casalester, the lady fern makes a nice clump and is easy. spleenwort does make a clump but it's small- like maybe 8" when full grown, so i doubt you'll get much coverage. It is evergreen, though. your choice. lisianthuslover, my bad. i just assumed b/c you'd seen jeri's rose... i do recall digging alstromeria this spring. It was a bit frantic, though at the swap. be nice to put a face to a name. i do have some ornamental oregano, can get you some. Carla, yes, i remember now! Super cute. Sure, swing by afterwards and get a branch. but you can have a pot, too- i have several. :) by the time you move it might be to a whole 2'! LOL yes, dogridge, i have plenty of pawpaws. Your name is on one! :)

One step up from plain wax (which hardly gives any protection at all) would be something like mineral oil (which is barely any better than wax). The next step up would be pure tung or linseed oil. A small step up from those would be a polymerized tung oil, which helps it to build a stronger film. Then after that you have your various polys. Personally I'd hand-rub an oil-based polyurethane, then you can wax on top of that to soften the feel. If that's out, then I'd use a polymerized tung oil. If you go the tung oil route, be sure you're getting actual tung oil, as there's some polyurethanes that are marketed and labeled as tung oil. You can also mix tung and oil-based polyurethane which can give a deeper look to the finish with less build-up.

It probably depends upon the wood species. If it is redwood, teak or even cedar, a quality wood oil will help keep the surface smooth. Just clean well and allow to dry several days before applying. If it is a lesser grade wood (like pine), oil will help but you're still going to experience surface deterioration with sun/weather.

I have not used this stuff, but looking really quick at their website, it looks promising. My first choice would have been satin polyurethane because it's waterproof. A dining table needs that. The Monocoat website does show in their table of test results that it's resistant to water and water based spills. So I would be willing to use it in this kind of an application. I just can't endorse it from experience.