Thanks Rhodium, I forgot that we did think about that... for a few moments. The down-side is that we'd also have to leave the deck (that steps down to the patio) at a higher elevation to accommodate the added stone and mortar later, and who knows if we'd ever have the money to complete that, so I thought we should just give it up and accept that stone isn't going to happen. Thanks for the idea though, it's definitely a good one.

I'm sorry, last night in reading this posting I overlooked the fact mehearty was just 'deadheading', and I responded as though she/he were generally pruning - as in pruning a rose. Now, by the way, just to practice my pic. posting, and as conrtibuters to this page know, I really have no clematis pics to post but I'm working on that; so, I just thought I'd give you folks a look at an Aussie native that I've struggled with for some years but now at last have got to flower (I try a plant three times, if after that I can't succeed I give up and don't try it again). It's a native of (the state of) Western Australia, and therefore not easy to grow in the eastern states, which is where I am: It's 'The Black Kangaroo Paw', or Macropegia fulignosa.

I am seeing this thread for the first time, and while I did not read the whole thing I am wondering if the original question was really addressed. The original poster is talking about situations where the root zone is far away from the perched water table. Instead of addressing that specific issue, somehow this thread got directed to the question of whether perched water table matters at all (clearly it does). Let's consider a specific example. Say I have an oil vase that is four feet high. I fill that will 511. Then I plant shallow rooted plants in that oil vase, so those roots are about 3.5 feet away from the bottom of the pot. In this post, a user makes the point that you want the root zone to have less than 5 kPa of pressure/tension in order to be able to take water out of the soil and nourish the roots. I do not understand this issue well, but using the data in that post (i.e., 1 kPa = 3.94 inches for a particular soil mix), that seems to imply that this soil mix would get to 5 kPa at about 20 inches of height from the top of the perched water table. You would get to 5 kPa at: 3.94 in/kPa * 5 kPa = 19.7 in ~= 20 in. That might imply that you want to keep the bottom of your root zone within 20 inches of the top of the PWT, otherwise the roots might have problems getting the best extraction of water out of the soil, in the days after watering. So back to the original question that was posted, it seems to me that there might be value in looking at the root behavior of what you are planting, and the size of the pot, and you might want to keep the bottom of your roots within an appropriate distance from the top of the PWT, in order to give the roots an easier time in extracting water out of the soil. That's way more complexity than most of us are willing to deal with, and I am sure there is a lot of science and practical understanding that I do not have on this issue. But maybe it is not a good idea to put a shallow rooted plant into a very deep container.

Annette, yes. You need to be able to access the vent duct for maintenance, without taking the set out from the wall. Moving clothes from below to above is not an issue. I have 3 stacked sets. If the laundry is heavy unload to a basket and then take pieces out of the basket to the dryer. A basket at the washer always helps from clothing falling to the ground. Last, what size are those sets? I'm looking at your other thread, and thinking about your layout.