When it comes to root health, pots with gas permeable walls carry the day. Terra cotta clay pots are better than plastic or vitrified clay pots and fabric pots are better than terra cotta clay. The reason is greater gas exchange through container walls and the fact that an increase in gas exchange comes with an increase in evaporative water loss, which can be a lifesaver when using water retentive media. There will still be a PWT in these pots, and for any given medium it will the same ht in a pot with rigid sides as in the fabric or air pots at container capacity. Container capacity is a measure of how much water the grow medium in a pot or container holds at the moment it has stopped draining after having been watered to the point of complete saturation. The ht of the PWT and how long it affects root function is usually key/critical in determining what opportunity a plant will have to realize as much of its genetic potential as possible (within the limiting effects of other cultural influences). The factor that most affects the ht of a PWT is the size of the particles from which the medium is made. So, reducing the duration of PWTs limitations increases the opportunity for plants to realize a greater measure of their genetic potential. But wait! There's a more important consideration. If you place your fabric containers directly on the ground/soil, from the perspective of hydrology it changes the fabric container to a raised bed; this, because water is free to move through the fabric between the grow medium and the earth, with the earth acting as a giant wick. This means, because of the increase in the force of adhesion in the mineral soil beneath the pot (due to a mineral soils much larger o/a surface area on a per volume basis), water in the soil will be pulled downward with enough source to overcome the capillarity holding it perched in the container. As long as you don't place the fabric container on coarse sand, peastone, or other large particles, the earth will likely pull all perched water from most media one is likely to use in a container. I've mentioned this and the fact that healing in your pots situating them directly on top of soil turns them into raised beds. the only caveat being it's essential that there is a 'soil bridge' so there is continuity of the soil column between the soil (earth) and the grow medium in the container, through the drain hole(s), so water doesn't have to jump an air gap to exit the container. This applies more to pots with rigid walls and is not a factor when discussing fabric containers. Al

Your pictures are too close up and don't show how one piece of the back yard fits with another. The main question I had after reviewing your post is, where is all the water supposed to go? In that hole? Is that going to be a french drain? I don't have enough information to summarize the project, but my suspicion is that this project is not well thought out and you're on a path to overkill... making the project bigger (and more expensive) than it could otherwise be. With a drainage issue, what must be understood is the PATH that the water will take which clearly shows that it can exit your property without obstruction. I'm guessing that instead of solving the problem, you're making a "bowl" further away from the house to put the water in. For most rain events it will probably work (but not necessarily without problems.) But when that torrential, freak downpour occurs, the water will fill up the bowl and come back to you. Once the path of the water flow is identified and a strategy is created to direct the water, it may turn out that you can do it without a wall, or with a very low wall. Please put some photos (not close up) on the thread that clearly illustrate the path of water flow until it exits your property. Since it looks like water is entering at the back of the lot, I'm guessing it's leaving at the front. That's where photos should start. Take pictures that illustrate the grade.

Error: It's "euphorbia," not "euphoria." (Wish I could edit my post if I discover an error later.) And I found out that, not surprisingly, it's closely related to the poinsettia and sometimes called " Poinsettia dentata." Toothed spurge (Euphorbia dentata) is a member of :  Euphorbia, genus Euphorbia  The Euphorbiaceae are a very large genus of diverse plants all of which have milky juice It is an annual weed of northeastern North America and the Southeastern Yukon (but it obviously grows in the Pacific NW US too). More info here: Euphorbia dentata Michx. Family: Euphorbiaceae More of the scientific description: Stems - From a taproot, multiple from the base, branching, erect to ascending, herbaceous, sparsely papillose-hispid and pubescent, to 60cm long(tall), terete, with milky sap. Some of the hairs are multicellular. (Most of this is Greek to me, as I haven't taken botany in over 30 years.) Leaves - Mostly opposite, petiolate. Petioles to +1.5cm long, pubescent as the stem, with a shallow adaxial groove. (Here's what I've been calling "berries.") A small cluster of minute glands is often present at the base of each petiole. The glands often brownish. Blades irregularly dentate to subentire, ovate to narrowly lanceolate, to +3cm broad, 8cm long, pubescent above and below, dull green above, bluish green below. Pressed leaves. (Not sure what this means.) Inflorescence - Terminal bracteate cluster of cymules. Pedicels to 1.5mm long, glabrous. Inflorescence. Flowers - Involucre (at anthesis) whitish-green, 3mm long, glabrous, 5-lobed, with a single cupulate nectary, (nectary green, to 1.2mm long). Lobes fimbriate and often with a pinkish tinge. Ovary green, glabrous, 1.2mm in diameter (at anthesis). Styles 3, white, glabrous, spreading, to 1mm long, divided nearly to the base and appearing as 6. Anthers bi-lobed, yellow, .5mm broad. Filaments white, glabrous, distinctly jointed in the apical 1/4. Stamens +/-30 per flower. Capsules 3-lobed, glabrous, 3-seeded. Flowers. Flowering - July - October. (Aha! That's probably why mine are still pods and haven't flowered yet. Maybe it will flower this fall.) Habitat - Prairies, glades, waste ground, disturbed sites, roadsides, railroads. Origin - Native to U.S. Other info. - This species is found throughout Missouri. The plant is fairly inconspicuous because of its indistinct flowers. It is closely related to the every popular Poinsettia that many people like to buy around the winter holidays. Be careful with the sap of this plant and most from this genus and it can be irritating to the skin and eyes. ---- So I still haven't figured out just how invasive it's likely to be, but I'm going to try it as a houseplant. Check out the top picture on this page.

Dirr was first. Was he the best? Until a better one comes along, he is. He also established a market for a book that before him didn't exist, yet a market (nationally) where there is only room for one. However, he's done. His Manual will most likely never again be revised. He's opinionated. This one trait made him both revered and reviled. The people that don't like him...tend to be the ones who have strong opinions of their own. Imagine that...people who deal with something a lot tend to have strong opinions about what they work with on a regular basis. Shocking. Do I hold everything he says as Gospel? Lord no, I'm the first to tell you I have crammed the margins with notes and addendums, to the point that I'm going to have to buy a new copy of the last edition (my current one is held together by rubber bands...I can't decide if it would the ultimate insult to ask him to autograph it, or if it would the greatest compliment to offer a book to be signed that has been so often opened). In every part of the country but the NW, Jacobsen is a lightweight. It's a little surprising I even know about him, despite his personality cult in certain area(s). There are other authors specific to NE, the MW, or the SW tht while they are dominant in their market...they will never be more than a footnote elsewhere. Jacobsen's biggest problem is Dirr's...he's just a opinionated, but tries to take himself so seriously. Dirr embraced the opinions, and phrases them in ways that take you by surprise, and in doing so, either thrill you or repulse you. I'd say most people kinda like it. ACJ takes himself soo seriously, yet he's just as opinionated. Again, someone who deals with something alot develops opinions about it? Could we be on to something? As for Whitcomb, his books sit on the shelf, collecting dust. Every once in a while I'll take them down, peruse them a bit, then put them back for another rainy day somehwere down the road. If I wanted to buy into all of his ancillary products, great, I'd be hooked. Actually not, I'd by into Forrest Keeling RPM, but that's a container of a different root hair. But where everyone else gets condemned for selling out for something as base as money, he gets praised? He gets quoted because he put into words all those things no one else did. For that, he fully deserves to sell all the copies he can. Beyond that, what I find of anyone's work means little beyond what value I find in it. I have something over 200 books covering nearly every facet of plants, particularly those woody, you could imagine. Some should probably be utilized more fully than they are. I'd rather use the Diseases of Trees and Shrubs and the Insects that Feed on Trees and Shrub and Insect Pests of Forest Trees, but most people just want to know what's in the Ortho Problem Solver. Do I need to bury them with info, or answer their question?