Yeah the Growing Citrus and about another half dozen popular guides, coffee-table style booklets, etc are not in depth enough. I'm ready to order Biology of Citrus. I'm hoping it will answer all my *very specific* technical questions I have been unable to find in research articles ... of course I'm dreaming. At least I'm hoping it will fill the missing knowledge gaps and perhaps identify how citrus DIFFER from other foliage, especially other fruit trees. I'm hoping it's as technical as The Citrus Industry Volumes (of which the first two volumes are now free online at http://lib.ucr.edu/agnic/webber/). Every once in a while I do a search for the whole collection of the Citrus Industry, but it's just so darn expensive.

Rhizo1, last year arounnd fall, I discovered lots and lots of caterpillars on the passionflower vines I'd planted in with the star jasmine. It turned out to be gulf fritillary cats. I let them eat to their hearts content! In fact, I planted several passionflower vines so they might consider our yard a haven . The winter was very cold, and I do not know if any of the larva survived that, but this year I'm watching for more such larva. I like to plant the hosts for different butterflies, such as the milkweed plants that grow here, and I do seem to have many butterflies frequenting the yard. I had a book about butterfly gardening, showing the host plants, and the nectar plants, and I want to make sure before I "do in" a cat that it is not something spectacular. My criteria for a 'nasty' is gypsy moth or cabbage moth or some other veggie eating borer...because we do plant squash and cukes in my DH's veggie garden. You know, I did not realize that GW had a butterfly gardening forum, so I will take a run at that spot too. Thank you for the link to the Butterflies and Moths of N.A. I would not want to be an indiscriminate destroyer of nature. Might as well have plastic plants if I was.

1. Did the workers show up when they said they would be working? If not, did they communicate to the homeowner IN A TIMELY MANNER that their plans had changed? 2. Did the workers clean up after themselves on a daily basis? (could be important if you are going to be living in the house during construction). 3. Did the reference have any disputes with the workers? If so, what was it about and how was it resolved? Did the resolution cost the homeowner additional funds? 4. Was the reference satisfied with the methods of and frequency of communication with the workers? I also agree with trying to see work that was done by these workers. We did a fairly major remodel this time last year and I got an Angie's List membership specifically to check out whether anyone had negative comments. Eliminated a couple of potentials because of what others had said about them. To us, communication is the biggest factor after the work skills. We also stressed to the workers we hired that if there wasn't communication, they would wish they'd never met me - I was the GC on our project. I repeated that quite a few times during the interviewing stage. Good luck with your work.

Some nice greens and gray-greens above above. I think whatever color you choose for siding should be darker than the current white, but not too dark - just of equal visual weight to the brick below. More of a midtone. Light colors come forward, dark colors recede - thats why theres somewhat of a disconnect between upper and lower parts. Getting those more in balance visually will help. Maybe you intuitively know this and thats why you want to paint the brick (white I assume - to balance out the top)? But why take a route that involves expense, frequent maintenance, and if wrong products are used - spalling and deterioration of brick, mold issues. The breathable mineral based stains are indeed a much better option but my opinion - with an antique house (yep, yours is close if it isnt already) at some point the value is in working with what you have instead of making inalterable changes to it merely to follow latest fads. You still have plenty of room for updating color schemes and integrating new or contemporary elements into it in an eclectic kind of way. My opinion - red brick is classic, entire ancient Roman towns were built out of it - used on up through current times. I dont know about your neck of the woods but its still in use here in midwest for new construction - in context of contemporary color schemes. I think the current dislike of it is just a blip. Sorry, i just cannot think of one single reason to change it ..... if that's what you are looking for? If previous owner has already painted or messed with it, maybe....