Hello, Alley: Species irises are almost never sold commercially - therefore, if you feel you have too many of these, offer some to neighbours or to a local garden club. Preserving rare plant material should be something that all gardeners give consideration to. All the best! P.S. Lucky you! there won't be irises in my Ontario garden till at least mid-May.

Hi Parkejo, Or should we just get a higher mortgage and not touch our savings? Then we could pay down the mortgage with extra payments or refinance down the road. What would you do? Definitely DO NOT bury your safety or retirement money into your real estate equity. This is our third house we would be buying. We are putting down about 50% of the sale of the house and financing the rest. We would not have any PMI to worry with. I know the real estate market is a mess right now. I just don't want to tie our emergency savings into our first mortgage that's all. Just wondering what others have done in a temporary situation. Here's the decision criterion; Recognize that real estate equity is a highly risk-vulnerable place to keep your funds you may be counting on for retirement. How much (what percentage) of your total family net worth is represented in your real estate equity? Make sure you are not over-concentrated (under-diversified) by having too much of your funds at risk. Real estate equity gives zero compounded growth, and only benefits you equal to the after-tax simple interest savings of the leverage avoided. Alternatively, you'll have many diversification options that can provide compounding growth in a tax-sheltered treatment, and in some vehicles you can have "principal guarantees" which assure that you cannot actually lose ANY of your original funds regardless, and in some cases they protect your periodic gains as well. Manage carefully. Under-diversifying in a risk-asset to "save" a relatively low mortgage interest rate, at the costs of compounding growth and safety, can be very hazardous to your retirement. Luck! Dave Donhoff Strategic Equity & Leverage Planner

You are absolutely right about two sides to this story. As I started this post by saying it's complicated. My Mother and I were soulmates. My Mother and siter had a different relationship. My Mother never approved of her disregard for money or her lifestyle. My sister is deep in debt with absolutely no reason except that is her personality. She is hoarder buying multiple items for the gratification. But I digress. Yes, I am only 100 miles away. DH and I both have medical issues that keep us from going there. When I inquired about staying at my Mother's house over Easter, the reply was there was nothing in it. There was no offer to have us stay elsewhere. This is getting way off topic and I apologize. I am simply trying to point out my sister is living in a Disney world. My Mother always said while she alive that she had no money problems. Evidentally, my sister nosied around and accessed her bank account. My sister and amily are very gracious and hospitible and generous with their time if needed. There is something she had always had a problem with and that i money. She always lived in the nicest houses etc. and I ondered how she did it all these years. I know what she told me briefly after my Mother passed away they have three separate mortgages, have no credit and are on the border of losing it all. She is the type of person that appears happy and jovial but she is ealous of everyoe that more than she does. Well, that's exhausting! Sorry.

One comparison you can make to help you decide whether it is worth paying off your mortgage is this: How much interest are you paying the bank for your mortgage versus how much can you earn in some investment? Over the long term (10-20 years) a portfolio invested 50% in stocks & 50% in bonds should produce a gain of about 7-8% a year. But of course you have to put up with the worry of market fluctuations, and the long-term averages differ from what you experience in the near term. So, if your mortgage interest rate is 6-7%, paying it off makes sense because you are giving yourself that 6-7% every time you prepay principle, which you can do a little at a time by just writing a separate check and telling the bank to apply it to unpaid principle. This assumes that your house value is stable and not adversely affected by the subprime mess, except indirectly as all real estate values have declined in the past year or two. I hope this prespective is helpful to you. It's the one I used to justify prepaying our mortgage a few years ago, & I've never regretted it.