Good luck! I am also in the N. O. area and this will be my first year with Austins, too. I bought an Abe Darby, Charlotte, and Jude the Obscure. I have them all in pots because I started a "lasagna" bed a couple months ago and it's not ready to plant yet. I will wait until the summer heat is through and the organic material has composted to plant mine out. It is already so terribly hot and humid during the day I can't stand to do anything outside until after 5PM. I don't think brand new roses appreciate being planted directly into the blazing heat. I also have a "Peggy Martin" climber, a Belinda's Dream, and a Cecile Brunner, and I would love to get a an old fashioned Tropicana, or Peace rose because I love the colors. When I bought my potted roses they were most all already covered in blackspot, but a couple consecutive weeks of spraying with Bayer remedied that. I know I will have to spray in this brutally hot and humid climate, but really it only takes a total of 20 minutes twice a month. I'm willing to do it because for no other plant do you get so much excitement out of anticipating the blooms. I have gardened for years but have always ignored the roses because so many people down here have a big prejudice against them. Really, if you aren't going to spray, the hybrid teas that are regularly available will generally look like crap, and that used to be the image "rose" brought to my mind.

Oh, I LOVE hydrangeas! There aren't many that will grow here very well, but I'm planning on researching it out. There is a native Florida one, but it needs tons of shade, and I don't have what I would consider dense shade. I have just one spot under two palm trees that doesn't really get direct sun, only bright light, but I planted a baby antique camellia there. I don't know if I should move it or not, as it looks ecstatically heppy there and is growing like a weed. However, most camellias need some sun in order to bloom well. I may ask the man that propagated it what he thinks. If it'll bloom in that spot, I'm not going to move it. I can't wait to see how your garden evolves. It sounds as though you've got ideas starting to come to life. I'm glad that you are open minded. When I had the mind set that I HAD to grow roses in my shadier spots, I failed miserably. They were not happy or very healthy for long, and that made ME unhappy. Now that I work with the conditions I have, and plant accordingly, gardening is so much more enjoyable. It's opened up a whole new world. The roses that are planted where they belong, instead of where I dictated they go, are absolutely stunning. They are babies, and they are taking off like crazy, with beautiful foliage as well as blooms. I don't spray either. One of my old gardening magazines that I was browsing through today showed a planting of beautiful shrub roses. The text that went with it stated that the roses weren't so lush and beautiful because of the soil. They were that way because of the available sunshine. It'll be fun to see what roses you select for your garden, and the companions to go with them. Sandy

I lived in Massachusetts for my first 10 years then Illinois for the next 15. I came to California 31 years ago. Out of all the places I have lived I would say I like this the best. I like the weather most of the time and there is quite a variety geographically. We have beaches 5 miles away, ancient redwood forests within walking distance, we live in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mts. so have great views of valleys and even the ocean. I can drive to the mountains in a few hours if I want to play in the snow or to the desert if I want heat. I have lived close to the CA coast for 22 years and enjoy the Mediterranean climate. I can garden all year long and have fresh veggies, flowers and fruit. We are north enough to have some seasonal changes, but don't usually get the extremes in heat or cold. Though in the last couple of years I have been noticing some changes in the weather pattern. Everything you could want is close by, great 5 star restaurants, big shopping malls, historical sites; Santa Cruz, San Jose and San Francisco museums, symphonies, theaters. We get lots of big name entertainers. You could go 24/7 for a week and never repeat anything if you wanted. I don't miss the very cold snowy winters or hot humid summers of the East Coast or Midwest. Occasionally I get nostalgic for the Autumn changes that you get in New England. And I miss the fresh clams and fresh picked blueberries. The only other place I would want to live is Hawaii. Clare

Start by looking for general contractors in your area, it's not likely you are going to find one person that goes from plumbing to tile to carpet to hardwood floors plus the associated carpentry work. Get references and go check them out. In your area it shouldn't be hard to get five or six estimates and then narrow it down. Ask for at least three references from each gc and check out all of them.