It is relatively new, so the jury is still out. When Charmant came out everyone wanted it because of its gorgeous flower. But most became disappointed with it as the plant became tall and gangly. There was immediate interest in Cherry Cheesecake since it seemed to address this problem. However, your report suggests that it may have some issues. Can you describe your location, such as drainage and sun/shade. It is a tetraploid version of Hachmann's Charmant. Hachmann's plants in Germany are usually grafted and aren't known for doing well on their own roots which is the way we usually raise them in the US. Briggs in WA introduced it and I notice that Rarefind Nursery in NJ is selling it. It is a little smaller plant than Mrs. Furnival. It is reported to need at least partial shade, especially afternoon shade. Fertilizer and water can be problems. Liquid chemical fertilizers like Miracid are the worst. Most rhododendrons don't need much fertilizer. If fertilized at all, I recommend using something like HollyTone with organic nitrogen and only once a year at bloom time at half the rate on the package. They should only be watered when they are getting a little dry. Dry is much better than wet.

Carla : I came across the CheeseCake Question; you posted in May, while looking for something and realized I never put in the recipe. I worked on a new one for a few months. It is Fluffy. Thought you might want to give it a try.It is easy to make and has a Great flavor. LOU Fluffy Cheesecake Ingredients: 6 extra large eggs, Separated 1 cup of Vanilla Ice Cream 1 ¼ Cups of Sugar 1 /4 pound of Butter (softened in micro wave and let cool but still soft) 2 packs of Philadelphia Cream Cheese. ( 16 Oz. )At room temp. Sugar ¾ cup for Batter and ½ cup for egg whites 1 tablespoon of Lemon Juice 6 Tablespoons of Orange juice2 teaspoons of Vanilla flavor 2 heaping tablespoons of AP flour Beat the egg whites, until they start to peak. Add the ½ cup of Sugar, A little at a time, at a medium speed for 1 minute. Beat for another 3 minutes, or until they hold stiff peaks. Put aside, until the batter is mixed. In a bowl large enough to hold the batter and beaten egg whites, Add the 6 egg yolks, Cream Cheese, ¾ cup of Sugar, Lemon juice, Orange Juice, Softened butter, Vanilla flavor, Flour and Ice Cream. Beat this for 3 to 4 minutes, until smooth, add Cornstarch and mix on low speed 1 minute. Fold 1/3 of the beaten egg whites into the cake batter, using a rubber spatula. Then fold in the remaining egg whites , very easily but well. Pour this into a 9 x 13 in. SS Pan or your favorite pan, that is oiled and dusted with flour. Or you can use a Graham Cracker crust. Place this Pan into a slightly larger pan, that has about ¾ inches of water. And then place pans into a pre heated 320 degree oven on the middle shelf. Bake for about 50 to 55 minutes or until the top is a Golden tan ( not Dark Tan !!! ) Turn the oven off but leave the cake in, until it cools down. When cooled down, cover the top with Aluminum Foil and refrigerate, for at least 1 hour. You can add a topping of your choice , a Pineapple Sauce, preserves, thickened peach pie filling , etc. Seems to be OK for freezing.

I have a small gourmet baking business on the side; I charge $25 for an 8" NY cheesecake w/ strawberry topping. I charge more for cheesecakes with more expensive ingredients and by the size; for example I am making a 10" fudge swirl cheesecake w/ choc. crust for a friend for her Thanksgiving dessert and charging $38 as I use Ghiradelli choc and it is more expensive.

I guess my perspective is a bit different. Maybe I've been more fortunate in the two GC's we've worked with. The GC for our initial remodel generally took responsibility for the work of any work that he arranged for. We never had a change order because one of the workers made a mistake that needed to be corrected. There was an allowance for cabinet hardware (pulls) and it would have covered a reasonable choice such as the Amerock pulls that we considered. We decided to use the larger Schaub higher end pulls which went over the allowance so we had to pay for that, but the original allowance wasn't out of line with good materials. He generally kept us informed of the plans for work ahead of time. He and his workers did a good job of ensuring that our home and the prior parts of the work were undamaged by work - e.g. putting hardboard down on the wood floors which we weren't replacing to protect them from cabinets and appliances being installed, doorways were masked whenever there was messy work. Before work started, they went through the house and asked us to take pictures down from the other side of walls they would be working on so I felt they were pretty cautious about taking care of our things. I can't recall any damage occurring. Junk or dirt was never left around at the end of each day. They would sweep the floor if necessary, consolidate their equipment into a part of the room we didn't need to walk through, etc. I guess I didn't notice whether they locked up when they left for lunch breaks and we weren't home. My husband is retired and I work from home so generally one of us was there. They had a key and did lock up if we weren't there at the end of the day. They weren't perfect. On the down side, we did from time to time notice something that they were doing that needed correction. We checked progress every day and let the GC or the worker know right away and they would correct it or explain satisfactorily why what was done was correct. Sometimes we would spot a potential problem before the contractor and workers were aware of it. For example, the back side of our island had a row of 12" wide cabinets facing the ends and 12" deep cabinets facing the back. It turns out that the cabinet manufacturer makes 12" deep cabinets a tiny fraction of an inch over 12" and the 12" wide cabinets are spot on so a small shim was needed to even them up. That broke down at the very end over issues with the vent hood. The roof jack they installed was too small for our high CFM hood and we felt that they hadn't mounted the hood securely. They didn't agree that either was a problem so we brought in an appliance installer who agreed with us and changed the roof jack and mounted the hood properly. The GC got in a huff and terminated the contract. All the rest of the work was pretty much done at that point (final inspection was complete) and final less than $2 K payment that we didn't have to make covered our costs for the appliance guy, roof jack, roofing guy and some minor paint touch up. While our spotting things and helping come up with ways to correct them saved them some time and cost, there were clearly times when dealing with such hands on involvement stressed them out.