Don't forget to edit your location now Sherry!
And if you ever get to visit the Willamette Valley nurseries near Lynn, you will love it!

I have redwoods out front by my driveway, not much can be grown under them, "They are very shallow, often only five or six feet deep. But they make up for it in width, sometimes extending up to 100 feet from the trunk." Many of our neighbors are having to remove theirs as they are interfering with septic and water lines or have become dangerous because of split trunks. I have a row that backs up to the back part of our property, that's a good distance but the neighbor has one next to our fence and it's making it difficult to plant anything. In the front driveway, we added a lot of additional soil, built it up into a mound and I planted lots of rhodies. I am now having trouble adding additional plants as the fine redwood roots have already filled in the new soil areas.

Sherry, where do you live now?

We have pines & oaks & bays all over our property, except for part of the back garden area, where I plant. When we moved here, I took out the grass (which didn't get enough sun due to the pines) & planted. Everything did well for about two years, then died! Michelle (Derviss) said it's due to the pine roots. Over the years, I've found a few hardy plants that can co-exist with the pine roots, but nothing very ornamental.

Epimedium does well under the evergreen trees. And there are many different ones.

Thanks, Sue, that's right...I'll have to change my 'location'...didn't think of that at all.

Maybe because I don't really feel 'here' yet..another whole day spent unloading a truck...I really don't want to do this anymore...definitely too old for this....

Thanks, Lynn about the anemones...I'm not going to be planting anything right now...I think I'm looking for the 'forest' experience...here in town, much the same is planted as I did down south...the motel here is full of cistus, big shrubs of c. skanbergii, which I used a lot of on the previous property but I don't think that I want to plant all the same things I've planted for years. Coming in on 199 from Grant's Pass I was taken by how much I liked something like Kerby / Kerbyville..in the damp woods. The rental house is quiet but several blocks away, right in town, it's busier than I'd like with quite a bit of traffic.

I'm happy to see clover again...both red and white mixed in with the grass at the rental....

Wow Sherry, what a beautiful area you live in. That is quite a distance to the Willamette Valley. But I hope if you ever get up this way you will stop by.

I love the clover and English Daisies in my lawn.

Few shots from the lot of the motel we've stayed at here in town....










Cistus skanbergii














Edited to add that one of the things I love most about cistus is the wonderful sweetly resinous scent that it puts out into the surrounding air on warm days...and i'm wondering if that will be lacking here in my new home...where I don't expect to have those hot days......?

They should get some beautiful warm days for Cistus to give you that scent.
We have a local/small nursery here that specializes in Cistus. He has many different kinds. They are wonderful.
I can't wait to see photo of your new place Sherry.

Well, it will be awhile yet until we've bought something....Jer is on his way back up with yet another truckload of 'stuff' and then will turn around and go back down to pick up, hopefully, the last already-loaded truckload. I'm thinking that he will be here today and then we have a huge load to unload into storage....should we have had the time to get rid of a whole lot more 'stuff' before leaving...?...oh, yeah, but.

The funky little house in the woods that I want is still available and I'd like to get that, it would mean a lot of work, but that's what we do. The tiny rental house that we're in until then is less than joyful...a '40's kitchen without the charm, tiny, dank bathroom...

This is all such a big, life-changing move that I don't even think of gardening right now at all....maybe later....maybe not. I have to admit that it would take a whole lot of leverage to get me to want to go outside and work on mornings such as this, or probably on any given day this coming Winter...lol..

Yes, winter can be a challenge on the coast, especially when you are going through such a big change.
But with time you will find beauty all around you, drawing you back outdoors.

lol...I'm thinking lots of baking instead....focus on new foods for a change

Him, can I have your address?
I do envy you the ability to walk on the beach, watch storms from your warm and toasty car. I love the coast.
Don't forget your thermos of hot coffe/tea/cocoa and some of the new items you bake. : )

I've been wanting this for a long time. In our last home, for 32 years, we were 20 miles from the ocean and though we got to the coast as often as we could, it's not the same. I will continue to complain though, I'm afraid, until we once again have a woodstove. Other than that, there will be no complaints from me.

Most of my married life that was the only heat we had, wood. I do miss the comfort of it, but not the work.

We've always used only wood, which I like and am wondering how much limited use of heating is going to cost us here. Once we're in a place of our own, we'll have a woodstove again. In the meantime, I'm wearing sweats a lot...lol..

Sweats are our friends. : )
Bundle up well, until you can get into your own place, with lovely wood heat.

Wood is nice. Pellet stoves are even nicer, to me! No splinters, no splitting, no bugs hitching a ride into the house.....

We've always grown / produced our own wood, but if that turns out to not be the case here, we'll take a look at pellet stoves...we are getting old-er.....lol...

Yup. We switched to a pellet stove when we had to start buying firewood instead of cutting our own. I hate electric heat and gas makes me nervous. Pellet stove is a nice compromise, but they do require some maintenance. Cost seems to be pretty much a trade-off.

I mentioned somewhere earlier that a lot of the old houses here have tanks for kerosene....um, I don't think I care for that....so right now we're just using several oil filled radiator type electric room heaters...sparingly.