Fennel is a great suggestion. It is a pretty and "airy" plant. The caterpillars that visit my fennel are the eastern black swallowtail - the picture below is of one such caterpillar on my fennel. Fennel is short-lived but asparagus is another "airy" herb plant that is very long-lived and needs little care. Berries of all types are great suggestions. If you are planning a garden for wee ones, take some care with elderberries. Only the *completely* ripe fruit and flowers are edible. The rest of the elderberry (incl. the unripe berries) is toxic. FataMorgana

desperation falls, I am thinking that either a large sand cast or a 4" piece of blue/pink foam cut to the shapes of your cloister arches may work. Brainstorming and have not thought totally through, but you could use a 4ft section of 4" blue foam, using big felt marker transfer a pic of your arches. Consider just making one/two of the arched sections for easier handling and working out the texture/detail while still damp. After your drawing is there using a serrated knife (there are other options for this but 1st thought)cut out your design. Tape the raw edges of the form with duct tape so you can release your form later. Bend some rebar or using straight pieces at least for the straight edges, set these aside. Lay your form on a flat space covered with plastic, and using a mix of concrete/tufa/lightweight mix to your liking, begin adding to the voids of the foam. Half way lay in your rebar, then add the rest. Once the mix has set up a bit you can carve the columns/cloister to your liking. This would be difficult to turn over, but with help you may be able to pancake it and turn it to be able to carve into the other side. Let the whole thing set up for several days before releasing from the foam. To create a more stable design you could incorporate a short length of pvc pipe into the column portions that would allow you to insert rebar into the ground, and use the pvc as stantion posts to hold in place, plus allowing you to reposition later. As I am writing I think I would make it in no more than 2 sections at a time. In the pictures it appears they used 6" cardboard columns from a hardware store that had molding added on the inside to create the fluting. It is so much fun to see what others have come up with. Dena

I quotes from the book of John Naka "Bonsai Techniques II": There are 3 types of bonsai display. SHIN is very formal, GYO is informal and SO is flexible and casual. Examples of the tokonoma displays: SHIN: a conifer bonsai with a scroll or a suiseki. The tree must be a single straight trunk, slanted trunk or a Moyogi style trunk. GYO: Mostly a deciduous tree such as elm, maple, etc. and kusamono, a weed or grass as complementary plant or suiseki or some other accessory, such as a figure of a bird or other animal. SO: Very flexible and casual. Bamboo, reed, palm or other plants, such as rush, grass or wildflowers are displayed with suiseki What can we learn from this ? At the first sight, it seems that a conifer is considered more formal than a decididuous tree. The formal forms are those with little or straight movement in the trunk.

Hi Everyone... THANKS for the comments! In reading some responses, it seems as though Medieval-theme weddings are common in Calif....but not here in New Hampshire. The costumes had to be custom sewn by a local seamstress. I didn't make the cake, although I do make cakes for family occasions. They got the idea for a medieval wedding while on a trip to Montreal....there was a store there with medieval things and theirs is a "fairy tale" romance (having dated in high school and friends in elementary school)....so the idea of "Prince Charming" marrying his princess was appropriate. Celeste