I did send them an Email verses the poor condition of the plants the first day that I received them. I also read their return policy; which includes a 1 year warranty. And, I saved the shipping boxes because that is a requirement of being able to return the plants. I will take pictures. I never mail anything back for return without requiring a refund on the postage. I just hope they live, because they are beautiful trees, my favorite when it comes to pines. The Double Fuchsia is a pretty house plant also. I will nurse them and hope that they live. The prices were so good I could not resist. BUTT, I will NOT be ordering anything from them again. The whole "forced into dormancy" thang bothers me anyway..It just seems abusive to the plant, unnatural. Truly I do not consider myself an experienced gardener. I know a lot more then I did 5 years ago and I do know how to save a plant when nothing is alive except the roots. It takes a lot to kill a pine tree.. Thanks for your help....I will let you know if the plants survive..

DC, A major problem that I see. The cutworms that I know are already in the soil and climb up and encircle the stem at the soil line and gnaw off that stem and you almost never see the worms unless after the deed is done you might be digging around in the soil. You wouldn't want to sprinkle the soil, or drench it, with Sevin, I wouldn't think, and I can'see putting BT (Thuricide) in the soil either. A foolproof way to stop cutworm damage is to stick a plastic soda straw or sturdy twig right next to the stem of those young plants that have weak stems, since the cutworms won't attack plants with strong stems. Since the worm has to coil up around the stem prior to gnawing, using a physical barrier prevents that. Cut worm collars simply do not work since the worms can crawl up inside the collars. Now I know that there are several different kinds of cutworms, and those that do go up the stems and eat the foliage can be found in the south, but at least here in the NE we have only the kind that gnaw off at the soil line, so that's why I wanted to share what I'm sharing. if you see them up high in the foliage,as might be the case in some areas of the south, it seems to me that they could be picked off and stomped on, just as one would do with hornworms. In any case one could use a contact something or other for those types, but not the ones that are primarily soil dwellers and seem to work overnight while we caretakers are asleep. ( smile) Carolyn

If your husband is completely against the idea, there are more attractive opaque glass options than the old fashioned "frosted" glass. You can google for examples. I have also seen just a swath of opaque design which masks the "private" body areas :-) However, I think frosted glass is a poor choice since it completely hides any design you've installed in the shower and also closes off the space visually. I don't know any modern remodeled shower that doesn't strive for the ideal of an attractive shower with a frameless glass enclosure. Hell some people are so fixated on it that they upgrade to super clear glass so that there is no distortion of the color of the tile work. I really associate frosted glass with old builder grade tub/shower types of tubs where there is an acrylic wall in lieu of tile - or the functional equivalent with a prefab acrylic shower with prefab walls. I have never seen it in a modern home where someone has spent money to actually tile the shower :-). In older homes with attractive tiles there was generally a shower curtain so the interplay between the curtain and the tiles typically provided visual interest. A shower curtain kept closed all the time would be typically used if the shower wasn't attractive - i.e. to hide it.

richard, "Higher humidity in the mountains" is far from true in the arid West. where summertime air is usually quite dry. The Rockies, the Sierra Nevada, and other similar mountain ranges normally have dry air (humidity wise) when it's hot. as for "once the temp reaches the 'dew point' you have precipitation." I think yes and no. Precipitation used colloquially is used to describe rain and snow. While theoretically condensation of water vapor from heavily laden air is a type of precipitation, people (at least in my area) don't typically call it such. Stretches of the California coast have foggy mornings at times in the summertime and people tend to call it dampness or condensation or dew from the fog rather than precipitation. Sometimes, light drizzle from the fog, but not the word precipitation itself, people understand it's from the ground-hugging fog and not overhead clouds. When it warms up (and relative humidity drops to clear the fog) , there are usually blue skies overhead. Usage may vary.