I have six plants of Mr. Bluebird since I love this rose so much. It has China heritage and was bred by Ralph Moore, I believe, and seems to bloom all the time. It's very hot and dry here but my plants are young so I don't know how they'll fare in the heat of summer. Their color is gorgeous though, and with their five petals they look so cute and really go with everything. I have little disease so can't comment on that. I bought my plants at Rogue Valley nursery, by the way. They're very bushy and have beautiful foliage. Ingrid

We installed 5" Walnut unstained in our new home. They have two coats of Bona Traffic HD, which I hoped would at least mitigate any scratching. The problem is more of a DENTING. We have a very large golden retriever who has already done a wonderful job of "aging" the floors where he hangs out, getting up down and excited when we come home. We have tried dremelling his nail, which only mildly helps, putting tips on his nails, which come off, and booties, which come off and when they are on look ridiculous. The floors are gorgeous, but if you have large pets, or are bothered by denting/scratching, I would not recommend. Makes me so very sad, since I do love them. But love the dog, too. :(

Live Wire Oak - While I respect your opinion and think you give great advice on this forum, I have to disagree with you about not being able to get a quality finish here in California. It's true that we have stricter standards but what is also true is that we have and can use conversion varnish. I actually got a call about this a few days ago as I was pulling out of the parking lot of one of my suppliers here in LA who has conversion varnish on their shelves stacked up to the ceiling. The facts are (and this comes from a chemist at Valspar, one of the world's largest coatings manufacturers): Conversion varnish in Califiornia has been reformulated for our stricter regulations. It's 275 VOC. In some counties you can still use the old 550 VOC. They use some different solvents and there's a bit less solids in their formulation. It's still conversion varnish and has all the same properties. If you've ever sprayed CV, you know you have to thin it to spray it anyway, and with any conversion varnish, you can't exceed a certain mil thickness or you will get cracking. All this ultimately means to me is I get less paint for my money, but it's the same durable finish. Christopher Peacock, which is considered by many to be one of the best cabinet lines, does not top coat with conversion varnish. The paint he uses runs about $150 a gallon, (I'm using some right now), as opposed to about $25 for regular paint. It's all about the prep, the type of brush and the skill in the application. There's almost no visible brush strokes. As far as which companies have the better finish, unfortunately, it's usually the more expensive ones. A better finish is more labor intensive and there's more artistry involved, so the price is higher. I also agree you can't always get a great finish from a small custom shop. There's three major elements involved in the making of fine cabinetry: the design, the construction, and the finish. Each are distinct and complex skills and it's hard to find someone who can do all three well, but they are out there.I spend a great amount of time deconstructing the higher end lines and what makes them what they are. It takes a lot of knowledge and experimentation to get it right. The national brands use designers to put together their lines for mass appeal and they use industry techs to formulate their finishing schedules for a consistent product and look at that level. John

It's hard to tell from the picture but at least some of the leaves appear to have some streaking -the largest one in the center of the shot for example- and there would appear to be signs of necrosis on the smaller leaf to the right of it, which could be due to a variety of issues, frost damage being one of them. Until it fully leafs out its identity is hard call to make but with the streaking I see at the very least it could well be a sporting 'Love Pat' or ? Is the division in a pot or in the ground, is that the edge of pot or a walkway at the top right? I wouldn't panic as yet with regards to it's development but keep a close eye on it. If there is more evidence of necrosis inspect the roots. Keep in mind that if the plant came out of a pot it's been growing in for 3 years or more that the root system is very different from the one of a division that came out of the ground and vise versa. I never really expect too much the first year because the plant has a new root system to grow to adapt to the new environment. Pieter