With the corydalis lutea, I'm afraid my seeds won't produce much in my climate. This is what I read about them: Blooming from May through September, Corydalis prefers well drained areas in full to part shade and will naturalize if conditions are met. Suitable for borders, rock, cottage and woodland gardens, this hardy perennial is intolerant of hot and humid summer conditions, and wet soil in winter that does not drain well. Hardy in zones 5-7 and reaches around 16 inches in height and will spread around 12 inches wide. Chances are not good for this beauty, since the prime characteristic of our climate is hot humid summers and wet winters. Well, all I can do is put them in the ground and hope for the best. Meanwhile, I have these columbines/aquilegia PLANTS, as well as seed (which are no problem), and I don't know quite where to put them now. Pot them up? They are in very small maybe 4 inch nursery pots squares, and look good, but of course not flowering. I like their looks, do not want to kill them just yet. :) Must download some photos taken this morning early. See you folks later.

Doug - the trends you talk about in terms of decreasing buying power, shrinking middle class, etc are real and truly disconcerting. The slightly paranoid side of me made sure I purchased a home that could, if needed, be a mini homestead (enough space and the right light exposure to grow veggies and raise chickens). It's simplistic, because if the economy really does fall completely apart I can't farm my way to prosperity on a mortgaged piece of land. In my local market inventory is tight for homes at or slightly below the median because the available homes have some perceived flaw (too close to the highway, schoolyard, train tracks, busy road, other houses). Or they need significant work. Homes in good condition and good locations are quickly purchased if the price is fair. People are justifiably SO afraid of a house losing value that they are unwilling to purchase something with a flaw because they fear being unable to sell in the future. It actually makes sense, but it makes it almost impossible to sell property that is flawed - even for fire sale prices. There is excess inventory at the high end, homes in the top quartile are very slow to move and people aren't listing unless they absolutely have to. This is one reason that we decided to remodel earlier this year instead of move (it was a big remodel, moving could have been less if what we wanted was available).. Now, back to this issue of potential buyers being leery of homes with flaws ... I think that is what is holding back the sale of this house. There are probably buyers who look at it and, when they see the HOA issues, think to themselves, "Gee, even if the HOA issues are fixed, how long will this taint the value of the home? How many years until the stigma falls away? What if I had to sell in that time?" Buyers can't commit to this house on a long term basis because everything about this economy feels SO unstable right now. Is there a shortage of rental property (SFH) in your area? Because that was the other thing we looked at when we bought. I would have preferred to rent but we have a dog and SFH rentals are almost impossible to find in our area for under $3k/mo. With taxes and insurance, our 15 yr mortgage is under $2500/mo ... So, worst case we could rent this place if we had to move out and we would likely cover the mortgage with the rent (or come close to it). I wonder if renting is an option for the OP? I know it's an expensive home, but still ... It may be an option, unless the HOA forbids it.

Here's some advice I have for you that will go a long way without costing too much money. First off, you need a new photographer. Those were horrible photos with unnecessary lens glare. My second biggest piece of advice is to lighten up and neutralize the wall colors, declutter and store a lot of your furniture. People are looking for light, airy, open and spacious. They want rooms to feel light-filled and to have lots of open space. When we got our house ready to sell we put a lot of stuff including extraneous furniture in storage and painted some of the rooms light, neutral colors. Those things made a lot of difference in updating our home. Front exterior: trim back the shrubs so that you see the porch railing and windows. They are also blocking the front walkway. You have a classic style house with lots of curb appeal but the massive shrubs will make it look dark and forbidding when they aren't blooming. You want people to see the front door and the inviting front porch from the street and right now your biggest asset is blocked. Green living room: I would paint the dark green living room and stairwell a light neutral color since the green doesn't photograph well and makes the room cave-like. I would also remove the giant chair next to the fireplace. It blocks the focal point and makes the room look too small. I would also remove the rug so you can better showcase your lovely hardwoods. Kitchen: I would also paint the kitchen, declutter the counters including removing the coffee cups and remove the valance. If you can't afford to redo the kitchen I would at least paint the bottom front of the peninsula the adjoining wall color to help it recede into the background. If the kitchen table is in good shape I would remove the tablecloth, candle, and placemats. Put a low bowl of fresh fruit on top. The ideal would be replacing the kitchen cabinet doors but even painting the cabinet boxes white would help update the the kitchen. Next I would declutter the buffet in the breakfast nook and remove the wreath. Pull back the curtains and open the blinds. The wall color is dark so the more you can do to make the rooms light filled the better. Dining room: remove the rug so that the buyers can see that you have pristine hardwoods. It will also make the room feel bigger. Living room: remove some of the chests. Having that many of them in the room is making it feel small and crowded. I would also remove the recliner if possible. The more open it feels the bigger the space will feel. Orange bathroom: paint the walls a light neutral color. If the floral trim is wallpaper, remove it. Paint the bathroom trim a glossy white. Master bedroom: Replace the curtains with neutral sheers. The ideal would be to remove the blue carpet but I know that's probably out of budget. If you have a neutral rug that's much larger than the bed float the bed on top of it to neutralize the blue carpet. I would also get an inexpensive bed in a bag that's a neutral color to replace your bedding. Your goal is to make the blue carpet less over whelming. Purple bath: I agree with everyone that the stairs have to go. You also need to paint the walls a neutral color. Hallway: either remove the bookshelves or pack up 50% of the books and most of the decorative items on top. When people see stuffed bookshelves and full surfaces they think the house doesn't have enough storage. I know the list looks overwhelming but these are all things you can do yourself without hiring someone.

I haven't watched much broadcast TV in a long time. Other than the reality-DIY channels (Animal Planet, NatGeo, HGTV, Food Network, etc.) nothing produced interests me. I rarely even watch local or national news anymore as it is always gloom and doom I can do without. I have been subscribed to several streaming services for a number of years and I watch them almost exclusively. The monthly fees are negligible IMO, and since other forms of entertainment are now harder to come by or more difficult to access (movies, concerts, the few sporting events I would consider attending) and far more expensive anyway, that is not a burden. A minor investment in my single person happiness :-) I get regular email updates for all my streaming services that keep me apprised of new shows and all have 'watch lists' where I can bookmark any shows I might be interested in watching. And most are searchable as well. One thing I really like about streaming is the ability to see (usually) an entire series at one time....or at least a full season. Having wait for weekly installments on regular TV has become an irritation and I often forget the details of what I saw the week before. Or longer with some shows. I prefer to binge!! 🥴