Thanks for the suggestions, Trini and Deanna. I love plumbago, but the small plant I put in the ground in November died back to the ground during the freezes in December/January. Not sure if a well established one would fare any better when it's below freezing. Ditto for Clerodendron ugandense. I don't have one but Floridata says it dies back to the ground after freezing temps also, so there would be no screen for much of the winter. I have a few ligustrums around the yard and that may work, but not my first choice. What about pittosporum? Any other suggestions? Thanks again. Marcia

I'm interested! I can drive up from Lake Mary to pick them up. On another note..... I think you wrote something about organic supplies either on here or on your blog. Do you know of a good source? Thanks, Nancy

It looked like they had all the hardware. They were out in front of the store along with the painted one for the Brush off. Didn't see any of them out there when I drove by today but didn't go in. I did see several people in the last few weeks loading three and four of the barrels into their cars. Regular price I think was $89. They were about the size of the decorated one she had at the swap, maybe a little shorter. I live in a condo and don't have an option of using one so I didn't really pay that much attention. They had a nice composter out front when I was there last week. I think it was $99. The kind that looks like a barrel that you turn with a crank. They have organic gardening options throughout the summer. Potting soil, fertilizer, charcoal (I think). Prices are generally good.

I don't know where to get one with a black finish, but I know two sources for barrel hoods with copper finish. One is Independent Hoods, their "Bonanza" hood in the copper (it also comes in stainless). Independent makes very good quality hoods. I'll link to one below, but I didn't do any price shopping - it was the first one that came up, so you may be able to find it for less. On that site the 36" Bonanza hood is $4541, plus the Independent blower (sold separately) is about $500. Not cheap, but a lot less than the $8000 you mentioned. You could try calling Independent Hoods directly. Sometimes it's cheaper to buy direct from the source. There is also custom hoods by Handcrafted Metal. They can make anything you want, but on their website they show a barrel hood on their stainless hoods tab, and on their copper hoods tab, a hood, not a barrel (kinda the opposite cause it's a concave curve instead of a convex barrel), but with the straps and rivets. Like I said, they'll make you whatever you want. But just to get an idea of cost, you can click on the photos; the copper concave hood looks like it'll cost about $3500 in the 36" size (includes the blower), and the straps and rivets cost more - the website shows a 52" hood where the straps and rivets are an additional $3300, so I'm guessing a 36" size the straps and rivets would add, I dunno, $2400? Still less expensive than Modernaire. And BTW, I think that concave copper hood is AWESOME. 36-inch Independent Bonanza Hood Handcrafted Metal Copper BARREL Hoods without rivets/straps Handcrafted Metal Copper Front Curve Hood. Wow.