I've been to the Rogerson Collection several times including last weekend and much of them are still in pots in greenhouses. The display garden is very young and it isn't really very impressive. Yet. I'm not criticizing, it is a volunteer organization that relies on donations. They are doing great work. I've attached my pictures. There aren't many because it is so young. There is a big white farmhouse surrounded by heirloom shrubs with Clems planted all through them but they are mostly small. I will upload some new photos to this album later today, must run now. It is located in a scenic area right off the freeway but confirm that they are open before making the trip. I think Hughes Water Gardens which is in the same area is a better tour stop though. I've asked Debbie if I could pick up since I live 45 minutes from her nursery and she always says "no" I never asked for a tour, I wanted to buy! The rudeness I experienced at Joy Creek was in person, not during a mail order transaction. Their computer listed a Clematis in stock, I called to verify since it is an hour drive or so and when I got there it was out of stock and they were snotty about it. I was also treated rudely at one of their Clematis Festivals by employees who were too busy talking to local author and by local author. I had $100 in my pocket for 5 Clemmies and no one wanted to help me spend it. I actually cried on the way home from their rudeness. I'm still shocked that sales people made me cry and Yes, I'm holding a grudge years later. I'm so NOT a crier. My friend thought something drastic had happened when I called her all choked up. I worked in retail for over twenty years and know what customer service is, I'm usually very self sufficient when I shop but this was when I was new to Clemmies and didn't know this forum yet and I had questions. I was excited to be going to a "Clematis Festival" I was there right as it started, it wasn't really busy, there were only a few customers there that morning. Local author is lucky I bought her book, she was snotty to me again last weekend (I asked if they had a Clematis for sale that was not one of her favorites) It was like she flipped a switch from nice to "omigod you can't be serious in asking me about that Clematis" though she was very nice at the Hardy Plant Society sale in April. My friend talked about her rudeness all the way home last weekend. She had thought I exaggerated previously since she was so nice, helpful and friendly at the HPSO Sale and at Canby Mastergardener Sale too. Here is a link that might be useful: Rogerson pictures

Putting down a mulch after you weed can prevent some of them from coming back from roots left behind. I use a lot of straw mulch, because it's cheaper than bark mulch, but I live on acreage so it's more acceptable than it might be on a city lot. I will also lay down newspapers or cardboard with a mulch on top to kill off weeds, much easier than pulling them all and it benefits the soil too. It won't stop blackberries, though. They'll just come up through it, as will thistle. Be careful of what you let go to seed. Birds will transport them to other areas and some can be invasive, choking out native plants. Your rhododendron won't have blooms next year where you trimmed it, just to warn you. It will the following year, though if you don't cut it back again. A lot of people whack them back to get a fuller plant. You'll learn a lot through successes and failures along the way, just as I still do. That's what's nice about gardening, you never quit learning. If I'd had the internet when I was gardening in my youth, I'd be way ahead by now! I started gardening before I was ten. My grandmother lived with us and she let me have a little plot in her garden, so I spent a lot of time tending that little piece of land. Then in my teens I took over the vegie garden. My grandmother had a small greenhouse that I grew cacti in too, so that was a fun diversion from the outside plants. Enjoy your days in the garden and take some pictures to show us your progress.

Olivesmom, you do have many choices, but you may be best served by some further study as to what you really prefer. The three photos are very, very different architectural styles, and have quite different interior spaces. For example: --The Williamsburg Colonial: a handsome example of the Colonial Style with upgraded details and materials. Colonials tend to be simple rectangles, 3- or 5-bays wide, with a simple gable roof whose ridgeline parallels the front elevation. Decoration and self-styled carpenter details are minimal. Interiors are seldom deeper than two modest rooms--they were Colonials after all! Growth and expansion typically took place off one or both ends, and/or a perpendicular wing off the rear elevation (sometimes 2-stories); --Second example: This may be called a "cabin" style, but it's really just a builder's approach to a woodsy vernacular from the region. The many gables parallel to the front and the heavy fascias, plus the natural stain colors, characterize this as a house in the tradition of areas where there are lots of woods (and lots of carpenters)! The direction of the roof suggests the house is much deeper than it is wide. --Third example: Again, this is a sort of "hansel and grettel" carpenter's or builder-style house (certainly not Colonial in any fashion) with a most odd "tobacco-shed drying roof", common in southern tobacco growing regions. The partial end gables were used to allow air to enter and circulate in the building's interior to help dry and season the hanging tobacco leaves. Such a roof on a house of this size, and in a western forested setting, is ill-proportioned for this structure and historically a bit ludicrous, IMO. The rest of the exterior has various moutain/western region detailing, ie, porch roofs and supporting columns, etc. I think your search for your "perfect house" might be aided by a good guide book, such as A Field Guide to American Houses, by Virginia and Lee McAlester. It's a well written and illustrated small paperback book that's excellent in describing the various styles of houses. Good luck with your project!

Oh, good. You just might end up reevaluating that laminate decision, huh? By the way, where are you in the planning process? Have you chosen your cabinets yet? If so, what are you planning to get? I wish I could be getting started now---there are just too many variables in our life right now, so that we don't know if we want to remodel our current home and plan on staying here indefinitely or just update a bit and sell this home and build or buy and remodel another home. Without going into too much detail, our decisions are being driven to a large extent by the needs of a disabled child, elderly parents (on both sides), and the possibility that my mother-in-law would need to move in with us---in which case, it makes more sense to stay here, as we have a full apartment available for her. Anyway, since our plans are so uncertain at this point, I find myself all over the map---one day I want to just complete the hardwood floors throughout the house, slap on some new laminate in the kitchen, and update our faucet and call it good. Other days I'm thinking of doing a major renovation from the floor up. Ah well, at least I'm gathering important information that will, hopefully, be useful when the time comes. Let us know when your samples arrive.