Cyn, the peanuts in hose is a brilliant idea. I have two enormous not-clay planters that I like to be able to move. Right now I have cinder blocks on their ends inside and a plastic pot on top. heavy, but it can be disassembled. Your way would be so much better. My faux planters are in a shady area and they do get a bit green, not terrible. I call it patina! I prefer foam over clay because it is lighter and doesn't crack it cold weather. I leave the soil in them.

The shiny brass would be appropriate on a more formal less country style home. However, the likely reason you do not see polished brass exterior lanterns on the outside of homes is because the metal pits and turns colors over time. To keep them bright and shiny, they have to be removed and polished. Even the lacquered brass will turn over time and have to be sent out for polishing.

We pulled out our existing deck, it was just made with some kind of wood-we're not even sure what it was, but it was grooved on the underside. The PO had installed it and it was a very bad job that he'd done. Twice I fell on it-one resulted in me fracturing vertebrea in my back, the other I fell thru a board that snapped and just got bruised up. DH also fell thru snapped boards and we decided that was it-it's got to go! We researched all kinds of materials, I wanted no maintenance, but found that the composite decking wasn't a good idea for our wet weather-too slippery. Thought about cedar but it was high maintenance, so we just went with pressure treated. We've completely redesigned the deck, too, to make it more usable for how WE use it. We haven't finished it yet but what we've done we're very happy with. We'll stain it when it's done, and I want to add some railing in a few spots-its' not very high off the ground, but the ground is not level, so some areas are higher. I want to do a cable railing.

I have had my streptocarpellas since last year and they did fine on the porch, as has a nematanthus I have out there. But I see your point. Maybe this one would attract some new critter I haven't seen yet...I feel like hanging baskets would just give my cats a new target, ha ha. They'll jump 12 feet straight up to catch a moth. The worst is my new girl, Zeppole. She's scared of everything so she sits in the window but when the birds move she gets scared and runs off, knocking things over in the process...nearly took out some adenium seedlings I have last week. Ah, the joys of gardening with cats.... :)