I can't help you with variety selection as my zone is too different from yours. However, Raintree Nursery is a place I have ordered from and I find their plant stock to be above average compared to many others I have ordered from. They list several varieties of blueberry for your zone including Sunshine and Misty. Do not believe the 'self pollinating' thing. Yes, they will fruit without another pollinator, but not as well. A second variety will always result in better pollination regardless of variety, it is just how blueberries are. A 2 year old blueberry *may* produce a tiny handful of fruit, a 3 year old plant a little more and if it is doing well you can expect good production in the 4th year increasing for a few more years and then it will hold steady for 10-? years depending on how well they are doing overall (I have seen 25 year old shrubs producing heavily). You may find younger plants producing more, but this isn't all that common and some would say it is counter productive to long term success if they are allowed to fruit much in the first couple years of life. I really couldn't say if that is true or just a piece of advice that gets perpetuated. Always look for plants that are either sold as 1 gallon (or larger), potted or if bare rooted choose older larger plants. The little bare root sticks commonly found in stores have a very pathetic 1 year survival rate. In my opinion they are a waste of money.

I have a large pot on my shaded front porch filled w/ Chinese evergreen & purple tradescantia - right next to it is is a dracaena. Another nearby pot, also shaded, has a double-stalked tricolor(pink) dracaena w/ a trailing houseplant I forgot the name of. IOW, consider low-maintenance houseplantsâ¦.

Osmanthus delavayi is blooming now, smells good, and has nice foliage, though a little open. My Daphne tangutica is blooming great this year, surpassing my D. odora variegata. Daphne xtransylvanica= Caucasia Summer Ice is a lovely mounding shrub that blooms all summer unlike the spring-blooming ones. I also like a couple of Hypericums I bought 3 years ago- H. frondosum and kalmianum- greyish foliage and yellow pincushion flowers. Here is a link that might be useful: Daphne tangutica

Trailrunner, I live in Pewaukee, WI which is about 20 miles west of Milwaukee. This past winter was very long but I think I can safely say spring has sprung. I swim laps like crazy all summer. I thought I was doing good with 50 or 60 round trips but now you make me feel like a slug with your 80. We only use a pool service to open and close the pool. I do maintenance throughout the summer. We replaced the old sand filter with a cartridge system 2 years ago and the pool stays cleaner than ever. No more back washing and way less vacuuming. People are always surprised when I tell them how little work it is to keep the pool up. I would love to have pavers or stained, stamped concrete around the pool but can't justify the expense either. Found a photo of the damage that a September hailstorm did to the liner. We were actually lucky because we were planning on replacing the liner the next spring and this way our homeowners insurance covered the cost. So here is what it looked like. This photo ( with my son acting a little bit goofy) shows that the previous liner was a bit lighter than the current one. Our pool gets full sun until late in the day. Maybe I should have picked an even darker liner. I didn't think they would make the water that much warmer. Oh well, I hope this liner is good for the next ten years.