The curious case of ‘Crépuscule’
Nollie in Spain Zone9
13 days ago
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Melissa Northern Italy zone 8
13 days agoerasmus_gw
13 days agoRelated Discussions
Stubborn to the 'n'th' in the case of a non-bloomer
Comments (4)Thank you for the comments, and I'm still watching the one lone bud that seems to be growing, but very slowly and that could be in response to some very up and down temperatures, so it's not been consistently warm enough for faster growth. I must admit, I'd guess the plant in question had not even flowered for many years after a nearby very large tree put it into heavy shade most of the day, and of course it hadn't been watered or fed in years. Unfortunately as I moved it to a sunnier location, it must also contend with some very thick invasive tree roots where it's now growing , so it seem there's almost nowhere in my entire yard I can avoid those nasty and very overwhelming tree roots these days. I have been very careful with the planting depth etc. so that may not be a problem, but as for dividing the plant in the first place, it's a case of that poor plant being in such a poor state of health , that the youngest rhizomes were very tiny indeed, with the older parts fit only for disgarding, since they were full or holes etc and perhaps long dead, so it was also a case of having to regrow a good strong rhizome once again, with no good divisions possible at the time. Oh well, but I had the time and space wasn't an issue, though something else more immediately rewarding would have been better taking up the space. I'll keep you posted, if indeed the thing does reflower after perhaps over thirty or so years without a bloom! I think in many cases and in general , folks who plan to stay put in one house for many years, and who have young shrubs and trees, fail to take note of the decreasing amount of sun over the years as many of those sun loving plants end up shaded by ever increasing and spreading trees etc. I also have an ancient old peach tree or should I say the sucker from the mother plant, now in complete shade , perhaps thirty or fourty years after it was planted in what then was probably full sun!...See MoreJust curious - who has been at this the longest?
Comments (23)Late to the party but couldn't resist adding my horror story, greatly abbreviated to reduce my stress from reliving this hellish experience. DH & I, retirees on a modest fixed income, sold our longtime house in 7/07 & bought a waterfront shack, intending to build a fairly humble retirement home within 18 or so months. Picked a local experienced waterfront builder who gave us a very affordable informal estimate; had our lot surveyed by JIM HART & ASSOCIATES of KIRKLAND, WA in 9/07, & commissioned the builder's in-house designer to plan our house at a cost of $13,600. Meanwhile, the city was busy putting further restrictions on building, so we had to rush our designer to get the plan submitted in time to avoid the new construction limitations - made the deadline by the skin of our teeth! So happy! Our builder, however, was not being too helpful & procrastinated, & we unfortunately followed his advice longer than we should have done - the upshot was that it took us until 7/09 to finally get our wft building permit - cue dancing in street! The builder then made a formal bid that was over twice what he'd estimated many months previously. We found a better qualified builder at a similar cost & were getting ready to excavate when we were informed by the city that our $13,500 building permit was rescinded because JIM HART's 2007 SURVEY WAS INACCURATE , per alert neighbor's report! Somehow the city overlooked a basic error, despite charging us $135/hr for MANY MONTHS of "expert review." JIM HART's survey incorrectly stated the ordinary high water mark. Our lot is small, & waterfront construction requirements are stringent, so this inaccurate survey meant our house design would not fit on the lot & was now useless, as we'd only be allowed to build a tiny hut if we simply modified the original building permit. We ended up forced to reapply for (& pay again for) a new building permit, get (& pay again for) a new house design, & engage an expensive architect to try to resolve with the city the problems related to JIM HART's INACCURATE SURVEY as expeditiously & inexpensively as possible (MASSIVE FAILURE!!) So now here we sit, in 11/2010, no new building permit YET, the city keeps requiring more info, & we unhappily anticipate our 4th Christmas in a rented storage unit-cum-2 bdrm apt! We thought we could at least recoup some of our expenses from JIM HART, KIRKLAND WA SURVEYOR, but unfortunately, back in the ignorant bliss of 9/07, JIM HART'S contract limited his liability to the cost of the survey only. We have lost over $45,000, EXCLUSIVE of our extended rental costs, lost our hard-won building permit & experienced over 1 year's construction delay solely due to JIM HART's BAD SURVEY! However, we know we are EXTREMELY lucky to have this type of problem - something to engage us in our Golden Years (lucky ol' DH, a former engineer, has even more diversion - he now works as an oncall security guard @ $13/hr on the overnight shift to keep us in dog food!)...See MoreJust Curious
Comments (15)Northeast here . . we have too much of everything! Not a good thing and I tend to over-research. We are DIYing as much as possible but called in a window company to replace/move the window (needed new header) on load bearing wall; cabs and faucet from HD (used their KD to finalize layout - she was a doll!) . . I am shopping around for sink and countertop. Still undecided about u/c lighting and backsplash. Appliances came from various stores (wherever I could get the best deal). Did find the original pine floor (which we are sanding/sealing) underneath tile which needed to be redone as layout changed and tile was discontinued. Found GW to be a great source of accurate information and wonderful design advice! Part of me says next time write one check to one person and let them do everything but I kind have grown to like the journey after being totally overwhelmed in the beginning by all the decisions to be made. Thanks for this post!...See MoreCurious how much an Instant Hot costs to run?
Comments (5)Thanks, I guess my point was more that it would cost less to use in summer, not more, so if you are OK with the cost in the winter, the summer cost probably won't phase you. Since I don't plan to go long without using the IH, I won't have a longer period over which to determine what the minimum cost is of just keeping that water warm if you don't use it much. After this, the cost will go up because it will include the extra electricity required to replace the water used with new heated water. For that reason it will depend a lot on individual use and may not reflect what someone else's cost will be. If anyone is interested, though, I will share that information as well. Wish I had the meter last week when I was making 6 or 8 cups of tea a day. :) I am particularly interested to see how much energy is used in replacing almost an entire tank of hot water like it would if you filled a pot with water to cook pasta. I still think it would be less than the cost of running a stove top for the same length of time, but I don't really know. I will have to see if my interest is maintained enough to play with it and check things like that. It might be fun to remove a cup full of water and check the cost to replace it and then to hook it up to the mw and see what it costs to heat a cup of water that way. Sue...See Morefig_insanity Z7b E TN
13 days agolast modified: 13 days agojerijen
13 days agoNollie in Spain Zone9
12 days agomalcolm_manners
11 days agoNollie in Spain Zone9
11 days ago
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