Needless to say, the Mrs. and the dogs interrogated me until I spilled the beans (the dogs were only happy to see me, the Mrs. wanted to know what was in the boxes).
So here it is. This took me 4 hours. The Mrs. likes it and it doesn't look half-bad (it'll do the trick until I get my buddy Ed the Welder to make me something out of wrought iron - 2 or 3 years maybe), but I had to engineer it a bit.
Like I said, it's shitbag plastic, probably made in the same place they make those shitty plastic coat hangers. But it's cheap so I won't mind ripping it up when Eddie gets "a round toit" (I introduced him to the mother of his 6 kids so he owes me one ... or not).
The little clips connecting the pieces are shitty, and it was an ass-puckering experience trying to lock them together without breaking (I broke 2). Fortunately, being in the auto repair business for 30-odd years, I got a million black cable ties. I ended up using a tie at every joint and it really stiffened everything up. The Mrs. likes it, I'm happy.
I also added some more plants to give the perimeter some more depth and color.
On the east side, I put a couple Sedum on either side of a Red Dianthus.
On the north side, I did the same thing on either side of the Japanese Holly and the Juniper, though instead of the succulents flanking the Dianthus, I used English Daisies.
I used the same combination on the south side.
On the west side I put a Sedum in the center and two varieties of Phlox (Emerald Pink and Emerald Blue).
And last but not least, I added a Clematis to the center bed (in the tripod) and I'm gonna let that grow up the tree.
Time to have a beer, take a shower, and wind the dogs up to have the Mrs. make us dinner (I send surrogates, heh ...). Later.
