I should also mention Martin Frobisher, which decided to bloom this year after some little discussion about shovels and prime real estate. It is just pretty enough to keep around another year, a nice soft pink, which does not self clean. And is a sparse bush about 3' tall. Meanwhile other hybrid rugosas, planted at the same time or even a year later, Germania, Rose de la Hay, Ritausma, have grown above my head and are covered with blooms.

Eragrostis spectabilis. Not a grass with particularly handsome foliage, its inflorescenses form a celestial purple haze that hovers over the plants AugustÂSeptember. Sandy, warm soil in full sun. About 14" tall when in flower, when it is most attractive and a good companion to plants with blue/blue-gray foliage, such as Lavender or blue Oat Grass (Helictotrichon), or with yellow Tickseed (Coreopsis). Grow in groups or drifts, not as a specimen. Fine in beds or naturalized settings.

Hi tinker! First I'll chime in with everyone else: do keep looking, but only up to a point. As edlakin wrote, it's really hard to compare anything to an idealized something else (I'm grossly paraphrasing). Your old kitchen and its granite can achieve (unfair) mythic status, kind of like what we do when thinking about old loves when our current love is ticking us off! You have the loveliest taste, tinker, and I know this from seeing those beautiful furnishings and textiles over on the Decorating forum. I do want to suggest that your previous granite was on top of painted cabinets (beautiful kitchen!), whereas in your new home it will be the cherry cabinets which will be supporting the granite. I'm having a hard time phrasing it the way I want, but basically your old "ideal" granite might not be so ideal in your new setting, on top of cherry (not painted) cabinets. Does that make sense? Your new granite might end up giving you the same pleasure as your old because it will now be in a completely different environment, with the different finishes complimenting the granite in ways you couldn't have imagined. This new granite might not have looked wonderful on your painted cabinets, but it might look amazing on the cherry. I'm so glad brody_miasmom shared the pictures of her beautiful kitchen so we all could see the granite with wood cabinets. I know your cabinetry (wood / door style) will be different, but it really showed how lovely that granite is with wood. What are you thinking for your backsplash and wall color? Good luck and please let us know what else you find!

Beautiful!