As promised, here are daylight pictures of the finished project. As an added bonus, a picture of a large bumblebee that stayed on the blue-purple sage all night, including when I dug it out to change places with the vine.
I had enough time before work to run down to the hardware store and get the 1/2 inch elbows to finish the bottom, plus I trimmed and cauterized the ends of the zip ties. I'm sure the whole process can be refined and modified to fit one's particular tastes, skills, equipment and patience you have to work with.
