Thanks for posting this. Thought I had to mail order heirloom roses, glad to find a local place. Stopped by and the whole family was repotting roses. Got an availability list, what a selection! They also carry beautiful large Daphne odora 'Aureomarginata', just starting to bloom. There is no minimum order.

scargod, Not all local companies specialize in appropriate-to-region, but some do. The best have extensive trial gardens so they actually know how things grow in in our climate. For the Northeast, my favorite is Fedco: honest evaluation ("may not mature in short-season areas"), not the hype of some where everything is "the best". Excellent prices and dedicated to sustainable growing. Great people and service. For detailed growing information, particularly germination, and color pics Stokes and Johnny's. www.stokeseeds.com www.johnnyseeds.com Here is a link that might be useful: Fedco Seeds

Vinyl. Okay, you know what, I am feeling like an idiot. I contacted him several days ago off an ad and just touched base with him today. I was having trouble even remembering which ad was his, since I had answered several ads. I just went back and looked at his original ad, and even though he clearly said "Badger" repeatedly during our phone conversation and email exchange, the ad says Wolverine. No wonder it didn't send up any flags when I saw the ad! The whole conversation I was thinking, "Who the H is 'Badger'?" Too funny. This older gentleman may be a tad forgetful.

Wow, Kelly you have definately been around the block. It is hard for me to put down a full list of my qualifications without including some of my brothers as well. Being as he has been in this business longer than myself. He (my brother) started cleaning pools back in 1986 working for a local company BRB. After high school he continued to clean pools but started his own company and his own routes. Over the next few years after that he ventured into service and repair side. He eventually sold his cleaning company and went to work for a commercial water management company as a service tec. While in commercial pool repair and water management he started building pools for some of the Execs of the company he worked for. Then for some of their clients and so on. From this is where our company started. I came into the picture in 1995 after going into the army and then to college (computer science degree go figure). Since 1995 we have taken a primarily commercial pool service company and created multiple divisions to serve all aspects of the pool industry. From pool residentual pool cleaning to complete nautatorium construction. Over the years we have both become certified or licenced in different areas of the field. I personally am a licenced plumber, a CPO, CPI, Certified diver, Tec II certified and licenced general contractor. He (my brother) has all the same quailifications except he is not a licenced plumber but a licenced electrician instead. We as a company are a warranty station for Raypak, Pentair, Hayward, and Zodiac(Jandy,Polaris ect.) as well. We have found the the more pools we build the more we want to be prepared for the time when this industry is regulated here in Texas. Most of our quaifications were needed to serve the commercial side of our company but you can see how beneficial these are to have on the residential side as well. We are not a high end builder even though we venture into the occasional $500,000 residentual pool. But more of a mid range builder. I drive by companies everyday that have these signs up (Build this pool $17,995). Has anyone heard of the bait and switch con game. This is it in its purest form. Can they build a pool for $18K, yes but you are going to get the worst equiptment, decking that will fall apart within a few years (if it even lasts that long) because there is not rebar in it but in some cases a chicken wire instead or its only 2" thick(yes I have seen this). I have even seen thinwall piping used instead of schedule 40 (I am busting up a deck right now to replace all the plumbing around a pool because of this). How about 1/2" thick flagstone coping(who the builder said this how all builders do it). This is only the beginning. I could go on and on and on. I have no problem with anyone coming into this business and starting a (legitimate) company but I am very, very picky when it comes to the quality that I see in the finished product and I will point out poor quality in material or workmanship whenever I see it done by anyone including my own guys(who all know what its like to rip it out and do it again because I didn't like it). I don't claim to be an expert in anything I mean I think that I just about learn something new everyday in this field. I still take some of my inspiration from other companies builds or designs. Even you Kelly. lol. Love some of your recent designs by the way. This all being said I take this business very serious. Not only is this my career but this is my entire families bread and butter. If I don't succeed then I have to answer to them. Sorry for the rambling on, David