Just an update. Looks like those 'concerned' plants aren't doing so well. They have started to wilt and develop brown spots and holes in the leaves. I'm going to let them go on their own until they fully die but I'm not holding on to hope. Ah well, 3 out of one still pretty good and at least one more seems to have a chance to grow a new leaf but its not doing well, it's developing holes in the existing leaf. Already gave one of the 3 healthy plants away to my co-worker. Another will go in my office. I replanted those 2 again because I think the pots were just too small, but I didn't re-do the soil for fear of shocking them again. I pulled out the plant retaining as much of the soil ball as I could and added more to it in the bigger pot on the bottom and sides. They seemed to not care and are still going strong. Going to do the third one that way too. I've found the self watering pot my coworker wanted to use actually useful, but not the way they were intended. I can flush from the top without directly draining and then pour off the excess out of the watering funnel. If given the option between the normal attached saucer or the self watering saucer, this is better. Though I still like the idea of draining into the saucer of stones. I may do that one yet. Aside from the Peace Lily, I've been taking advantage of this new experience. Replanted a rather healthy but root bound poinsettia in the second batch of soil I made with the 1/2" screen. This batch turned out much better, a lot less fine that the first, still a lot of sapwood though. I mixed this batch with the 5:1:1 ratio. My seedlings are doing well, currently they are in a store bought seedling soil in a tray. Can't wait to get them in the window boxes, but they have a month or so before that happens. I have Unwin's Dwarf, Columbine, English Daisy, Alyssum (purple and white), Bachelor Button, Coleus, and a white and purple "bluebonnet looking" dwarf plant I can't remember the name of. I just wish I'd started them in January, another week and we will be beyond the last possible freeze for my area... unless we have a weird April again. Even still, it's balcony gardening. I can always bring it inside.

You would hope so, mzstitch, but this is a chronic situation, complained about for years, across the country. It's also identical to what I have observed from lower priced, mass producers of nursery stock here in this area for the past thirty-plus years. When stock is produced at a price point, to be sold in mass at a cheap price, care in identification is one of the first things to go. I've posted about this a number of times, in many other threads before. There have been questions about whether a rose picked up at a big box store really was Fragrant Cloud or not, as it had no scent. Usually, they're not as Fragrant Cloud isn't as easily produced as Gypsy is and Gypsy doesn't smell compared to Fragrant Cloud. These producers are under tremendous pressure to pump out a reliable product. Those roses which pose production issues are frequently replaced with similar varieties which are easier to produce. For a nursery such as Week's, for a rose to be "commercial", it must result in a minimum of 60% Grade 1 plants using whatever the preferred method of production is. This was stated by Tom Carruth who used to be the breeder for Week's. For a mass producer of lower priced stock, this percentage must be higher as they don't have the "luxury" of selling their best plants for higher prices to mail order customers or higher end nurseries. Their product is available to mass merchants, in bulk, at mass quantity discounts. It must be something easily produced in quantity, easily pushed in to bud and bloom in whatever size container required for the price by the retailer, and provided at as low a cost as possible to keep the retail price "cheap". In those "selections", you often find Paradise substituted for Sterling Silver; Gypsy instead of Fragrant Cloud; a number of red HTs all labeled Mr. Lincoln; Queen Elizabeth as QE and several other pink HTs; an so forth. Whatever is easiest and cheapest to grow to the price point is labeled as the more commercial name. Care in identification is often non existent. Yes, you can find some identified correctly, but as this (and many other) thread demonstrates, mis identification is common and there is usually no one available to educate you any differently. Kim

Lol, Kate you and I are in similar situations, except with me it's different blooms but! the exact same plant. The only Multiple of the same thing is my Beloved Little Eluane, the Black & White Border Collie. I still think she is the prettiest thing in my Garden, lol! I can take her at all angles any day, haha! She got to model my Cornelia rose bush several times over (5 times to be exact) at different peaks of its flush as comparison photos. I can see why you just adore her colors Kate. Miss Mary also has a real good idea about having it a container rose instead. I'm growing big, vigorous Frederic Mistral in a pot, and the poor rose is none too happy at this point. He needs to trade living quarters with your Love & Peace, lol!

It's still a side splash, which I typically wouldn't tile, even though there's a cab over it. But you have a sink nearby. The granite looks tight to the wall, so I think caulk and a washable paint is enough protection from occasional splashing. If you leave standing water from draining dishes, I'd tile, but I doubt you do that with white granite. You could tile it the height of the raised bar, which I think is what you intend with your finger placement. But that leaves a small area of wall between the tile and cabinet, which would look like you ran out of tile if it were done on a row of cabinets. So you could do just two rows of tile. I would bring it to the end of the counter in that case, but normally I'd say stop at the upper cabinet. Tape some up and let's see what looks best.