I'm so glad you brought up the soil topic K. I was thinking about it and was going to post back today about this anyway. In any garden, but particularly a neglected urban one, most problems begin and end with the soil. I would have the soil tested, and do some research on the plants you have growing together in the garden. Do they like the same kind of soil conditions? That is crucial. Because otherwise, if you ammend the soil to make one kind of plant happy you might make its neighbor unhappy. And there's a lot more to soil than just pH and nutrients--soil structure, microbial action, and drainage are just a few major aspects. A garden is a system and pests on one plant might be a symptom of problems with the whole system, not just that individual plant. Adding compost NEVER hurts, so start a compost pile and/or find a good compost source. If I'm not mistaken, I think roses like composted manure, but I could be wrong. I'm also a firm believer in companion plants. Not because I think they have some kind of mystical relationship, but mixing and matching your plants makes the juicy ones harder for the pests to find. Off the top of my head, good companions for roses are tansy, rue, chives and maybe even those pyrethrum daisies. Maybe mums too. And yarrow is a good overall companion. Also, most roses don't like shade, and I would imagine a bamboo planted close to a rose is sucking all the nutrients away for itself. You might consider installing some kind of flashing around the roots to keep the bamboo roots confined--although that is going to be tough in the long run! I'm not a bamboo fan due to the work it takes to keep its agressive nature under control, but I know a lot of people love it for its form and privacy it provides. The organic methods, when used consistently may get your problem under control. I am loathe to use these higher level pesticides in my garden because as I said, it throws stuff off balance. But if your garden is out of balance anyway, you may have to either use them or loose some plants. I have only used a systemic once, on a grey birch tree that was infested with scale. I was using a less toxic oil spray on them but it was not working. The tree was dying and the systemic helped save it. I know I paid a price in my soil. I couldn't find anything on how long the systemic would persist in the soil. Pyrethrum does break down relatively quickly--I can't remember exactly, either 2 weeks or 2 months, something like that, different formulations have different active periods. It is a broad spectrum insecticide and will kill the beneficials. But unless you live in an area with some type of endangered butterfly or something, insects are very prolific and a natural population will reinhabit your yard, to be sure. The pests will too, so all the pyrethrum is doing is buying you some time until you can get your roses healthy again. I still wouldn't advise it unless it was a matter of life and death for a plant. But I would also realize that nature will replenish an insect population unless you have destroyed the habitat. There are also things you can do to attract beneficial insects into your yard, which you can find out a lot about by researching. Take a looks at your yard as a system and see what is working in your favor and what is not. Begin to reorganize the garden so it is more in harmony with its environment. I have come to realize that it's "survival of the fittest" in my yard, and if a plant succumbs, that's the way it goes, time to plant something more suitable. Eventually that way you get a yard full of plants that can survive on their own, with minimal fussing from you. So I'd attack the problem from many angles, starting with the soil, the types of plants and the growing conditions. But occasionally, if it's something I really love, and it is a matter of life and death, I will use a stronger pesticide. But with full knowledge of the tradeoffs. Below is an interesting Web site I found when searching for the breakdown time of pyrethrum. Looks like notes from a college course. Here is a link that might be useful: Insecticides

Yes we do live in the city. Right at the edge as Steph said. I am three long blocks from city hall,my office. Tonight my office was my recliner. Needed to work but I do not like to work in the building all alone late at night and when I do have to I let the sheriff know. Living in the city still allows the critters. Our city is so tiny (about 165 people now) even the critters hardly notice it is here. LOL The dog that got the worst of it the first time is the one barking at them still. The other dog heads to the back bathroom to hide as fast as he can. We laughed at him so hard. I do not think he wanted to have to have another bath.

You have a wonderful home. Lots to work with. I'm not much good at this but I do see a plan. It is possible that someone else has suggested this and if that is the case then I am in agreement with whomever it was.(I get confused with all reading, I am a hands-on kinda person) I like the couch in front of the fireplace, placed at the same angle. I was wondering if there was room to offset the couch away from the carpet, and place the armoire in the corner. Is there enough room to place the loveseat in front of the armoire? The armoire is very visually heavy and if it can be placed in the corner it will balance out with the light coming in from the window. I was also picturing the mirror over the fireplace with a red painted frame. If the armoire doesn't have room to be placed in the corner and has to be placed somewhere else where it still looks heavy, you could put a large oblong fairly low white container and place somekind of white arrangement with a trailing white plant that would bring your eye back into the room towards the fireplace. I don't know if this will help or if it works in decorating. When I was in photography, a rule I was taught to read a composed picture. You would look a picture and read it from left to right, just like you would read a book. Anything that is/was placed in the upper right hand corner would create tension and that is where your eyes would go. That wasn't always a good thing because it would take you away from the "focal point". Since you can only view the fireplace room from one direction, I hope this may help. Have fun, don't stress. Oh and as for the oak. I have natural pine and I have found that the darker, grayish shades of paint seem to look the best. Since green is in the family of the complement to orange, I would stay away from green for paint. It will only make your oak trim stand out more.

I think it depends on factors other than the size of your kitchen. Angles of the room, how the fridge is placed in the room, other finishes in the space, are important. My sister has a small kitchen with black appliances & they look very good. She has red walls, wood cabs, medium toned floors. White would look odd with her other elements, and she hates stainless. In my small kitchen, a black fridge would look like a big rock sitting there. It would indeed look and feel very obtrusive. I also have creamy cabs & a soft look overall, so black has nothing to do with anything else going on in there. In your kitchen it may work. Think about your other finishes and features and the overall affect you are trying to achieve.