California Gardening: How many of us are california Natives?, 0 by doss

doss wrote:
This is such an interesting thread. I've enjoyed reading your stories.

I'm a fifth generation native Californian on one side and a second on the other. One side came to California on a wagon train. They were Quakers and helped found Whittier. The other side came from the Ireland to the mines of Montana and then on to Los Angeles where my Grandfather worked in the fledgling film industry in lighting. I grew up in Southern California where the lawn was dichondra and around the edges of the garden were camellias, roses, fuchsias, honeysuckle etc. and perennials like snapdragons. I loved this garden and grew to love plants with my grandmother. I still feel a deep bond with her although she passed away many years ago. My mother for some reason hated Bird of Paradise. One of my husbands very favorite plants.

The way my house is organized it creates pockets of garden area. You can see photos in my DG diary. So I have a perennial garden, a meditation garden, pool area, gazebo, dry creek, shade garden... The big trees were here when we bought the house but almost everything else has changed.

My gardening has changed since I came to DG as I have sacrificed some 'landscaping' for some collections. Now I gather dahlias, iris and daylilies and Japanese Maples in addition to as many wild and unusual plants I can fit into the scape.

My garden gives me surprises every day. Right now it's daffodil time which is not something that I remember from my youth.