I've never tried English Thornless, but, Micheal, the owner of Edible mentioned to me that it was very sweet and one of his favorites and that he'd been growing it for over 30 years (might have the Heritage longevity/disease resistance that Harvestman praises). I've been meaning to give it a try. I'm sure he'd be more than happy to talk with you about it. I second Glenn's top 3 above. Although not as flavorful as those 3 to my taste, Kiwi Gold also has good flavor, is vigorous, and has proven to be very reliable (over 6 seasons) by being both disease and heat resistant. Also, my experience with Autumn Britten after about 3 seasons has been that it isn't nearly as tasty or vigorous as Caroline and Prelude. The berries are large and pretty, but don't taste like much (at least as grown in loamy red clay with VA heat). I've read some decent reviews of it, so maybe in cooler climates and/or lighter soil it tastes better. As far as placing orders, you could buy some large potted plants (a few Carolines and maybe an English Thornless and an Kiwi Gold both of which are hard to find) from Edible now so that the fallbearers that would bear you a few handfuls this fall and would probably give you a head start next year, then buy a bunch of bareroots (Preludes, Annes, and more Carolines) from Nourse in the spring to supplement your potted plants.

LOVE the idea of painting it light blue (check out BM polar ice #1660) was just looking at this color for a dresser I'm redoing. I got the inspiration from a pic another GW-er sent me, isnt this color divine, and I know these would look fab this way too. I'm going today to get this paint. Patty, can you tell me more about the best way to do the stain/antique technique, is it just a brush on and wipe off method that would work best?

I commented on this thread a while back when I was trying to decide between the silgranite white or a darker color. I really wanted white because I thought it'd be prettier but I was afraid of the potential staining problems. Well I went for it and got the silgranite super single sink in white from home depot online. Even though the pictures don't show it, I bought the matching grate as well. I think the grate is a good investment as it protects both the sink and your dishes if you happen to drop them. It's been about 7 months now and I'm still so happy with my choice. I haven't had any problems with staining. I am careful with it as I would be with any item that cost me $300+ but I don't feel it's extreme. I always rinse out the sink after I use it and do at least a weekly clean with a liquid soft scrub unless I've done a lot of cooking. I have a bunch of microfiber cloths I got from Amazon that I use to wipe off any water spray on the counters' edge by the sink. I am meticulous about this because I have very hard water. Overall I love this sink. It's functional and beautiful.

Casey, I'm wondering if these chairs would have a better chance being sold on their own or with the bistro like table that I bought them with. I have this posted on the decorating forum, to get ideas of how to redo the set. From a furniture point of view, (someone did mention that even during the period these chairs were around, that they might have been found painted black) and painting them black is what I'm contemplating. The base of the table is iron, and I'd give it a freshen up with black, and I'd paint the table top red and reseal it with poly. here's the set