desperation falls, I am thinking that either a large sand cast or a 4" piece of blue/pink foam cut to the shapes of your cloister arches may work. Brainstorming and have not thought totally through, but you could use a 4ft section of 4" blue foam, using big felt marker transfer a pic of your arches. Consider just making one/two of the arched sections for easier handling and working out the texture/detail while still damp. After your drawing is there using a serrated knife (there are other options for this but 1st thought)cut out your design. Tape the raw edges of the form with duct tape so you can release your form later. Bend some rebar or using straight pieces at least for the straight edges, set these aside. Lay your form on a flat space covered with plastic, and using a mix of concrete/tufa/lightweight mix to your liking, begin adding to the voids of the foam. Half way lay in your rebar, then add the rest. Once the mix has set up a bit you can carve the columns/cloister to your liking. This would be difficult to turn over, but with help you may be able to pancake it and turn it to be able to carve into the other side. Let the whole thing set up for several days before releasing from the foam. To create a more stable design you could incorporate a short length of pvc pipe into the column portions that would allow you to insert rebar into the ground, and use the pvc as stantion posts to hold in place, plus allowing you to reposition later. As I am writing I think I would make it in no more than 2 sections at a time. In the pictures it appears they used 6" cardboard columns from a hardware store that had molding added on the inside to create the fluting. It is so much fun to see what others have come up with. Dena

PERFECT!!!!! The St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series title last night. Their third-baseman, Scott Rolen, used to play for the Phillies and his then-girlfriend, now-wife Nikki was one of my students. She even brought him in one day to meet me. I was anything but smooth, meeting a big-league ballplayer. He was very nice, however, even gave me an autograph for my grandson. So I've watched the series with interest and your quote this morning makes it even better. Thanks, weebus!

Mark, I started my tomatoes indoors last year on Feb 8 and planted out April 12. I used the hoophouse only the last month and still had to bring the tomatoes inside when temps dropped below 30 degrees. I started mine in a flat then transferred them to 5ounce cups then to 2 liter containers. Repotting tomatoes forces them to build stronger roots than if you just plant the seed directly. If you want to wintersow your tomatoes in the hoophouse and skip the indoor step, I'd wait until about 4 weeks before your average last spring frost. You might still need to use a bit of heat, maybe a couple 60 watt bulbs or a couple strands of rope lighting at night. And watch for daytime temps. Those hoop houses get HOT inside when all closed up if the temperature gets above 50 outside. I had temps in the 90s some days even with one end slightly open.

Oh, yeah, grandiflora rather than folia, thank you. Have you just moved to the St. Louis area? Your member info shows Georgia. If so, you might want to also ask about this in the Midwestern Gardening forum. St. Louis isn't really in the Ozarks. We have several feet more soil than the Ozarks! I'm not sure how cold-limited the grandiflora Magnolias are. Those in St. Louis do come out of winter looking more droopy and brown-tinged than I remember the ones in Memphis after winter. I might just be remembering Memphis' Magnolias wrong. Even though Memphis is warmer, St. Louis is not quite so prone to those ice storms as is Memphis. Seems like having their big leaves encased in ice would be pretty hard on them. I can think of three Southern Magnolias in my neighborhood. I think the smallest has probably an 8 inch diameter trunk. The largest is probably 10-12, but well over two stories high. I have not seen any huge Magnolias, but that might just mean no one was plnting them prior to, oh, maybe thirty years ago. I do think they grow more slowly here than Memphis.