Welcome Bud and thanks for the great show! Your Vandas are doing much better than mine so I will prod you for some tips. I love the look of your pergola. Can you show us more?
Elaine, I don't know how all of these layers work together. What I do know is that I still have to be careful or I will get sunburn on some plants which seems impossible if you read all of the advertising about these products. Between the OC and mother nature, there is an environment here that I have created and I am still learning which plants are comfortable and which are not. In the end, I don't think it is much different than moving plants around under the oak tree until they seem to be happy; just more expensive.
Jim
