Wonderful article kaismom, thank you. I loved all but one of the kitchens shown, not bad! The one I didn't like was the dark grey kitchen with the low island. It is such a relief to me not to see all the giant appliances that North Americans demand. The pared back style I really appreciate as well.These kitchens seem lighter, breezier than many I see here. I could see me going thin counter as well, although I admit to loving the thick marbles I see on GW. Interesting to me (as a Canadian) that he grouped Cdn and American kitchen style together. I agree that we have the same kitchen products available to us in North America. That said, at least in TKO homes and design magazines, I do see a difference between the average American and Canadian kitchen. We still love those super large appliances like Americans do (I mean no offence, I have big appliances too, but wish I had the guts to go smaller), but our kitchens do seem a little less ornate and traditional, perhaps a little more willing to dabble into modern and possibly European, design. Maybe I'm wrong, just my impression from GW kitchens and kitchen magazines. I've been meaning to post a thread on house porn - interior design and kitchen design magazines. I've wondered if European design magazines are more available in Canada. There are two Cdn mags I read regularly, plus about 4 European magazines, so I get my European influence through those magazines I guess. Maybe I'll post that thread now - see if I'm missing some awesome magazine out there! House porn is definitely my guilty pleasure (as is the Houzz site!) Thanks again for the article, very interesting!

Houzz does not appear to be against seed trading per se, since the Exchange forums are still here, and they restored the member Exchange Lists. However, some of the features on the old GW which promoted trading were removed during the transition - such as the ability to search through member Exchange Lists. The elimination of the option to message by email, instead of PM, has IMO contributed as well. However, the single greatest factor responsible for the reduction in trading was the mass exodus of many long-time members. Few of those are likely to return (I have pleaded with several offline), and it may take a long time before such a reservoir of expertise can be rebuilt (if ever). "And the same goes for some folks over on the Beans, Peas, and Legumes Forum." As someone who frequents that forum, I can tell you that while trading still occurs, it has been greatly reduced. Most of the trades I have done since Houzz took over have been with the few remaining members (mostly other collectors) who I knew before the transition, or with those who also know me through other venues (such as SSE). New contacts - people whose first contact with me came as a result of searching my Exchange List for something - are virtually non-existent. I used to get trade requests from people outside my circle of friends nearly every week; now I've had maybe 10 in the last year. :-(

People who need to know a particular tree wants to grow over 60 ft. tall where conditions permit are those wanting to plant the same kind where there is room for one about 15 ft. tall. Something that happens a lot, particularly when many appear to think "big tree" = 15 ft. The physical demonstration of genetic programming recorded by those measuring fully developed examples illustrates the inherent character of trees being considered. Doesn't matter if they don't all grow 100 ft. tall everywhere, when even half that would overwhelm the planting site. Or that it might take 50 years for them to get big. It costs thousands of dollars to hire a qualified tree service to remove one big tree in a developed setting, where it can't just be sawed through at the base and allowed to fall where it may. And left to rot. Why ever choose a tree for an inadequate space, when a smaller kind could have been planted instead? Denial that a particular kind does often loom large does not prevent this problem from developing down the road. Plants that burn - or worse - every time there is a sharp winter may not really qualify as landscape staples. Certainly not as the ironclad, fail-proof unchanging purchases probably nearly all non-hobbyists are visualizing at the time they bring landscape plants home and install them. Hence the value of pointing out specific items aren't, in fact totally hardy - as in never damaged by cold. This is why there are hardiness rating systems and hardiness categories like fully hardy, half hardy and so on - people want to know where each plant falls on the spectrum, what to expect.

I still very much like the idea of SMdA. I'm not sure whether I like the idea more than anything, but at least it's something to continue to ponder. I've been intrigued by the thought of going there for quite some time, but DH always wanted to go to a beach in Mexico, so that's not something that was ever on our list. It looks so charming, though, so I'm definitely not discounting it at this point. I completely understand not wanting to return to a place you've already visited numerous times. I'd not particularly care to go back to Chicago, for instance, and I've never really had a desire to see the southernmost cities of the U.S. The problem with an exercise of this magnitude is trying to find a "one size fits all" location, and as has been stated upthread, that's just not a possibility.