This is such a great thread. The stories have been so wonderful to read. GP your great grandmother is such a beautiful, strong woman. That photo is fantastic. I grew up in suburbia on Long Island and my parents had a beautiful yard.....although I never appreciated it. I would have to pull weeds from rocks, which I abhorred, spread manure in the veggie garden (gross), and I was sooooo bored when my mom would drag my twin brother and I as young children to the nurseries where she picked out plants. All I wanted to do as a kid was swim in our pool and play with friends. Fast forward to the building of our first house. I started to really get into gardening. Fortunately, both my mom and my MIL were avid gardeners, along with my sister and my DH's uncle. I had a lot of people to draw info from as well as lots of books. I also happened to move to a town with an amazing nursery where I perused plants. I realized that I really DO like gardening! My mom was shocked. She never thought I would be interested. After gardening for a number of years I asked my parents about the property where we grew up. I thought back and they really did do such a great job with the placement of trees, slate patio, shrubs and the pool. There were also lots of interesting trees and shrubs as opposed to the lollipops and azaleas that were so ubiquitous where we lived. I told my parents that I really admired the entire landscape both for layout and plant material choices and were giving them kudos on how great a job they did. My mom then rather nonchalantly said "oh, we didn't do that.....we purchased the landscape plan with the house plans." WHAT?!?! And here I thought my parents were true garden geniuses! LOL! Well, my parents are garden geniuses and have a gorgeous, natural garden in NC and I've learned so much from them. My mom and I go on garden jaunts all over and it's so much fun to share that with her. My grandfather also had a beautiful, well-kept yard not far from us on LI which I also never appreciated growing up. When he moved down to NC to be closer to my parents in his older years he moved into a little horseshoe of cottages. There wasn't a single potted plant anywhere to be seen. He was in his late eighties when he changed that. He planted roses and vegetables and other shrubs and plants in his little area. Well, it started a trend with everyone who lived in the cottages (all elderly) and they all started getting potted plants, some planted in the ground, etc. Looking back it is so nice to have that memory of grandpa starting a gardening trend in his little community and to see the little horseshoe of cottages transform to a colorful lively place. So, I guess gardening had always been in my genes, it just took until my 20s for the gene to be flipped on. I'm so glad it was!

Fall planting is risky in places where there is a long hard winter. The roses do not have enough time to really settle in and root well before hard freeze comes on. And if there is a few more weeks of warm enough weather they will probably try to leaf out and grow using up all the stored energy in the canes. I think that's why they suggested just burying them for the winter. They will remain dormant and well protected until next spring when they will have a better chance of survival. Enjoy your Mr. Lincoln!

Hi, Cynthia. Coverage amounts seem fine. I'd ask about an endorsement that I put on all my Travelers homeowners policies. In Virginia it's Endorsement 58065 VA - Value Added Package Plus. It may already be on there, but if it's not, it's a valuable addition and is very inexpensive. It includes the Ordinance or Law Coverage as well as other valuable coverages. I prefer the PLUS level of the endorsement, but at a minimum I'd get Endorsement - 58064 VA Value Added Package. The additional cost of the PLUS over the basic VAP endorsement should only be about $30. In addition, the ACE (Additional Coverage Endorsement) is part of every policy I sell. Last change I'd make is the Personal Liability. Even though you have $300,000 limit, that's the minimum I recommend. Raising that to $500,000 is an inexpensive way to better protect yourself and your assets. You may already have all this coverage in your policy. Your agent in Virginia is the one best equipped to answer your questions. I'm not licensed in Virginia so this is not an attempt to offer counsel on your particular policy. I'm just letting you know what I do for my clients in NY. (Legal disclaimer since I cannot sell or advise in the state of Virginia) Best of luck, Cynthia! Kevin

I see my post caused a bit of a stir. First, we live in Canada so the benefits of an LLC are not applicable here. In Canada, we can set up a business as a sole proprietorship, partnership, or incorporation. With both sole and partner, the individual(s) personal income and assets are liable if the business goes south. In incorporating, personal is separate from business. Ultimately, incorporating is most beneficial. However, we decided to go for a partnership and for a couple of reasons. One, we don't foresee making oodles of money in our first year. Secondly, we will invest our own money into the business. And because our income and business are interlinked in a partnership, any moneys we use (income and profits) will help lower our tax (that's the general idea). Our plan is to throw all profits right back into the business. Doing this will show we are actually "losing" money and so the amount of taxes we will pay will be lower. Once enough money is made so that we can let go of our 9-to-5 jobs and focus solely on our business, we will then switch from partnership to incorporation. First thing we did when dreaming up this concept was to secure an accountant and have been following his advice.