You are not there yet. You are so far from being there that you did not ask a single question. I would suggest that you do something to get closer to "there" which will then give you specific dilemas and/or choices that you might need advice on for making. As Glenda the Good Witch said to Dorothy, "it is best to start at the beginning and then just follow the yellow brick road". Work from general toward specific. An example would be that you want a patio, then where it should be relative to other activities that exist or you want to exist (like near a door to the kitchen), then how big you want it vs. how much room you have,.... Choosing material is a resulting point not a starting point. It will be a matter of whether you are going to be wearing shoes or barefoot (around a pool? you don't want to pick up loose joint material on wet feet and have it in the pool, you don't want exposed edges that can hurt feet, you don't want something too hot to walk on), it will be cost driven to one degree or another, availability of materials, and finally the capability of your contractor (you in this case I suspect). OZ is a long way away and there are witches, lions, and tigers, and bears, and lets not rule out flying monkies. Surround yourself with good people and ask the right questions, and above all, make the commitment and all will be well. Commitment is often in the form of hiring qualified people. It often requires spending some money. Sometimes it can be done through hard work and determination. It never comes too easy or it is not much of a commitment.

I came on here looking to trade some daylilies as well. I have a few that I need to find homes for. June Bug, Baby Talk, Purple Water and Meadow Mist. If interested let me know!

Hi Tracie, I am interested in: Mayan Gold Rosie Meyer Rosella Sheridan Little Orange Tex Kindly Light Endless Sky (1 fan) Chorus Line Nosferatu/ Jungle Fever: These two are very similar, grew together, but is one of these two Peggy Jeffcoat (1 fan) Please email me if you'd like to do a big trade and I'll send you a list of what all I have that is ready. Joyceann

If I had the money I would go nuts on the Americam species(I have a American bamboo fetish, lol), but that C.mimosa is out of my price range. Do you have the American Bamboos book? It has alot of species that would do great, but haven't been introduced. The same local guy has a 5 gal pot of Rhipidocladum racemiflorum that has done great through last winter(that one is a nice tree scrabler) I think you have a point about the southern Brazilian species being cold hardy. I'm trading palm seeds from a guy from the second to last southern state of Brazil. He SAID that it gets down to 10 F(I should ask agian to be certain), and he has a species of Guandua growing on his property. There are also Guandua species from Nyarit mexico, and Tamaulipas mexico, and G.trinii from southern Brazil and Argentina, so maybe there is one of those that would work here. I'm going to Nyarit next winter, but I doubt that I'll get any to bring back. Maybe just some palm seeds. Do you have some pics of the climbing species?