Well, I will start another thread sime time soon and include pictures of the original 2 hibiscus once they got full sized about 2 years after planting, and what they look like now. The 3 that I am growing now are the same color flowers as the original plants, even though these came from seeds off of the old plants and were pollinated undoubtedly as a cross between the reds and pink flowers. They arent quite blooming yet, and that makes them at least 2-3 weeks later than many hardy varieties, but they make up for it with LOTS of huge blooms and a long bloom time. At this point they are on their 3rd season since I replanted them as volunteers 2 years ago. They were popping up all over different beds for at least 2 seasons, maybe 3. I didnt actually notice volunteers popping up until about 2 seasons after the original hibiscus plants were removed(because they were way too large and spread out much more than just about any hibiscus plants I had previously seen). Those original plants didnt survive the transplant due to too many roots being severed, because they grew outwards many feet in all directions, and it wasnt prudent to try and dig up a 5' to 8' root ball just to get the outward growing roots in one piece! I have cut back several stems on the largest plant, and yet there are still at least 12 or more very large, thick, long stems left, that are growing outwards in all directions. I had to practically remove an entire side just to prevent them from crushing the 5' Zinnias behind them. Thats another aspect to this story: The Burpee zinnia seeds I buy(Giant flower mix) also grow much larger than advertised, and this year they are getting even taller than last year, as I saw a couple flowers above my head by at least 8" just 3 days ago, and the rest are at least 4.5 to 5 feet tall now, even though they were 2 feet tall a month ago with hardly any significant lateral branches. They are advertised to grow to 30-36"....... These plants are in a front yard that gets at least 11-12 hours of direct sun per day right now, so shade isnt the cause of tall growth, besides, they are also very thick stemmed, which wouldnt be the case if there was a lack of sun.

I thought of using cedar, but when I priced it, it was way too expensive and didn't make sense to do it. And I'm sorry to say, but if you're trying to grow as much food as you can, two 4x4 beds are not very much and I think that is a lot of money for two small beds. I have one long bed 12" high, 11ft long and 4ft wide. I have four beds 12" high, 4ft x 4ft. I made them with Pine because I had some already and didn't have to buy much more. It's actually been about 8 years since we built them and they are ready to be replaced now. Now I want to double the square footage that I can grow in. So I want to build… Two beds 12" high, 16ft long, 4ft wide Six beds 12" high, 6ft long, 4ft wide That doubles my growing space. I don't feel I need deeper beds, because vegetables are annuals and I've read somewhere recently that they don't really need 18" deep beds. 12" is just right for me and I don't mind bending and kneeling. So less wood. I priced what cedar I could find and it was going to cost me over $600. to build those beds. I called 12 lumber yards and only two had cedar and they weren't the dimensions I wanted either. Finally, one lumber yard, said he was steering people to use Eastern Hemlock rough sawn, which is very inexpensive. It is more rot resistant than Pine but less than Cedar. Estimates were 5yrs for Pine, 8-10 years for Hemlock, and 15yrs for Cedar. I priced the Hemlock and it was going to cost me $198. to build the same beds. So, if I built the hemlock and had to replace them in 10 years for another $200. It would still be $200. less than building the cedar beds, and would last me 5yrs longer.

Not to be an alarmist, but I absolutely wouldn't use boiled linseed oil on anything that would come in contact with my food. Raw linseed oil (flax seed oil) is fine, but boiled linseed oil contains various heavy metals that speed the drying time (raw linseed oil can take weeks to dry). http://missouribootandshoe.tripod.com/id41.html "Use of this product will expose you to arsenic, beryllium, chromium, cadmium and nickel, which are known to cause cancer; and lead which is known to cause birth defects and other reproductive harm."

I recently had an I ground pool installed and really wanted a wood deck around it for a tropical look. But Ipe was too expensive- even to add as an accent. And other wood options concerned me with splinters and getting hot and maintenance. I went with a white limestone and could not be happier. It does not get hot at all and it is all in full sun in Houston. It was listed as an option under travertine pricing for me. But my friends recently redid their pool decking with a light color travertine and it was hot to me. I was another pool last weekend with flagstone and my feet were on fire. But if I’d had the money I would have loved to use Ipe. Although one pool guy convinced me to not use it by saying the gross bugs who cannot be named would crawl up the cracks. So maybe I wouldn’t! Haha