This is an excellent question. I'll start by saying that most of us in the landscape design industry tend to see things only from our own perspectives and our own limited experiences, so you are likely going to get responses that tell you that these people to this and those people do that. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending how you look at it, in any profession (landscape design, landscape architecture, design/build, landscape contractors, landscape maintenanace, ...) there is no standard operating procedure. It is as diverse as the people who make up each component of the industry. That good news is that there is someone out there that will do exactly what you want both in terms of procedure and product. The bad news is that it might take a lot of hunting and leg work to find someone that fits. The key thing is not to get too locked down with the idea that you need only to look for someone who has the title of one of these. The truth is that this type of work is done both well and poorly by some folks in each of the described categories. You should strive for someone (or entity) that typically does what it is you are asking for (product and procedure) rather that someone who is reaching up to it or someone reaching down to it. You want your project to be typical. That means they are competent and capable and you are just as important as the next client. You might find that many LA offices might view your job as less important by comparison to others that they typically do. Although they may be great at what they do, chances are that your project is not really what they do, so that would not make them great for you. You might find an LA that typically does little projects that are not as grand as yours. That would not be good either. If you look hard enough (or just get lucky) you might find an LA that does exactly what you are asking for. Now you can substitute either "design/build" or "landscape designer" for LA in everything I just described and it is equally true. However, people exist under these titles in greater numbers giving you a larger pool to fish in. The biggest pool is the design/build contractor. S/He is often the best value because the goal is not to make a living on designing, but to use design in order to get work. This means that it will often cost less for the design and that the design process can be much more straight forward and direct since they would rather get to the point of building than racking up design hours. The project is designed to work the strengths and profitability of that company which is great if you are familiar with their work and you trust in their "brand". However, your goals might diverge from theirs a bit. The independent designer should be working for you rather than toward the goals of contractors. One problem here is that it is very difficult to know how capable the designer is at making a plan that does not leave too many variables to bidding contractors. A designer is simply someone who designs. Some have great and diverse experience both artistically, technically, graphically, and from a managerial angle. But some are people who just thought it would be cool to do landscape design. So, you really have to do your homework. My opinion is that your best bet in terms of efficiency in finding someone is to search out landscape projects in your area that are very appealing to you on similar priced homes and find out who did the work (local, capability equals your taste, probably a similar budget). People are pretty easy to talk to if you see someone outside and complement their landscape. They'll talk (probably crediting themselves for the ideas). Gush on them and find out who built it. Chances are that it will be a design/build firm simply because there are more of them. I hope this helps. Don't rule out any of them based on title. There are great capabilities in all of these. I'm an LA, by the way.

Good numbers. OK, the "thing" what "pops up" is known correctly as the Starter Drive Gear Assembly. Starter Drive will suffice. It is nearly universally accepted to refer to this component as the "Bendix". The "rubbing noise" you hear is the combined sounds of the starter armature "growling" because it is stalled, and the slow motion sounds of compression changes (which normally happen so fast you can't pick them out) in the cylinders. And remember....it did not go kaput "all of a sudden", it gradually became reluctant to start. It has only just now crossed the line from "reluctant to crank" to "I will not crank no matter how much profanity you heap on me". If the weather has turned cooler in your area over the past few weeks, that is likely why it SEEMS as if the problem "just occurred". Cooler temps will further reduce critical valve clearance to the point that the "compression release feature" of the engine cannot automatically lower combustion chamber pressures during the cranking phase of starting the engine. Get Walt's instructions, study them carefully, and decide if you want to adjust them yourself, or if you feel like "farming it out" to a shop. Good luck.

I am soon to be a grandmother. Two siblings are being adopted from another country. The kids are just beautiful. We have been trying to adopt for 2.5 yrs now. My grandkids will NOT be bullies. If they are later, I will come back from ***** and whip them into shape. I'll teach them to garden, but someone else will have to teach them to cook. Sigh Good luck to all you gardeners. My purchased plants just came in. Lots of peanuts to get rid of. I have tons of delphiniums - mostly blue. I put down compost everywhere in the regular garden - terraced on a hill. I am also doing food in containers and have 4 tomatoes - different colors - no idea what I am doing yet on these - just guessed what to get. I am doing peas, beans, squash, cucumbers, peppers, spinach, lettuce, basil, etc. A regular truck farm. ;) My redo on winter sowing is doing great and some of the earlier sprouts were not killed by the late freezes. I think I am doing great - will see if that true blue larkspur blooms too. Cannot wait. My grandkids may get here before the season is over. If not, the garden will tie me over til then. Good grief I have no patience. My quit smoking and this waiting could have killed off that nasty old man - he should be grateful. I still feel like going over and doing something. My daughter is afraid I will yet. I guess you can see my tolerance is low. Maybe get more tums? I used to live on them. Cannot believe I am not an alcoholic. Sorry to ramble. And, I am still fighting the rodents, using repellant and wire mesh. That old man should be grateful he can still walk. Enough. Carol

thanks everyone. the BM Saybrook sage is not as similar to RH Silver Sage as the name might imply. the saybrook sage is more saturated than RH silversage, and it's more green than the silver sage. (i have a BM fan deck, and the RH silver sage is committed to memories like the back of my eyelids) hehe on the bottom of the stairs we screwed the gate into the 2x4 and tied the 2x4 to the railing with cable ties. on the other wall we screwed into the white trim because it's easy to patch up white trim. it's not as easy to patch natural oak. :) as for not having trim... i had a couple instances where one paint directly met another. it was the blue and the silver sage. you can kind of see one joint in the corner by the back door on picture 3. as long as you do a really clean job and pick colors that complement each other i think it looks fine! RH Silver Sage: BM Saybrook Sage: for what it's worth, in the RH silver sage collection, the "Pale Silver" is also really nice - it's a barely there version of the silver sage. we had that in our master bath.