The thing drives me nuts trying to capture the glow of the color. LMAO! One of these years I'm going to buy a new camera that does reds well. I still have both of my old Nikons, bought a Minolta that doesn't do rose photos well. Deb's Grandma couldn't even remember when it was planted. KP was there in the 70s is the best timeline we could come up with. It was in a photo of the yard circa 1972. It may have been planted in the 60s. I wonder how true the new bushes are compared to yours. Once I find one I'll have to compare what I see to yours. Haven't heard from SueBelle since right after Katrina. She and Eddie got through ok. Eddie works for the power company and was very busy. That was the last I heard from her too. Wanda kept telling me that our unknown (Desi) looked like Summer Dream and I kept saying Desi had been here too long to be SD.... Deb's aunt was talking about it a couple years ago. She bought it in 86. I asked if the name was Summer Dream. She was pretty sure it was. Wish Wanda would wander in here to tell me 'I told you so'. I tried emailing her a few months ago (most likely for her birthday in September) but got my email returned. I'll have to send her a card one day to see if her address is still the same. Good luck with the move! Thanks Dave. Thought you might appreciate this picture. This is an eight pack of rooted Lucille Ball. I have a few more, but they are mixed in with my other rooted cuttings. Not as nice as your monster plant, but I'm well on my way! btw, your plants look great! I've tried to root cuttings but haven't had luck.

Thank you justgotabeme! It is true, we find ourselves in the FRONT of the house quite often! The first evening, we poured cocktails and just sat out front and stared. We are very pleased! CEfreeman-Ohhh, what a long, peaceful country driveway that is! I wouldn't want it to look too "maintained!" Hi Lyfia! I posted quite awhile ago, I was very gung ho on the faux wood grain...as a matter of fact, I wanted to do a faux carriage door look, adding the rustic hardware. Most people were against it...and this was when I was planning on painting my house a dark color. Now that my house is so light, I don't want a big dark expanse that takes up such a huge chunk of the front. If my house were bigger, or the paint darker,I would consider it. I do love that look, just not for this house at this time. birdlover-yes, we are thinking two big black pots on either side of the arch...and maybe on the far side of the garage...with bougainvilla or some flowering vine set on a trellis just a bit off from the house walls so they don't actually grow on the walls! The reason we are thinking black pots is...when you drive to our house, you first see the south side of it...with a row of windows with black awnings over each window. So we feel the big black pots will tie the side and the front together. lukkiriish-thank you, I just love those california spanish homes! Thanks for comparing my home to one of those! Ok, again, I really appreciate every single comment. It has been so much work and money and as much as my hubby and I enjoy it, it is nice to see it be well received here!

I am here to help if anyone needs it or if you'd like to share ideas that would also be great for all of us! thank you and I hope you visit my channel. Check out my channel about my succulent collection and vlog. https://www.youtube.com/user/asulikeit22

@yourchigirl, while I would like nothing more than to rip out the built in pantry, there is ducting and electrical running in the partition wall by the mud room door and electrical in the wall by the stove. I am capable of tearing those out, but it is not in the budget for this project. I could hold off on the entire project and save money to be able to include it in the budget, but then I would want to install a 48" built-in fridge along that wall, which adds another $11K to the project. I have no doubt it would look amazing but that is more project creep than I want to deal with. On another front, I've pretty much convinced myself that an induction cooktop is going to replace the electric cooktop instead of propane. I am still considering the placement of the cooktop along the wall vs. the island. I know the prevailing sentiment by the KD pros here is that a cooktop does not belong on the island and every time I am using it I am conscious of their advice. However, I'm not yet convinced that the way we use the kitchen island and cooktop works for us and the extra time and $$ required to relocate the cooktop is worth it. I would like to focus more on having the right storage for the appropriate tools in the best locations. I am working on defining my task areas based on a couple layouts and will walk through them with the Minister of War and Finance (Wife) when I'm done with them.