Viewing post #333914 by zuzu

Well, I definitely want to be part of this good-looking bunch of people.

I'm in California, but in Sonoma County, far enough north to grow lots of azaleas, rhododendrons, camellias, fuchsias, and other "PNW" types of plants in the large shady areas of my garden.

I moved up here almost 30 years ago from Piedmont and I've been working on the garden ever since, mainly because there's little else to do in Sebastopol. I started out with a passion for irises, but began planting a few roses here and there for color during the rest of the year. Now I have about 2,000 rose bushes and the poor irises and other plants are confined to the spaces between roses, except in the shade, where I grow all sorts of zone-inappropriate things, including peonies and a large assortment of alpine plants. I have to dump ice trays on all of them in winter to make them bloom here in spring, however, because we just don't get enough frost here otherwise.

I doubt that I'll ever move farther north, partly because I'm particularly prone to S.A.D. and I crave constant sunlight to keep my spirits lifted, but I'm really going to enjoy seeing photos of "northern" plants growing in the proper conditions.