California Gardening: Hello fellow Californians....let's introduce ourselves!, 1 by Kelli

Kelli wrote:
My name is Kelli, obviously. I live in Canoga Park (San Fernando Valley). This is officially Sunset zone 19, but in some ways it is more like zone 21. My very favorite plant genera are iris and aloe, but like all sorts of things. My biggest gardening challenge is weeds. The second biggest is space, or lack thereof. We have a 13,000 ft2 lot, which is big for here, but microscopic compared to what most DGers have. The biggest pests are raccoons and herons, which eat my goldfish. What I like about this place is that it hardly ever freezes. I actually like the clay soil, since it holds water well.

Here's part of the back yard about a month ago. Nothing extraordinary, but you can see where I'm coming from.