Thanks, Marie. I can't get out much now, but I can search the web. This was a matter of exigency because I don't stake unless there is no other way. I have a bunch of hoop stakes but didn't want to use them on this. I don't have anything natural that is strong enough to hold anything but small plants that don't need to be staked. I also have a green heavy nylon twine, but I didn't want it to cut into the stems and bruise them. I've got regular old twine. If I hadn't been using the rebar I have, I would use that because it wouldn't show as much. Over on the antique rose forum, we use a lot of rebar. The roses soon hide it, and I asked my son to pick me up two 5' sections so I can tie a huge rose back (use my dk nylon loosely for that) so it doesn't hang over the sidewalk. I love bamboo, and you can buy long sections here, but it's expensive if you want a lot. I wanted to use raffia and make things for the garden with it. What I really want to do is make some small fence or trellis out of some of my white birch branches I've been saving, but I don't have a good plan in my head. That twig furniture, maybe somebody on Freecycle would give me some branches for more aesthetic staking that I can tie with raffia. I have some of my own books about that but nothing about stakes in particular. I'll check around the web. Thanks for taking the time to respond. I'm still cutting it back after it blooms and think it will still lean. I'll look for some of the things you mentioned. It looks awful, I know that, but landscape tape is gentle. I could have tied it in smaller sections, but wanted it done and over with. I'm more concerned about saving the blooms than how it looks I'll split the part near the sidewalk off, and get more plants out of it and put that somewhere else or give it away. It just spread too much closer to the sidewalk and it's supposed to be at the back of the border. The gypsophilia probably won't come back next year. At this point, I'm more concerned with how to pinch out those plants right so maybe I won't have to stake them. I do know when and how to pinch back my phlox. Heck I could have used a couple tomato cages further back, then try to less obtrusively tie the ones in front to that, a few in a bunch. Never thought of it.

Cynthia, Congrats on the harvest. To me, the body looks more like the shape of the Imported Cabbage Worm. It's hard to tell though. When you look at it up close, if it looks sort of velvety or hairy, it likely is an ICW. If it isn't velvety or hairy and instead is more smooth, it likely if a cabbage looper. A quick way to know is to watch its movement. If it is a cabbage looper, it will make the characteristic looping movement, sort of like the way an inch worm moves. Loopers move like this because their midsection lacks legs. Imported cabbage worms move like a common caterpillar does. If you are seeing the larvae, you undoubtedly have the moths around. I've been seeing the ugly brown moths of the cabbage looper for about a month, but haven't had much damage on any of the plants yer. I've been seeing the Cabbage White butterflies, whose larvae are the Imported Cabbage Worms, for a couple of weeks now. Also haven't seen any damage to the plants yet. I expect the wild birds we fed all winter are in the garden every morning eating caterpillars, which is okay with me. Also, I keep a yellow cat litter bucket filled with alfalfa tea or molasses tea near the cole crops and a lot of the cabbage looper moths seem to drown in it. What a tragedy that is. Our kale, cabbage, broccoli and chard are doing great, but the heat may get them earlier than we'd like. It was 88 degrees here today and all the leafy crops, including the lettuce, staged a protest, went on strike, and demanded cooler weather....which they will get (especially at night) in a couple of days. The peas didn't seem to mind the heat---they bloomed today after looking stalled for ages. I'm starting to think our cool-season crops had better hurry up. They're running out of cool weather. Dawn

I prefer to see TV. Usually if I'm in the kitchen, I'm cooking, and I enjoy hearing/seeing the TV while I cook or clean up. Our kitchen and great room form one long corridor separated by a 14' arched doorway. If you put your arms out to your side, and pointed one hand at the cooktop, the other hand would be pointed directly at the fireplace 60 feet away. And I don't want a tv in the kitchen... ...but I like to watch TV while I'm cooking, not watch an unused fireplace (largely...). BUT - I am not a fan of wall-mount TVs. Our solution will be (we move in this week) to place the TV on a corner stand between the fireplace and wall. The fireplace wall will house some artwork I love... so I'll always have something enjoyable to look at. And the TV will be clearly visible without having to be mounted over the mantel.

thanks, cawaps. And you're right - I just re-read the thread and it did get a few votes! Deciding on a chandelier took so long and I appreciate all the feedback and thoughts I got here. Annie Deighnaugh ...Would you mind sharing how you are lighting that soffitt? Not sure if you are still looking for cove lighting, but we used Alloy Led tape lights that are housed in a light diffusing track. We looked at a lot of options, and this seemed to be the best and most affordable option. It wasn't inexpensive, but some of the cove lights our designer and architect recommended were quite expensive, and we needed a lot of lighting as the light soffitt runs all through the house. We also used them as under counter lights. There are some options that changed colors, but decided to go with just the warm white.