Your junk looks lovely!! Yes instructions are needed, most of us are very visual, if we can't see it,we can't make it!!LOL Of course, beer cans are not required, soda cans will work very well but I guess not be as much fun for the drinkers! Great way to enlist DH's help too tho!! Could make the flowers colors but for your fence I think the green is perfect!! His stuff just sort of fades out! Jan

I've never tried it, but I don't see why it wouldn't work as long as you gave it enough room for its roots--they don't like to be cramped. From what I've seen, the majority of those passis' big roots that spawn suckers stay within 4 inches of the surface, so it shouldn't be hard to hem them in. Personally, I think warnings of their invasiveness is overblown. Suckers that aren't devoured by caterpillars are easily pulled if young, and failing that, I've yet to see one that could win a fight with a lawn mower. Persistent they are, but bamboo and English ivy, they ain't.

"the cords are about 1.5 inches thick" This leads me to believe it is not "cord" at all, but PVC conduit. The contractor may have run surface mounted conduit and boxes on the covered / screened porch. "The cord coming from the roof to the outdoor switch for the ceiling fan is fastened to my siding and just runs straight down from the ceiling to the switch over top of the siding." I am picturing 3/4" pvc coming out of the soffit down the outside of the house, but inside the covered porch to a surface mounted switch box. I would not automatically assume a bad contractor here. I have had clients come back 3 or 4 times to cut their price. A cut in price always means a reduction of some sort or another. This either comes at the expense of appearance or fixture/material quality but never in code compliance or my compensation. When I do, I always explain in their proposal how the changes/reduction in price will affect the appearance or function of the final product, all they see is the price. When I am finished some have the nerve to complain about the final product even though it is their "penny pinching" fault if they don't like it.

It is Limonium duriusculum (European sea lavender)! I thought the shape of the flower stems reminded me of something - much bigger L. perezii (sea lavender). OK, I might have to pull them out, although the flowers are kind of cute.