I can't bring up the picture. Decribe you plant the best as you can in detail. Paint me a picture with words. How many leaves, are they pointed, are you able to see through the tips, how big, most are all green, any hairs on them? Any thing else that may be of interest. Do they look like tongues, or star fish, small rosettes, pointed stars, spots on the tongues, I think then the group will jump in and tell you what you have, at least the species, not its variety, form, hybrid? I collect both of these species. Norma

Ron, Thanks for sharing this. I live in Texas and I had no idea that this amazing artwork existed. have you read "Issac's Storm"? It is a very interesting account of the 1900 storm.

I hope you do keep your uppers. They are so charming! When I first saw my gooseneck faucet and my Shaws farmhouse sink together, I was concerned about the height. It measures 16 inches up from the counter. That is pretty far. Yours as a wall-mounted faucet might be even higher. One minor complaint that I have - -the height of the faucet does seem to make water splash more because of the long drop. It is a long way for the water to travel from the faucet tip to the bottom of the deep Shaws apron sink. I am getting used to it - - and adjusting my habits as I like to keep the counters dry. The splash factor, though, is definitely more of an issue than in my old sink. Love the Shaws fireclay sink by Rohl. Installation of the sink needs to be thought out. We had problems with the frameless cabinet box and the edge banding that does not match from Wood-Mode. Brookhaven frameless would also have the same problem from what I have been told. I would imagine you are going to have more or less period cabinetry with framed cabinets. That will be nice. I have begun to realize that framed boxes are probably better for Shaws sinks, but, as I am no expert, I can't be sure. Our installation of the Shaws has been problematic. We just finished reinforcing the sink base today. The sink drains slowly. We think we might have a solution to that now. We shall see later this month. Has to do with the plumbing of the garbage disposal. We had problems with the Shaws sink and the air gap - the air gap drains on the counter. Are you in a place where an air gap is required for dishwasher installations? If you can get away with a high loop, that would be better. No ugly air gap, fewer air gap problems perhaps. We have a separate sprayer in the sink. Very handy, but probably not what you'll want for a period kitchen. Clean up of the sink is faster with the sprayer, and our little dog loves his baths with the sprayer. We put in a second faucet for RO (reverse osmosis) water. The second faucet looks like an afterthought. Wish we could have had better design work on this. Overall, I originally thought the faucet was too tall. When I stand back and look, a tall faucet seems to work good with the exposed apron of the Shaws sink. Hope that helps a little.

Glad you enjoyed the link. Yes, it will definitely need to be scaled down, but the pictures give you a sense of what types of plantings you'll need. To widen your sidewalk... Imagine you are standing in the driveway looking at the sidewalk. Now, step 4 feet to the right and mark a point. From that point at the edge of the drive, connect it to the corner of the sidewalk (patio). It should make a triangle. Now, just make a little curve to the line, either in or out, whatever you like, pave it in the same stone as your other area, and now you have an "entry court" instead of just a sidewalk. I'm imagining the entire paved area as one big space. You could even move some of the shrubs from in front of the windows to enclose your little courtyard, or an outline of lavender would look really great too. Then you could plant some creeping fig on the garage wall behind the bench and put up a little wall fountain which will eventually be surrounded by the plants. Or put 3-5 big pots with Italian cypress or other tall narrow shrub along the wall. Certainly save the crepe myrtle, It would look fine on the L of the drive. The other thing to think of is what you are going to be using your front yard for, if anything? Do you need the grass for play, do you want a strolling garden? You mentioned a nice entry and some privacy, is the side road busy? Do you need a big hedge on that side, or just something to add interest and make the house seem less exposed? ANother thought- put an oversized lantern on either side of your garage (mediterranean style, of course!)