The north Jersey swap meet will take place on Sept 7, Sunday, which is tomorrow and begins at 10:30 at the flagpole at the Green. You will have to look up to see the flagpole. In case you miss it, it is directly across from the statue fountain. It is a very small "parkette" so you will have no trouble finding us. I will make a small sign saying GardenWeb. So we can recognize each other, wear a name tag or pin a flower to your collar. There are a number of benches, which we will use to set up our trades. I stopped by the Green today to ensure everything is easy to find. I found a large group of hostas with loads of ripe hosta seeds. Shhhhhh, don't tell anyone. I will be there at 10:30 to greet everyone. We will probably have lunch at noon. We will probably break up after lunch but everyone is welcome to stay and socialize. Feel free to bring plants, seeds, garden sundries, garden books and garden arts and crafts. All friends of GW folks are welcome to come and enjoy the day. The Green is a very pleasant little park. Directions: The Green is located at the juncture of old route 24 (which is sometimes called route 124) and Route 202. It is a little park across from Centure 21 department store and near the Headquarters complex. It is in Morristown. We have 13 people who said they are coming. Come and join us, bring a small dish for a picnic and plenty of plants to trade. See you all tomorrow.

For anyone years later who is looking for the same info: I recently left flooring as a store manager and sales rep. First, understand that NO flooring is scratch-proof. They are scratch-resistant. I know someone else recommended staying away from it in case your basement floods but the truth of the matter is that if it floods and you use your homeowner's insurance (recommended), they will insist on the entire floor being replaced no matter what you have installed. You can choose a commercial grade if you are really worried about the flooring holding up to abuse. They are often glued down. Your installer will probably want to skimcoat the floor or use a leveler. This is good practice. Urethane with ceramic bead and urethane plus with aluminum oxide particles are the strongest choices right now but there are some higher ratings Like AC 5 which is stronger than say a 20 mil wear layer. There are also a few in the 30 mil wear layer range. You will often save money hiring your own installer because stores make money from the cost of installation. Hire your own and have them buy your materials. If they have an established relationship with the store, they will often get a significant discount on your materials. The store I worked for had a 55% profit margin but when they sold to installers/contractors they lowered it to 30-35%. Stores have to make a profit and so do installers. You may save some cash if your installer charges a smaller profit margin. Ask for a Certificate of Insurance on the installer. If their installation is bad or unfinished, their insurance has to cover it. Stores should have a warranty to cover poor workmanship as well. The manufacturer will cover manufacturing defects but not workmanship. Before you hire someone, ask if they do moisture testing and what is their procedure for it. ALWAYS have a moisture test done and documented when they come out to measure. If it is too high they should recommend what to do to get it and keep it at the appropriate level. ALWAYS have it done again before installation. This is the number one thing that causes manufacturers to deny a claim.

Jan, perhaps our "expectations" just weren't realistic. Almost nothing will stop tree roots from invading forever. If I could go back and do it all over again, would I? Yes. The spinout bags bought my hosta time to grow. Without them, they began to grow, then stopped, then declined. Another option is to grow hosta in pots in the ground. I have had a hosta in a pot for 4 years (?) now. Nothing is an easy fix, but the trick (maybe) is to not to have too big of a pot---and if you can turn the pot once or twice a season---much better. But I didn't turn the pot because it was too big and heavy (and I forgot). After a few years, I dug around the pot to find tree roots circling around the outside of the pot and in the pot. I cut the roots going into the pot and removed the roots circling around the pot. This year will be five years in the same pot.

Your floors are gorgeous!!! The other thing to keep in mind is that no matter what color they are now, they are going to change anyway - particularly a brand-new floor. I had a nice white oak installed in a new build about 10 years ago now, and the color they are today is very different from the color when they were installed.