Hello fellow Californians....let's introduce ourselves!

howdy,
i did a pretty long intro on the welcome mat already just yesterday...will try to keep this one briefer and different...
i live in soquel, just beyond santa cruz. we just moved onto 2.3 acres which has been neglected for 35+ years (nature is taking our house back aggressively!)
i love unique looking flowers and plants, deep and rich colors (pastel pink generally isn't my bag--bleeding hearts are one exception), fruit trees and veggies, water gardens, japanese maples, iris, and other typically asian things like bamboo, and HERBS! i love making salves, potions, medicines...
i am into vermiculture and composting 'bigtime'. just acquired this 10ft device for separating worms from castings! diehard!

ok, now onto the evil little buggers...when i moved here i hired a tractor (not cheap) to dig out 1000sf of soil so i could lay gopher wire (not cheap); replaced the soil and added rabbit and deer fencing. guess who was inside WITHIN THE WEEK???? they are everywhere here and i have had zero luck with any of the 3 types of traps i have tried. my current approach is trying to bargain with them--like 'you can have the nigella but PLEASE don't take the lilies!!' right. meanwhile, the deer are eating the rest from above, including the CA poppies!

i've "met" SK, are there any other cruzers out there?

I'm not a Cruzer, but I used to spend summers in Capitola, about half a block from the Seven Sisters, and I did a lot of antique shopping in Soquel.

No self-respecting gopher is going to eat nigella instead of lilies. The worst thing about the deer is that they don't have proper teeth, so they mangle plants instead of pruning them nicely (not that I'd want them to prune the plants either, but it's preferable to mangling).

On top of my gopher and deer problems, one of my cats suddenly started eating all of my corydalis, especially the corydalis solida, but I digress.... We already started a new thread for gophers. Maybe we need one for deer and corydalis-eating cats.

I'm from Chico, CA, fairly new to DG and loving it here...just planted tons of dahlias, one of my newest favorites...and am making supports out of my fig tree branches.

What a great idea for the branches. Your garden is fascinating. Lots of whimsy. Who lives in the pen?

Hi from the LBC.

We live pretty much downtown but near the Pacific and are not in zone denial as much as in location denial! We have a 1916 farmhouse in dowtown with a fair bit of space so we try to grow our food organically and tend to the front cottage garden look that soooooo pleases the neighbors (and our time crunched, water wise selves). There is lots of space that we will either cover with perennials or just continue to cultivate that fine speciman called nut grass with regular mowings. Just haven't decided yet.

There are no unwanted critters beyond a recent influx of snails due to the recent crazy rains (knock on wood) but we do deal with our lovely happy yellow lab who likes to burrow into cool, moist ground. (slugs and snails get thrown on the neighbor's roof)

We are me, Boy (my surfer guy/other half) Henrietta (daughter), Fitch ( a beta), Hammy (guess what she is), Sally (don't tell her she is chihuahua mix) and Honey (the lab).

Because of our work, we tend to bring home loads of plants (gifts) so we have lots of succulents and natives. This year we got a greenhouse that is pretty empty save for those that we didn't want to get washed away in the deluges.

I have met several DGers in person and have LOVED that. Wonderful, amazing dear folk, all of them.
Daisy

Hi, Daisy! Long time no see!

John

Heya, John! :-)

Zuzu, I have 4 hens and one rooster in the pen... oh... he's a happy ole' boy....lovin' on those girls of his....

Wow, a harem. I bet he is happy.

Hi I am Dayna a newbie to this site, I am really excited about it though, I think the feedback reguarding differant catalogs it great, as I was going to buy some stuff from Royal Dutch Gardens but now I have thrown away the catalogs as to not even be tempted, be their lies!
I live in Nipomo which is just a stones throw from Chuck in Arroyo Grande. Here on the Central Coast, I just refer to it as Paradise. I love Dahlias, (I am looking for some specific ones so if anyone has some sources I sure can use some,) glads, iris' roses and Freesia. I am really getting into gardening, I am making my own compost now, and find myself getting excited when I find worms so I can put them into my garden which is made up of really yucky hard clay (adobe) soil. Some areas are so bad that I have actually given up trying to dig it, and have just decided to use containers.
I have a 4 year old son, a 10 year old son, a 17 year old step daughter a 19 year old step son, a 5 month old yellow lab puppy( labs are puppy forever tho aren't they) a turtle, a fish, some frogs a cat and a husband. I work at a grocery store, and help care for my 93 year old gradmother who is failing from Alhziemers. My yard is like therepy for me. That is my story. I am looking forward to learning alot from this group!
Dayna

Dayne...I will be vacationing down in Pismo later in April. I will be close to both you and Chuck...I first got into daylilies after visiting Daylily West in your area. Isn't there a garden in Paso Robles with dahlias? or maybe it was iris? Seems like I remember something like that. I have met another gal through a forum who also lives in Nipomo...near the steak house.
Good to meet you!
Margie

hiya Dayna,

Welcome and hope you enjoy communicating with other gardening enthusiasts here. The knowledge, experience, and expertise you will find here is just incredible.

Best,
Don

See now Margie, we also have to post pictures to tempt people into other plants, like Dayna, her list does not include daylilies!

You are right Sue...let me see what I can post....Yours is a beauty!!

Or this one

Or this seedling

Yummy, this is fun! I can hardly wait for bloom season!

OK, OK....I know we could both go on all night!!!

Ok, better quit before someone thinks they are on the wrong forum! Crazy San Jose women! But I see we left out two different forms so have to cover that!

The doubles above and the spider. Now back to your regularly scheduled forum. :-)

Bloody fabulous blooms!

I can't resist the opportunity to show off L.J. Bobbink (Azalea rutherfordiana). Well, it's basically the only thing blooming this early. Goes with living in a place that gets down to 38f in the evenings and 80f in the daytime....sheesh.

Nice Hemerocallis!!!

Spiders look like the kind of daylily that would fit with my garden. I see there are a number of places that have a good selection. Perennials, rhizomes and bulbs that get big and have smallish flowers fit pretty well with the wild garden I have.

Sue, before we get back to the regularly scheduled forum, please tell us the name of that yummy peach-colored double above the spider.

thanks for the welcome! Margie, I live very close to Jocko's (the steakhouse you were refering to) I can smell it clearly on weekend evenings!
Had to grin at all the daylily photos. I am looking for one specific one...it is called "Co-ed Gallant Garrett" If you can point me in a direction for that I would be much obliged!
Dayna

Zuzu, that one is FORMAL APPEARANCE.
Dayna, sorry, I did a Google search on that one, actually spelled COED, only found the plant registration info on Tinkers. It may be out of circulation since it is an older cultivar, 1989. It's a pink & yellow bicolor, don't even recognize the hybridizer, E. Cook.

Dayna...my friend lives within "smelling distance" of Jocko's too! Small world!!!

Thanks for checking on that one Sue...

Doing a google search, I notice that someone on another forum is also looking for the same DL...I'll try and follow where they find one!

This message was edited Mar 29, 2005 7:47 AM

That would be Dayna too Margie.

RIGHT Sue!! Got it!! Guess I can stop checking that post out!
Can't say I didn't try!!!

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.

Kelli, I have herons fishing in my ponds too, as well as egrets. They used to catch my fish and frogs, but I have found several ways to thwart them. Aside from growing lots of water hyacinth and water lilies to conceal the fish, I plant bushes with a weeping form--azaleas, Japanese maples, and Cecil Brunner roses--next to the ponds to give the fish and frogs a place to hide. The branches reach out across the pond and the herons and egrets won't go under the branches to get the fish. I also set up a big ornamental copper stork next to one pond, and that keeps them at a distance because they assume it's his spot and they don't want to fight over it.

I agree with you about the merits of clay soil. I used to have it in Piedmont and it cut down on my watering bill considerably. Besides, a lot of nice plants will grow in clay soil, and you can always mix some aquarium sand into it for better drainage for the other plants.

Hi all!
Auturo here. Originally from Tulsa, but have been living in Sac off and on since 1993. Three years into gardening and love it. Learning to propagate. I've been planting in my backyard garden since moving into our house three years ago. It's coming along pretty nice; I've learned to be patient. I'm running out of places to plant, time to go vertical (thanks Happenstance). Not to be left out, here's partial photo of my backyard. I would love to see other gardens for ideas!

Happy gardening...

Hi Auturo....sounds like you've been bitten by the gardening bug like the rest of us! Your garden is looking lovely!

I've been known to go "ballistic".......but that's not what you said. :-)

"Going vertical?".....had to think for a minute and can only guess that I must have said something about running out of space and/or not planting shrubs along fence line because they take up too much room, so put a vine on the fence and plant some more stuff! OR.....what did I say? LOL

I'd asked about the bamboo trellis yesterday...

Ahhhh yes.......you see what happens in 24 hours......poof! Those flexible trellises are one of my better decisions.

I live in Livermore, retired landscape gardener from San Francisco. Have a lovely garden of my own (the first)
Bought a house with a 50X150 foot lot adjacent that was covered in concrete (looked like a heliport). No more concrete, 300 plus yards of soil amendments and miles of drip tubing, & two ponds later, it is beginning to look like home. Can't pin down a specific plant passion. It alters moment to moment. I paint plants for a living, so what ever catches my fancy. This week it is parrot tulips, last week hellebores and before that a banana complete with flower and fruit and an enormous rhubarb leaf. Have been leaning towards succulents and cactus and lots of tropicals which seem to survive close to the house and under the overhang.
thanks
Nancy

Hello, my name Is Anna I live in Elk Grove Ca, i am pretty new to this site but so far i LOVE it, i cant get any work done im always looking to see what is new here. I love ponds and anything involoving water, I have 2 ponds one in my front yard and one in the back also used to work at a local pond and water plant nursery. no longer there now, stuck at a desk going crazy all day, have turned the office into a little nursery lol, in my spare time i am a copper artist foutains and such, sorry i dont have any pictures to show as of yet but soon enugh. nice to meet you all .

Greetings from the Gold Rush Country! I'm Barbara and we moved here two years ago from many years of apartment dwelling in San Francisco. Such a difference. I'm just in from chipping away at the rocks so I can plant another bit of color on our half acre. I'm learning what to plant, when, how to avoid deer and gophers. I'd love suggestions on what grows in this area with an emphasis on native, flowering plants at 1,300 feet. I love Daves Garden (just found it a few days ago) and it is great to have a special place for California gardens.

Hi, better late than never. I'm Janet and am so glad we got out own place to call home. . . I know there's a bunch more Californians, probably in a gardening frenzy right now and like me haven't noticed our new forum. I didn't even look after Dave posted the NO NEW FORUMS UNTIL AFTER APR. 3 post. I live in Clovis (Fresno and Clovis are like one huge city now) with my husband and 1 cat, Adolph (a girl, but that's a story for another time LOL). Clovis used to be a 'small' rodeo town and in Sunset zone 9, but there are so many microclimates here that you can grow across several zones. I take care of a large University of California demonstration garden Vegetable area and needless to say, rarely buy any veggies in the store (an occasional tomato because I'm suffering withdrawals. .). I grew up on a 'small farm' (a vanishing species in this valley), on 80 acres 20 miles from here in Raisin City.

Daisy, I guess I missed your posts whereever you were. . .nice to see your name again. ;-D

Happy gardening all and looking forward to hearing all your California gardening tales. . . . . .

;-D Janet

I think we need to start an "Intro, cont." thread.

Hi Everyone,

It's great to see so many Ca. joined the club. I just began a few months ago. I live in San Leandro which is in the East Bay. Generally the weather is great. I have a small yard so I'm limited but my neighbors are more than glad to let me plant in their yards. I love all kinds of flowers but roses and clematis are some of my favorites. Even with the small yard I find myself spending hours outside. One time I went out and forgot I had hard boil eggs boiling. Came in later to find they exploded all over the kitchen and ceiling. I'll never do that again. It's my therapy nothing better than gardening.

Grace