so long as there's shade.) It does great there. Gotta be some Hosta somewhere, too. And daylilies in the sun. (From DeKalb originally.)

This is really easy to fix. Just install nailer strips under the baseboard. That will give you a backer to nail the shoe molding to. If you have a table saw, just buy some wood the same thickness as your baseboard and rip it down. If you don't have a table saw, buy wood the same thickness and chop saw it down, making sure you have a filler piece at every point where you will nail the shoe in. When you nail your fillers in make sure the nail is long enough to get into the bottom plate.