Ladies, I know pics say millions. Thanks jeannie, I would never have known that photobucket was free. I have seen pics from others on that website for years. The plumbers block dish is about 8" x 8" by 2"deep. I balanced everything together in the Thrift shop. One lady walking by said it looked cool but wobbly. But she did not know you guys secret GE II SILICONE GLUE. I actually did see that glass microwave plate I did consider it for a moment. But I am going to let that inverted plumbers block dish dig into the soil for anchorage. I went to OSH last night and found the glue. First I saw it in the small tubes for 4.29 a tube, but then I saw the big caulking tubes, (had to ask the young man at the paint counter how to work the caulking gun..lol). Last night I set it all together again in the garage it looks cool. I also scored on a rustic white tin garden angel with dangling wood legs, and a white and rust middle eastern type of lantern (for a tealight) that fit perfectly on a garden hook that was white and rusty. ;-) Concrete - ..when you mentioned the punch bowl I pictured that for the top.

As some here know I have had 2 large windmills in the ground going on 5 years, with a smaller one added 2 years ago. As stated well by jimhardy, tropicalzone7 et al, there are huge variations of climate within zones. Oklahoma City is technically the same zone as NYC and although we got 14 inches of snow in one storm last year and had sustained single digits, the two areas are vastly different in climate. I think we should agree that a hardy palm or any plant for that matter should be rated for a zone by its ability to thrive in that zone continuously without protection of any kind. The first 2 years my Trachys went unprotected and suffered bad damage from the wind and freezing rain. My Butia lived under a tarp with a 100 watt flood light happily for 2 years but died with the same protection after 3 days of temps below 12 degrees. I am confident all my hardy palms would not thrive without protection. I even lost a big Bismarkia in a pot from the heat last summer! Here is a link that might be useful: okcpalms

Well thank y'all for that. BAMA - I've been wondering if we'd ever see you post again - missing you a lot. I forgot to mention that the flowers standing on the right are a gift from BAMA. They cover the electric cord nicely. Yeah, CALAM - my back yard is very small. Ever since I put the path of rocks in to the grotto, Toby does his business on it every day. It's as if he is kneeling at the altar. Bratty dawg! The blower takes care of that little cleaning problem - no breaking him of that habit.

"Thank you for the kind words folks. When I go out to outside with my critical eye, I can see lots of mistakes and/or problems. But for me gardening is one part creative oulet, two parts mental therapy and two parts physical therapy. If I start stressing about how each bed looks, I lose the mental therapy part." Michael, I think most of us here feel the same way about gardening. It is all about creating and nurturing something and losing yourself in the process. For me, it is a spiritual thing also. Love the wild petunia. It is really looking pretty. Silvia, thanks for your comments. You are too kind. I got out of the habit of coming here. I'm going to try to stick around more. I miss your posts and have learned sooooooo much from you. I still have a small veggie garden and always think of you when I have questions or when something is doing well. You are an incredible and generous teacher. Thanks for loving to give your knowledge!