Michele Brody: Briana Morrison

I really like Trent's irrigation diagram. Circulating the water and utilizing gravity as much as possible is a good solution for keeping water moving through the system. Nutrients could be added at the reservoir, and it wouldn't be difficult to flush the pipes if there was a clog, etc.

A note about some of the grasses suggested by Home Depot: St. Augustine is a major water hog, and definitely not something sustainable. Because the holes in lace are rather small, has anyone given consideration to some Texas native vines?

• Morning Glory (Convolvulus equitans) is a native with low water requirements and beautiful flowers. Propagated by seed, the tendrils could easily fit through the holes in lace and the vine would continue to grow along the outside. The flowers would be a great accent against the lace.
• Clematis (Clematis drummondii) might another option. It often grows over man-made objects like fences, which lends some meaning to the idea of bringing nature where there was none before. Another native with low water requirements, it's very tolerant of heat and cold and can be propagated by seed.

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin has a great website with a searchable, native plants database: http://www.wildflower.org/plants/. If we decide to look at other plants, that's one of the best places to start. Michele, you can find plants for New York there, too!

Dr. Novak in the HORT Dept. gave me a contact to ask about using greenhouse space to speed the germination of our seeds. I've e-mailed her and will hopefully hear back soon.

Some of the LAND kids help me out here, but I don't think there'd be too much problem with mold in the plants or medium? With the thin amount of medium and the exposure to air, the soil drying out might be more of an issue? Mold in the irrigation system could be a concern.