Ah well.....you can post pics of all of those things that grow so well where you are and don't do well for those of us in warmer zones....we long for those also, you know.....

Yes, like ferns and Hostas and Heucheras - yeah, I know there's a native one, but it still dies here - and moss on trees!

And lilacs and peonies and holly and......hey, do you have gophers?

Yes we have pocket gophers, moles, and voles. I also have a lot of problems with bunnies and this year is the first in 25 that the tender new growth in spring hasn't been devoured by the rabbits. We had a very harsh winter. Wonder if that cut down on the rabbit population.

Oh, I'm sorry...I thought for sure you wouldn't have gophers.....lol. I thought that we'd cornered the market on them out here.

Oh my, I bet you do have lilacs. I would love to smell lilacs in spring like when I was a kid in Wisconsin. I bet you have real soil too, like when plant descriptions say to put it in 'rich loamy soil'. Sounds like you have plenty of critters, even more than us, so can't be jealous there.

We have clay soil. I stopped by a friends house this evening and she asked what she could plant that doesn't attract japaneese beetles, not knock out roses, which gets about 4', blooms profusely all summer and has year round interest. I advise her to tell her dh she wants to move to San Francisco

Unfortunately there are problems everywhere. I'm just glad not to have deer here. I plant in wire, plant rabbit resistant plants. I have lived in areas with no problems, but it was so long ago that I fear I'm imagining it.

Susan, how about rhododendron or mountain laurel? (Can't grow those here, I don't think.) I don't know about crepe myrtles and Japanese beetles, but I never saw any on rhododendron or mountain laurel in Pennsylvania.


BTW, if this thread gets too long for anyone, let me know and I'll start a new one.


Iris that I got from someone at DG several years ago


purple trumpet vine

What a surprise! I find this a.m. that my cistus purpureus has thrown a white 'sport'! I don't have this in white, so I'll need to mark this stem and take cuttings.


All of the winter rains have been so good for the plants. My erigeron / Santa Barbara Daisies are practically shouting...well, maybe they're singing...

I find this a.m. that my cistus purpureus has thrown a white 'sport'!

Neat! Once in a while I'll find something with the wrong number of petals, but I don't think I've ever had a color change. Once in a very great while I'll find a color sport in the wild, but since it's in a park I can't take it.

How hot does it get where you are? Years ago, a friend of mine had an erigeron and it didn't live long. She thought that it was too hot here for it.

Well, in the last several years we've actually had the temps each 107 once or twice which is by a looong shot waaay too hot. It'snot too hot here, it thrives, very tough, undemanding. I use it extensively as a filler and ground cover in the beds.

My first iris has opened.....(came from weegy originally)

Hoping for tomorrow on this one...(came from kanita)

Do you know what the first on is? I like that.

First flowers on the Marmalade Bush...

I really, really should plant more of this mesembryanthemum...

This is like my Easter egg hunt...every morning I go out and look for the 'first flowers of.....'

No, I got them from weegy un-named. Since I wasn't selling them , the names weren't important to me. I will make note that you like that one and will post pics of others as they open so you can decide what you want to trade for...lol..

Okie dokie

Your mesembryanthemum, from here it looks like prickly phlox.

Can you see what's hiding back in this stand of Matilijas? I've been waiting for this and almost missed the first ones...

This is better...

Second iris to open...

I don't remember if I've posted a pic of echium Mr. Happy. He's about 6 ft tall now, can't wait til he reaches 15 ft!

Haven't taken a picture yet, but one of our Fremontodendrons (Flannel Bush) is covered in blooms - it only took six years!!! What a little winter rain will do for spring flowers.