CA's & SW Gardener's, Let's Introduce Ourselves2

Idblond,
I'm glad to hear that your surgeries have helped and you are on the road to recovery. : - )
Things should get back to "normal" after this weekend.
Living as you do in the Coachella Valley, you do get more days of Sunshine than any other part of the country. Also a lot less rain. Look into drip irrigation, and timers that are available, then you don't have to water as much. Mulching the gardens for you is a wonderful gift that your sweet kids gave you. I'm starting to get my plants moved back into the gh for the winter, and mulch them that ain't going back in.
Sadly, I lost several plants when I went on vacation.
So I get it. So does QG, although she has to watch out for her horses eating everything in sight. Don't worry, if you got your J&P roses recently from one of the catalogs, they may replace them for you if you write to them, for free. Never hurts to ask.
I've found that they grow best in my area in partial shade, but can grow well in full sun as long as they get enough water.
I am very glad to see you posting again, Idblond. : - )
I enjoyed meeting you and your family at the RU this year. Had a great time and good memories. Still have a couple of bowling balls around too, but plan on using them for Pumpkin bowling if nothing else. LOL!
I'll be checking in more often. I just hope our friends in the metro area near LA and Long Beach are okay, they truly are not used to the heat. The last time I remember it being so hot in San Fernando or Santa Ana, was when I was a kid. It was so miserable, when you are used to milder temps. Especially at night.
Do take care everyone. I missed y'all too!
WIB~
SW

Okay Oldtimers and Newbies,
Where'd ya all go? I've been busy with the Pumpkin Patch, but what has everyone else been doing? Did you all have a good garden harvest this year? Or is the weird weather causing delays in ripening of the fruits and seeds for you too?
Still waiting for my pomegranites to turn red.
Miss everyone, and hope to hear from you all soon.
WIB~
SW

BOO!!!! Jo

OMG Jo, you scared me!!!!

Thanks, Louise....I needed that! LOL

Ready for Trick or Treat.... Jo

That's hilarious!

Is that really you Jo? Scariest costume I saw all year. LOL. : - )
It's good to see you up on stage, and is that a microphone behind you? Does our Jo have hidden talents?
Miss you, and am glad to see that you look great! All healed up now, too! : - )
WIB~
SW

Hey Jo, nice look! My baby sister had a 'look' along that line (she is the one on the far left with the stuffed animals):

Very funny about the horses, SW. But so true, especially now that the rainy season approaches. Told DH I cannot stand to have those things roaming free if their corrals flood again. Suggested fencing off a section (about a third) of the yard where the garage is for them to be 'out', but he said they need to be able to run in circles around the house, so a fence around the house, encompassing the 'garden' would be better. Considering the effort and $ to do either of those, it is unlikely to happen. So, expect to hear screaming from this neck of the woods when we get considerable rainfall.

I did not get near the crop from my veggies in 5 gallon pots this year as I did from the straw bales last year. Nevertheless, the tomatoes are attempting a last hurrah as I see many new green ones and blossoms. They like these warm, not hot days, but the cool evenings are likely to do them in. SW, our neighbor's Pomegranates are red.

DD and I went to Cincinnati for my niece's wedding on Oct 1 and we had a great time with family. Here is a shot on my sister's deck there in Cincinnati (OMG look at that green and those woods behind her house) of my 3 sisters and DD.

Ddang! If Baby Sister doesn't look a lot like my cousin twice remover, Earline!!

That picture was of me doing my take on Patsy Klein's"She's got you"! at the KY RU a couple of years ago. Jo

Jo you always cheer me up with your willingess to let loose and have some fun. : - )
QG, Loved all those costumes. Some ingenuity went into making them.
Also loved seeing the family photo. I can't believe that it's so green there at the beginning of October. I wonder if the leaves are still green now. Hmmm . . . .
I'm feeling pretty tired still from the Pumpkin Patch.
Am hoping to get a new page of the Daily Thoughts thread started today. It's getting kinda
long.
Got to get ready for Dr. appt., but wanted to "pop" in and say Hey!
WIB~
SW

Hello Fellow Gardeners, I am Ernie Copp, recently moved to Vista, CA, and am landscaping my half acre lot. Running out of room for more trees, so I am looking for some Thornless Mexican Lime tree bud sticks. I can either pay for them or trade Kumquat, Dancy Tangerine, or Meyer Lemon bud sticks, and if you do not know how to do Chip Bud Grafting, I will show you.

I would also appreciate suggestions on low growing, evergreen ground cover that will tolerate Full morning sun and Full afternoon shade, as well as vice versa, Full morning shade and Full afternoon sun. I am both blessed and cursed with huge Eucaplytus trees on the East side and huge Pecan trees on the West side. Thankfully, the lot is wide enough that there is Full sun in the middle.

This message was edited Nov 6, 2011 10:45 AM

Welcome Ernie, wish I could help you out. I don't have what you're asking for. Good luck on landscaping your new yard. Beautiful area you moved to. Send us pictures!

Hi Ernie,
I'm afraid I don't have many answers for you. I do have a suggestion though. Drive around your local area (Vista), and see what other people have growing for a mounding ground cover. Take your camera, and if you don't know what it is, you can post a photo and we'll help you identify what it is. I wish I could offer more advice.
When I lived out your way as a kid, Iceplant was a big ground cover favorite. Living where I do now, I really like using mint, and Lantana for Ground covers. The Rosemary went nuts, and then I find out I'm allergic to them. Sigh.
Anyway, I don't know if that helps at all, but I second weegy, and hope you keep us posted.
I for one would love to learn how to Chip Bud Grafting. My Eldest Son is adding to the orchard (small group of mostly citrus trees we have here on the farm.) and would also benefit from knowing more about the care, feeding, and grafting of trees. : - )
Wish you the best of luck, and hope that your garden is a happy place for all. : - )
Walk In Beauty~
SingingWolf

Singing Wolf,

I had Lantana bushes in Laguna many years ago, but those were waist high. They had little berries on them that the birds loved, and if there is a low growing variety, a foot tall or less, i would sure try them.
Chip budding with malus, prunus, and many of the soft wood varieties is not difficult, but i put some regular lime buds on a Meyer Lemon, and the wood under the citrus buds is much harder and the thorns made it much more difficult. That is when i decided i wanted the thornless variety, but just have not had any response. I will check the Nurseries and see if they have sold any or know any growers.

Hi Earnie,
My lantana aren't bushes except one. Mine are ground covers, and if you want I'll save you some berries/seeds. I have several colors growing. I like them because they bring in the Butterflies.
I am woefully ignorant about fruit/nut trees. Ask me about Monterrey Pine Christmas Trees though and I'll know. : - )
A lot of what you said went over my head. I don't know what you mean about Chip Budding, and have a vague idea about grafting one type of tree or rose to hardier root stock, but it's not something I've ever tried doing, but I do hope to learn more. : - )
I'll try to take a photo to post of my lantana tomorrow to show you what they are looking like.
What do you think of Mint? Lots of different kinds. : - )
Best get going, I have a lot to do in the next couple of days.
WIB~
SW

Ernie: You might want to consider Dymondia margaretae as a ground cover. (See photo in the PlantFiles)

It grows amazingly fast and only gets about 6" tall. Forms an extremely dense mat and gets tiny yellow flowers on it. Easily obtainable here in So. Cal. and it's also drought tolerant.
I have it in sun and in shade and it does just fine in the conditions you describe. It looks like a tiny gazania with variegated leaves. It won't, however, take a lot of foot traffic, but for a large scale fast growing ground cover it's excellent...and also chokes out weeds.

You shouldn't have any trouble finding it down your way.
I'll take a picture tomorrow and post it.

S. W. I have a strip of ground between the grass and the big trees about 20 feet wide, total probably about 1500 sf total, and intend to plant 3 or 4 different ground covers to see which are best for the situation. I am very interested in the Lantana and will get a flat or two to try them. I am getting too old to start with seeds if i can locate small plants. About what spacing would you suggest for the Lantana?

Chip budding is the simplest easiest way of grafting. You simple slice off a small chip of bark from the root stock, and then slice off a bud from the scion, and place the bud with the edge, where the cambium cells are, so it touches the edge, or if the bud chip is the same width as the understock chip, both edges of the cut in the understock. Then you wrap budding tape, which is like the stretchy green garden tape only much thinner, around the new bud to keep it from drying out. Try not to touch the underside of the bud. Everything that grows out from that bud, a whole new tree, fruit, leaves, branching habits, etc, will be a clone, or identical to, the tree the bud was taken from.

I love both the smell and appearance of Mint, but found it attracted dogs and cats so gave up grabbing a few of the leaves to chew on. Does it do well in the half day of full shade and then half day of hot sun?

Ernie

Jasper,
I investigate the Dymondia margaretae, as it sounds like the type of plant i want. I will have enough room to experiment with a half dozen or so different varieties and will enjoy propagating and expanding the ones that do best, where some of them will fail.

I have some pictures in the camera that i took a few days ago, and when i get them on the computer i will post a couple. Very unusual location with 60 foot tall Eucs right up to the fence on one side and 35 foot Pecans just outside the fence on the other side. Beautiful to look at, provides a lot of good dead leaves, but create very dense shade, too.
Thanks,
Ernie

Hi Ernie, and Hey JD!
I was hoping JD would chime in, since he lives in your Zone, and is way more knowledgeable than I am.
In regards to the Lantana, mine sprawl over the ground and the tallest they've gotten is maybe 18" - 20" tall. I get impatient with seed starting too. I like the little purple an yellow colored flowers on Lantana. The purple (they might call it blue because it is a light purple)
is the hardiest, for my region. The B.flys like the yellow ones best. They come in a variety of colors, so try for a mixed flat. As far as spacing, give them at least 3 feet. So they have plenty of room to spread out. You can always plant other plants between them if needed.
You know I have problems with my dogs and cats rolling in my Mums, but they never mess around with my mint. Even the gophers avoid my mint. Don't know why. Maybe it's because my mint was a hardy groundcover, that a dear friend gave me to begin with. I am not entirely sure what kind it is. I can't seem to grow catnip, another type of mint. Lots of varieties of mint, and it will readily spread given water. Mine stands up to partial shade and almost full sun. Since it seeded itself by the pond, that section of mint gets evening shade. The batch out front gets morning shade. I can start and root some for you if you'd like. I just took a couple of sprigs from my friends garden and stuck 'em into the ground and they grew. : - )
I do have one really stinky kind of mint (forget name) that is confined to a pot in the gh.
Can't wait to see the photos! : - )
Good luck and keep us posted!
WIB~
SW

I am waiting for photos before I comment. I have a very large area in partial shade and I have many different ground covers but they love moisture. My biggest problem is the tree roots. They will travel anywhere there is water. Sharon

Here's a picture of the Dymondia. Mine never gets any more than about 3" tall, like in this shot.

Jasperdale, i bought a flat of Dymondia today, as they only had one that looked to be in prime condition, and i like what i have seen of it so far. I will need 25 or 30 flats total,to cover the areas i want to cover, so i am going to plant a few flats of several different kinds. I will plant about 4 more of the Dymondia. Thank you very much for the suggestion.

I also bought a flat of Australian Violet that i like the looks of, and Linda wanted some Sedum in one deep shade area on the North side, so we planted that today.

Singing Wolf, I am going to plant the Trailing Lantana in one large area, but did not buy any today. The Nursery attendent was definite that it is too tender to take a chance this late, but i am sure it gets colder in Menifee than it does down here. From the looks of the plants that are growing around here, it must rarely frost, although it got cold enough to knock the leaves from my established Guava tree. early this Spring. Nothing had been pruned and it did not show old frost damage before the loss. What has been your experience with the Lantana in the winter time. Some confusion as to potential height. Information online says the Trailing L only reaches 1 or 2 feet, but the Nursery label said 3 feet. I also saw reference online to a "Spreading Lantana" that seems to be midway between the Trailing and the Regular, but the Green Thumb Nursery did not know anything about the third type. S W, thank you, too, for re-connecting me to an old favorite, by your mention of the trailing lantana.
Ernie

This is a photo of my Austrian Violet on the side of the driveway and sidewalk. It is in full sun but watered automatically.

Sharon,
Although the leaves on your Austrian Violet look larger than the ones in the flat of Australian Violet i just bought, I think they are very similar. Perhaps one of us have the name wrong, but either way, or both, i like the plant very much.

I will try to get the photos out soon. We are having another good rain here this morning, which will bring our season total close to two inches, which is more than we have been getting this early in the season.

Ernie

I think the variety Sharon has is a less invasive one than the one I'm posting here. Hers may not be considerwed invasive at all. It looks very nice.

The one in this picture gets tiny purple flowers on it but they don't rise above the foliage like hers do and the blooms aren't as prolific as hers. The flowers are this one are down inside the folaige so they're hard to see. I don't know which one this is, never bothered to look, but all I know is that it's EXTREMELY invasive and virtually impossible to erradicate. I've been battling it for 20 years. I rip them out the minute I see them and this one escaped me somehow. No blooms on it at the moment, thankfully. This stuff comes up everywhere. I've even seen it growing out of the tops of palm trees, cracks in concrete, street gutters, downspouts, lawns, etc.

Ernie: I hope this isn't the one they sold you, because if it is, you'll never get rid of it. Sorry to be a downer, but....
Compare this photo with what you purchased.

Jasper,

Difficult to really tell at this point. Mine are still in the flat, lots of flowers, mostly white with some lavender, no purple like some violets have, but being so young, the flowers are still just above the leaves,not 3 inches above as hers appear to be, and the leaves are much smaller than the ones in Sharon's photo.

I found the name researching on the web, and they did not mention an invasion problem. One good thing, i am planting this in an isolated bed, surrounded by sidewalk and block wall, and sharing the location with just two trees, so if it does not suit, it can be eradicated without damaging other plants. So, only the seeds to worry about for now.

Thanks for your very helpful advice and comments.

I will post a few photos now.

Ernie

I have been trying to post some before and after pictures, but that does not appear to be possible, so will send 3 or 4 in separate posts, showing some of what we have accomplished, and how fertile this ground has become with just a little bit of care.
This picture is of a corner that had large ugly Euc stumps, trash, and weeds. It has come out nicely with the clean up, trimming the stumps, arranging the rock pile, and planting some small Japanese Maples behind some Liriope that were all contained in three big clumps growing in front of the house. The area to the right of the Liriope now has one flat of the Dymondia planted in it, and that ground cover area continues for some distance. Ernie

The prior picture is looking North East. The East border is lined with 60 foot tall Eucs, so the area between the grass and the fence is in very dark shade until about noon.
Swinging on around to the South, there is a small Public Park, but an Easement along my South propery line with no trees, gives me some sunlight in the middle of the property. That is where my garden plot and Grape Arbor are, as they require more sun. The Grapes on the Arbor were planted this past Spring, and some have grown as much as 14 feet. The Asparagus Ferns along the fence behind the Arbor are over 5 feet tall.

Picture number three in this series is looking West at the 40' tall Pecan trees. Unfortunately, these are the old fashioned small, hard shell type. But the Crows are able to crack them open and get part of the meat.
The Lantana will cover a pretty large area between the rear driveway and the Pecan trees. The new sod is tall fescue, which seems to be the best evergreen grass for this area. Three good men helped me lay 11 pallets, [5500 sf] in ten hours, or about a pallet an hour, but it varies with the carrying distance. That was information i could not find before doing the job, so that might come in handy in the future. Ernie

This will be the last in this series, and i want to thank you for bearing with me. This picture will show the conditions we started with, and deciding which picture to use, of the many i have, will be the hardest part of this action. The picture will either show us removing Palm trees or enough Nopales Cactus to feed a herd of Texas Cattle. Thanks, Ernie

Someone probably should have explained to you how to post pictures on this site, but you evidently figured out that you can only do one at a time, then just keep replying to your previous post. Glad you figured it out !

You've been very BUSY ! That's a huge amount of sod to lay. Looks great. Who gets to mow it ?
We don't have cattle here, but the locals do eat those same cactus !

Actually, I posted a picture of a natural grown Bonsai Fir on this site when i joined back in March, but i have not been back on it until recently, and just forgot about punching the Browse. I went to Home Page, and they reminded me, so all i wasted was some time.

I like Nopalitos with scrambled eggs, and planned to save part of that cactus plant, but the more we chopped the uglier it got, so we wound up taking it and another one that big out completely. There is one more big one outside my back fence, and i did have a few pears off of it. About all i have left is some trees and plants to plant, pavers in the Grape Arbor, and finished some steps off the back porch that were never finished. Then it will just be maintenence, and i have a riding mower, that i also use to cut down on the walking i have to do, so i will do that, and have the helper do the edge trimming and weeding.

One of my best ideas did not work out, which is why i am now putting pavers in the Arbor. When we were cutting down all those Palms, i had the idea of cutting slices from them and paving the arbor floor. It looked wonderful, felt good, etc, but the things would change diameter up to an inch or inch and a half, depending on the moisture content, and that killed the plants we had put between them. So, we live and learn, and fix our mistakes.

Here is a photo of how good those palm slices looked before they tore them selves up shrinking and swelling.

Ernie

Couldn't you seal them so thy would just stay the way they were. That is/was beautiful.

Boy you bit off a big one when you took that property on. But it is looking great.

I have a violet in the back landscape that has very large leaves. The leaves hide the small bloom below and burn in the direct sun. I still have it in one area that I have been working on getting finally rid of it.

The one I posted the photo was at my old home. I purchased it many years ago. I cannot even tell you if it was in Las Vegas or California. I brought 2 shovels full to our new home. I now have many sq. ft. of it but I have it where I want it. Some one from DG on plant ID identified it about 5 years ago as Australian Violet. It was someone in Australia and said it was so invasive there that it would grow over a lake.

I had the landscape crew order some for the HOA landscape. It was totally different. It was planted in a very large square planter by the guard gate. It grew very leggy and we yanked it out. I can send you a shoe box full of mine so you can compare. The good one, not the bad one. Just send me your address on a d-mail. Sharon

Sharon,
On the palm tree slices, I did think about sealing them, but would have first had to dry them out in order to stabilize them. Palm trees seem to be very different than other trees, and appear to be made up similar to bundles of vertical soda straws filled with an absorbent material. Looking back on it now, after seeing how they acted, probably the only way to have stabilized them would have been to dry them under pressure to prevent them from cupping, and then soak them in epoxy. I was very proud of the idea for the short time it lasted, and learning about such a different material made the effort worthwhile.

In a perverse way, i am hoping the violet has a strong life force, as is necessary to be invasive, as the site where i am putting it may be one of the toughest micro environments i have here. When the builders originally built the house on a sloping site, the low end wound up with very coarse sandy sloping fill, either from a sand pocket on higher ground or imported. Nothing has grown there for 30 years, but i leveled it with a block retaining wall and have added and mixed in several inches of compost. The under soil is so open, i over dug holes for planting two trees and lined the holes with better soil to slow the drainage down. The violets will have to be quick to grab a drink before the water drains away, so we will see how it does.

I would love to have a sample of your good violet. That will help me positively identify which one i now have, and i certainly have lots of places to plant it. If it is different, i will put it in a better place and get more of the bad one for the bad place.

Apparently from your mention of using D mail, i should not just put my address here, so i will learn how to use the D mail.
Thanks,
Ernie

Some of these threads anyone can log in. There are a few scammers on DG, just like any other site. We have run most of them off but beware of prepaying postage or sending trades.

If you click on someone's name, it will show you if they are a subscriber and when they joined. Some join and then scam a lot of people at the same time. We try to keep everyone up to date on the scammers.

They are some wonderful people here and you will get to know them. Later and I will send your violets later in the week. Sharon

I would like to have advice, opinions and suggestions on planting Nasturtiums as perennial ground cover. When researching them, mentions were made that SOME varieties are perennial in in climates like mine. {10A or 11], but no info on which varieties. I prefer plants, but only find seed available, because of poor transplanting success. Linda wants me to plant some, if practical. Comments, please.

Nasturtiums are usually planted from seeds. And they reseed themselves. In the last few years the market has exploded with many different colors. Sharon

Sharon,

i bought 3 packs of Ferry Morse nasturtiums yesterday, about 20 seeds to a pack and about 20 %s of those look very old. I had an easy time scarifying the hulls, holding them with long nose pliers and rubbing them on very coarse sand paper, about 40 grit. I will plant them and keep them wet and see if they sprout this fall. Thanks, Ernie

Probably should soak them in peroxide and H2O combo for about 1 hour. Mother Winter