Jo-- I'm not sure that IS turf in that strip--wouldn't surprise me if it's that mini-mondo. I use mini-mondo as an unerplanting in Harry Lauder's pot--works a treat and NEVER needs trimming... To ME it looks like a professionally planned garden that's been under an amateur garder-owner's care and planning for a few years. I inherited a professionally designed garden, and over the years, as light conditions (and my tastes) changed --I've pulled plants out and replaced them with other things. Not to mention the two blooming under-story trees I had to take down because they caught black-knot. There are few of the original perennial/shrub plantings left. And theh there was that huge retaining wall/paver project we did two years ago... Flyingflower--both the house and the design seem "French" to me--and fairly formal. Perhaps if you got online and looked at the local designers work, you could find someoen who could give you a similar look--you MIGHT even find the person who did it! Otherwise--I'd be tempted to knock on the door and ask...or write a letter with some form of contact info (like an e-mail address) and ASK. I'd address it to "The Owner of the Yellow House with the Gorgeous Garden" so they don't automaticlally assume it's JUNK. If I got such a note, I'd be flattered. And respond. But then, we all know I'm weird... melanie

Myoporum parvifolium 'Pink Form' is even lower growing than regular Myoporum, and makes a very lush, green looking carpet that is only inches tall, yet spreads thickly and vigorously to form a thick carpet. It sounds like you should also amend the soil in your lawn area with alot more compost to retain water better. 10 minutes of water every third day is actually quite sufficient to keep lawn green if the soil retains water. In sandy soils, it wouldn't be enough, but you might find just watering every day for 5 minutes would use less water but keep your lawn greener. Try aerating the lawn and top dressing with fine compost and light fertilizer to green up an existing tired lawn, and going to an every day for a few minutes irrigation schedule timed in early morning to lose less water to sun, heat and winds. Or try the Myoporum, it is more drought tolerant than lawn. One of the dwarf creeping thymes would also work well.

We just moved into the new kitchen a few months ago and put about an acre of soapstone in the kitchen and master bath. Ours is the Cruz Azul (greenish) sourced and installed by Sierra Soapstone in Rockland, CA. Excellent fabrication and installation. The boss and I both think it is terrific. I've only oiled it once about 3 months ago. I'll get around to doing it again one of these days, or maybe not. No big deal. We live in our house. Things may get dinged. The SS may get scratched and I'll wrinkle up some more. So what! It is a great material and looks terrific. We couldn't be happier. Also, a suggestion on the sink. We went with the Kohler Whitehaven Apron front sink. We have stainless appliances. With the soapstone the whitehaven looks great. I went with the 36". It is enormous, but a great sink. The 30" might have been a better choice. I have to figure out how to post pictures!

Thanks very much, tigerdunes. 3 tons makes sense to us because much of the upstairs cooling ends up downstairs, with the result that downstairs remains cool year round despite the dozen downstairs skylights (and six upstairs). We used to have a 5T AC on the downstairs system as well, but when it died we didn't notice downstairs getting any warmer and realized that the 3T upstairs must be cooling downstairs via the staircase, even more effectively than upstairs ironically. So really the upstairs AC is cooling a 3600 sf house (plus 900 sf basement which however remains naturally cool). Cooling efficiency for the upstairs system is important to us because (a) it spends far more time cooling than heating; (b) matter of principle: reduce our consumption footprint; (c) lower operating cost over next 20 years (for us and any subsequent owners of the house). System being replaced: 1988 Carrier 3 ton D&N (Day & Night) Heat: D&N 395BAW036060ABJA (3 burners, 71,000 Btuh in) Cond: D&N 568EJX036000AGAA (3 ton) Evap: label inaccessible Downstairs system that we're sticking with for now Heat: D&N 395BAW060120ABJA (6 burners, 143,000 Btuh in) Cond: D&N 568EBX060000AGAA (5 ton, long dead) Evap: BDP 518CXX057000BACA