Amanda - thanks for going to the trouble to make your progress so clear! That was a clever solution. It gives me an idea for fixing a mess I have made... Your sphere turned out great. I sure want to see it lit up! I have not tried what you are talking about so this is just a guess but surely one of the zillion varieties of tubes of contractors' adhesive would work for your project. Is there any chance a "shelf" could be fashioned out of transparent plastic to hold the light strand rather than trying to glue each light separately?? maybe there is a way to clue or cement on clips you could wind each light around. hmmm. Once I tried taking fiberglass mesh and "weaving" wire thru it by making a sort of U shape with wire and pushing it through the weave of the fiberglass so the bottom was caught and secured by the mesh. When I concreted this down, the wire ends stood up and the mesh and concrete secured the bottom to the object I was making. This left the wires ready to do anything I wanted with them. That would be very simple and you could use your concrete to attach these wires anywhere you wnted along the edge of your sphere. The whole result would be invisible except for handy wires waiting to be used to hold your lights. Would this work for you? Laura

drennank2000- This forum offers a lot of advice about mower quality, and to be sure there is a lot of insight and experience reflected in the comments. BUT, I take issue with some of the prevailing knowledge. NOT all inexpensive mowers are junk after a couple of seasons, no matter how much you use them. Where 'cheap' mowers principally cut costs are in the wheels and hardware. Engines on premium mowers usually differ only in having an engine with a cast iron cylinder liner vs. the piston running on the bore of the alloy block. This helps with durability, but truth be told, it is regular oil changes and maientenance that really add to longevity. I have two bottom of the line Tecumseh engines that are +twenty years old, used every summer to cut two plus acres of grass and they run perfectly. No cast iron liners, just well maintained. Check out this mower from Sears: Model no. 917.385123, 22inch push. Heavy steel double baffled deck. Briggs SQ 4.5 HP flat head, trust me, plenty of power even when mulching with the supplied mulch plate. It does have cheap plastic wheels with no real wheel bearings, BUT, for an extra 8 to 10 bucks apiece you can replace them with steel ball bearing wheels, available right there at Sears or at a local Home Depot. Quality wheels make a BIG difference in mower operation. AND, this mower comes with heavy gauge steel indexed wheel adjusters. SO, for about a 150 bucks, (the price of the mower), plus another 32 to 40 bucks for wheels you get a quality machine that will operate as well as many at twice the price or more. AND, I promise you, it will last way beyond two or three seasons NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU USE IT, as long as you perform proper engine maientenance and don't abuse it. There is even a self-propelled version of this model if you want to go above two hundred dollars, but less than three hundred. Hope you find some info. in this post. Good Luck!

i am in MI .. they can be planted ... you did not answer where you are .... regardless of how rare you think these are.. they are near impossible to kill IF properly handled ... it doesnt matter whether you plant them or pot them.. they are fully hardy in z5 ... and the ground freeze or frost line.. nor anything will bother them.. IF properly planted ... potting requires a proper media... something quick would be a cactus mix ... wet it properly.... then pot the up.. and put them on the north side of the house ... DO NOT USE NATIVE DIRT no sun on those pots for all winter .... once the ground freezes.. tip them on the side.. so water doenst accumulate ... wont matter if they are covered with snow .. your only concern would be vermin.. like mice nibbling on them ... who sent them in the wrong season??? .. michigan bulb???? to explain how hardy they are.. i got 6 foot sticks ... bare!!! [no branches] .. in a one gal pot.. in a plastic bag from BIGLOT one spring .... and 10 years later they are 30 feet tall ... if a 6 foot tree can live in a one gal pot.. and live... yours should be near bullet proof.. unless you try to love them to death.. i would also call the seller.. and ask them to make a note that it is a bit late for shipping .. and if they do not bud out in spring.. you will be calling on the warranty .... in MI they are a late budding tree .... so dont get wound up until may or so ... GOOD LUCK!!!!! ken

the ONLY dumb question.. IS THE QUESTION UNASKED .... we are here to disabuse you of your ignorance.. as an old professor used to tell me. .. easy lesson ... soil ='s mother earth ..... dirt ='s what is on your hands and carpet .... after you have been in the garden .. playing in soil .. or mother earth ... medium is what is used in pots ... you will do much better in pots.. if you avoid soil ... medium is ENGINEERED for use in pots.. it is designed to hold and shed the appropriate amount of water for what is planted in it .... it is usually a mixture of peat, perlite [little white volcanic rocks] and vermiculite ... and a few other things depending on the plant going into it [e.g. pieces of bark in conifer pots] peat holds water .... a lot of water.. good for hosta ... perlite takes up space and holds little water.. but improves drainage .. like the bark ... it helps increase air pockets which allow excess water to shed out the bottom vermiculite is somewhere in between ... changing the %'ages of them.. can make widely divergent medium ... if we go on the premise the you try to drown a hosta.. you want a lot of peat .... but all plants like air in their roots.. so we mix some of the other stuff .. named brands are promix... sunshine.. etc ... any time you go to a nursery .. ask them what they use... and you will have a good tutorial on what they might use for differing plants ... being a hardcore gardener.. i learned long ago ... buy the biggest BALE you can .. and a spare plastic garbage can .... dump it all in dry ... take what you need.. and the rest will sit for decades .. while you use it up ... much cheaper by the bale.. if you can afford the upfront cost ... wetting medium is necessary ahead of time ... maybe 1.5 gals of dry will make 1 gallon pot of wetted ... properly wetted stuff should pack like a snowball .. but crumble .. but not a slushy snowball ... peat can actually float on water ... and i have found hot water wicks into super dry peat faster ... but we wouldnt put a plant into hot medium ... does that cover it ... ken