Hello fellow Californians....let's introduce ourselves!

Sheran, Stella, Donna
Thank you for the welcome....I'm getting a lot of joy out of this site, start my morning with it everyday. About the wild turkeys, where have you been seeing them in Cambria? Around the "village proper"? Had no idea, now I'll have to look for them there also. I can't tell you what it does for me to see them, if I don't find them in Julian or Mesa Grande now, I come home depressed. We had so many days of wonderful snow this year in Julian, Warner Springs was nice also, that I was going back and forth quite a bit and the last sighting of the turkeys was wonderful. We'd come up from Borrego Springs and heading around the curves to Wynola and spotted something ahead on the road going into a curve, couldn't see what it was and as we got closer we saw that it was 2 Tom turkeys with their tails all fanned out displaying and they were escorting the hens across the road like crossing guards. It really made my day. It made me feel so much farther away, I envy those wh live where they can sit and watch them outside. Once there was a flock of about 30 out by the park in Julian and I could have been there all day watching them, peaceful...I think it was the Tomales Bay area that wasn't so happy about having them around, reports of a flock of them attacking and elderly woman in a cemetary. Now, I have to admit to having a black sense of humor, but it brought funny visions to my mind. Donna, thank you, I am aware of the R.U. in Temecula, plan on making it if can,I do have things I'd like to trade. Though July 8th in Temecula will be hot...
Sherry

Hello, everyone...

I happened upon this site while randomly following links in the web. What serendipity to have found you all. I lived in Palo Alto for many years and did a lot of gardening there. My garden was a cottage style garden.

Last year we moved to Davis (about 20 miles west of Sacramento on Hwy. 80), and my garden here is very small. Most of the backyard is pool and cement. The front is small with some grass (probably to be replaced with something more interesting) and some planters. We live on a corner lot and one side is dry shade with no irrigation.Oh my what a difference! I have so much to learn about this climate.

I am looking forward to getting to know you and exchanging advice and plants.

Judith

I am located in the hills known as Vicente Canyon (along Vicente creek) on the Oakland/Berkeley border. I have been here one year and am excited and OVERWHELMED with my yard. It is about 1/2+ acre mainly a 25-45 degree slope with some flatter areas. There are 4-5 large Oaks, a group of Redwoods, and a creek surrounded by Ash. There are very sunny to very shady areas. It has been neglected for a number of years. I am designing and gardening by instinct as I am completely uneducated in this area. I hope to use this site for education, inspiration, and reference.

Welcome to both of you, Judith and Tom. You'll find an answer to just about any gardening question you can dream up, both from some very knowledgeable experts and from alot of us, who like me still do alot of trial and error (but can come up with some good solutions when we put out minds to it.) The collective body of knowledge here still astounds me after being a member for several years and am sorry to say I don't have nearly enough time to frequent the site as much as I would like, but when I do, I usually get my answers. I've met quite a few on the CA forum in person and they're super! So, welcome aboard and hang on for the gardening ride of your life. 8-) Janet

Hi,
I'm Alex, and I live in La Mirada (right on the LA County/Orange County border). I started with roses, branched out (ha ha) into herbs, and now I'm gradually populating my garden with offbeat stuff as it catches my eye. I also suffer from a serious case of zonal denial, as the sun-scorched twigs of what was once a witch hazel will attest.

would be nice to do a local round up!!!!!!!!!!!!!! any takers.

Sherry, the turkeys have been on Happy Hill (just above West Village) and the southern part of Lodge Hill, overlooking the hills around Harmony. I really can't imagine a turkey threatening anyone. I wonder how damaging they could be to a garden? I guess I don't know the answer to that. I do know that the pictured trio (there were four but I only got a shot of three, and those in bad lighting) are very, very harmful to my garden. This is on the back part of the lot but I first noticed them right outside my office window, boldly drinking out of the bird bath and nosing my delphiniums. BTW, if you need a good way to get them moving (these guys weren't in the least bit scared of me), try canned air. One pssssst and they bounced right outta here.

Oh, and I meant to say Welcome Alex, Judith and Tom.

Stella,
Thanks, I'll be sure to look for them now every time I'm there. Don't know what they would do to the garden. I do know that we used to have peacocks roaming around here and a hen and her three chicks took up residence at our place for awhile, really loved my strawberry beds!! I didn't care, was worth it to have them there..The deer are unfortunately another story, we had to deal with the deer when we were on Whidby. Can be costly to do deer fencing to keep them out. And yet I loved seeing them outside..........I think it was in November when we were up your way last, had been wanting to go to the Aquarium and being as it had been rainy I didn't think it would be crowded....Duh! I don't know if there are any days left when one can find even a parking spot near the Aquarium. Anyway, decided to head the long way down 1 through Sur and all. Quite a few whale spotted, and best of all, the elephant seals north of Cambria! I don't know how I'd missed seeing them before. I usually stop in Harmony also (to pay a visit to the Camp Climax Pottery works that I would love to collect, but, alas, can only visit), so I'll look for them there also. I wake up nearly every morning wishing to be on the road up there! And now there are turkeys there too! I'll have to content myself with driving up to Julian this afternoon and looking for them there

Sherry

Hello everyone. My name is Duke. I just found DG a couple of weeks ago and it looks as though it's the right place to come to for good advice. My wife Sunni and I live in Simi Valley. We look forward to learning and sharing our experiences with you all.
-Duke

Hello Duke its sheran from Northridge,,,, finally someone close......


yipeeeeee.

Hi,
I live in San Jose. I moved here 3 months ago from the Santa Cruz mountains. I am very busy changing the landscape to my taste. There is too much Ivy in our property and the neighborhood ( I hate ivy). Trying slowly to get rid of ivy. Going slow as some of the ivy is on a sloping area and don't want the soil to start sliding later this year with the rain. I don't want to use weedicides - so it is good old hand power.
Any thoughts on a better ground cover (no vinca or ivy).
Also any thoughts on "nice" plants to grow around the fish pond.

I am glad to be in this forum.
Everyone-enjoy the summer and happy gardening !!!

Welcome! I can sympathize with you on the ivy...it was covering the majority of my yard when I moved here. I also didn't want the chemical approach so I ripped it all out by hand, but unless you dig way down and get all the roots out it will come back, so you'll have to stay on top of it unless you want it to come back. I even covered it up with weed cloth (which I would normally never do) and it can still come back up through that, although it does slow it down a bit). I replaced mine with regular garden plants rather than groundcover (yard was level) so I'm not sure if I have any good suggestions for you but it would help to know whether the area is in sun or shade (I'm guessing at least a little shady because that's where I usually see ivy, but a lot of mine was growing great in full sun so I don't want to assume!) You might also want to start a new thread about the ivy replacement...you'll probably get some answers here but it'll get noticed by more people if it's a new thread.

Hi there Sheran. Not far at all. Hope you've been enjoying this absolutely beautiful weekend!

Yes, I am a community gardener, right below the oddessy resturant on rinaldi, drive by and check us out.


Maybe we should have a get together with other gardeners?????

To be quite honest, my wife and I are totally newbs to gardening. In fact, we just planted our first 3 trees this weekend ( Heritage river birch) and have 4 gardenias set to go in today or tomorrow as soon as we till the bed. So we don't have any knowledge to offer to others yet but would love to have the chance to get more knowledgable ;) We'll have to stop by to see the garden as soon as we have the chance.

I am the president, there is always someone around, tell them you know sheran, and ask for a tour.

Well this took awhile to read! It brings back so many memories of when I lived in the real city, Covina and then Ontario, and Chino. I'm now living in Blythe, which is on the border of Ca & Arizona. I'm new to this forum and new to gardening, so I'll probably be asking a whole lot of stupid questions in the future. I have no idea why I would move to the desert when I hate cactus. Oh, now I remember, I got lost in my rv and was only going to stay a couple of days. Two years later I'm still here. Not to say I like it, I'm just still here. Anyways, I've enjoyed reading everyone's comments so much now I'll never get off my laptop...except to garden.

Welcome betterbloom, You should go to the cactus and succulent forum. I'm not that fond of cacti myself (because they bite). But there are so many other things that grow in the desert; you're sure to find something you get addicted to. Adeniums, for instance - I'm having a hard time staying away from them.

I just saw this now that it's been bumped up. Great reading about all of you!

I live in the Montclair district of Oakland in the hills. I have only been here a year or so after transferring with my firm from NYC. I lived in Manhattan for 15 years and never had more than a houseplant, so I am a complete novice gardener and DG has been really helpful resource. Not to mention that this summer when I was confined to the house with a broken right leg, conversing with folks on here helped keep me sane. (well, you know, sane for me :-)

I have started with containers since I am sharing the yard with folks living downstairs. However, new tenants came in and we decided together to clear the vine (I read about other people struggling with these vines above - they just take over don't they???) and clean up the back yard. I now have free license to plant whatever I want since they are only around a couple days a week, living in Napa otherwise.

So suggestions? What grows well here that would be okay with a lot of shade (big trees back there). I like the idea of food plants vs ornamental, but interested in all!

ooh....also, I am having something attacking my tomatoes on the deck and if anyone knows what it is and what maybe I can do next time I'd appreciate it. Here is link from tomato forum.
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/651009/

Thanks!

Lee (and Jezebel, my dog)

Oh no, not another addiction right now, but thanks for the info on cactus and succlent. I'll check it out. I've been working on an Iris garden for the past month and this is all my budget will allow for awhile. My husband got the mail yesterday and saw that I had two more orders coming from Schreiner's...I'm still in trouble! I did notice your in zone 10b and live in Cambria, isn't that up north? Maybe I should check my zone, maybe I'm wrong.

Betterbloom, when did you live in Chino? That's where I grew up, I now live in Rancho Cucamonga.
There are no stupid questions here on Daves, you can just about ask anything and someone WILL answer you.

betterbloom, I was wondering about you being in 10b too. Seems like your too hot and dry for 10b. But what do I know. I do know I'm in sunset zone 16 (a microclimate on the coast with cooler temps and afternoon breezes off the ocean).

in reply to Weegy : I left Chino about two and a half years ago. Can't say I miss the flies, are they just as bad? I sure do miss the stores, I would die to go shopping at a Wal-mart, or my favorite; the 99cent only store. I lived out at Prado Regional Park for about 3 years in my rv . It just got to bad out there (drugs) so we left. Oh and of course Stater Bros. my favorite grocery store.
So many good memories! I just planted over 40 iris r/z so I know I can't move again till their ready to be divided. And thanks for not thinking anything is stupid. I know they say not to over water iris but it's gets to 120 here quite often and mine have very good drainage. They seem to be growing so I hope watering them every three days is okay. It was nice to hear from you, so many nice people in Chino. Keep in touch.

To Stellapathic: I'm probably wrong on my zone, I'll have to do some reaseach tomorrow on that. Your climate is most definetly different than mine. Cool temps and ocean breezes? Sounds so nice!

Zones are misleading - Bythe is in 9b, Cambria in 8b - Check out http://www.garden.org/zipzone/ for zone by zip code. This zone is just a measure of how cold it can get. There is also a heat zone http://www.ahs.org/publications/heat_zone_finder.htm - Cambria covers zones 2 through 5 and Blythe is zone 11. Sunset has a whole different set of zone, http://www.sunset.com/sunset/garden/article/0,20633,845238,00.html where Cambria is 16 and Blythe is 13.
Blythe is definitely a good candidate for the Cactus & Succulent arena.

thank you PotEmUp. No wonder I'm confused on zones. I hate cactus & succulent . Working on Iris right now, will wait and see how they do here first. Thanks again!

Betterblooom, they're moving the dairies out, or pushing them out, so the flies are not bad anymore. My iris garden is on Walnut and Magnolia if you're familiar with that part of Chino, you were more towards Chino Hills...when I grew up, it was just plain old Chino, dairies, rural and you had to go to Montclair or Pomona to shop...now....well it's gotten very busy.
Your irises should be fine with a couple of waterings a week...they're pretty drought tolerant. During the summer here, I probably watered mine once a week and they're doing fine. Since I don't live where my iris garden is...it's my mom's property, I can't get down there to water the new ones as often as I like but have noticed even the ones that look dead, when I pull those brown leaves off of them,there's little green leaves looking up at me.

weegy: how sad that you can't have your iris with you. The first thing I do when I wake up is check on mine to make sure they're still alive. I still live in a rv park so I'm kinda limited , althought I keep kidding everyone here by telling them the backhoe is coming to dig the hole for my pool any day. I'd love to have a small pond but we have rattlers here and I hear they like ponds. Maybe I'll put on above ground.I have a saucer that I keep full of water for the frogs, I'm surprised I haven't found a snake in there yet.
I can't believe how much Rancho has grown. It's a very nice area, with lots of stores...I'm so jealous!

Well, I do have 80 irises planted here for my enjoyment! The rest of the 450 are in Chino at mom's. Hey, by the way, the Chino Champion wants to do a feature story on my iris garden...more business coming my way! I'll meet with the writer on Tuesday and I'll let you know how it goes. Wow, anyone want my autograph?!!?!?
Yes Rancho has grown, have you seen the new mall...Victoria Gardens??? All outdoors and kind of has a downtown Pasadena feel to it. I've only been there 2 times, I am not a shopper. When you get your pool dug and filled with water, I'm there!

More business coming your way, are you selling any iris? I might need a few more. Good luck on the feature story, gee now I can say I know someone famous. Haven't been there for awhile, hopefully this winter when it cools down some.Our temps are still running close to 100. I really not much of a shopper either but do enjoy it once in awhile. I'm planning on going down to Algadones next month to pick up some ceramic garden critters. So cheap and they will bargin with you.

better, I live in the Antelope valley and I go on the southwestern forum a lot and you should too because you, even more than me, will have a lot ofsimilar gardening issues and the people on the forum all seem to know eachother, most are from Phoenix area, but they are reall helpful and it is one more place to go on DG. Girl, very few things that grew well in the ie will probably do well there. Too Hot.

thank you helnzn11, I'm new to this forum and gardening so anything helps. I did check it out and will visit it more when I have more time, too many good ideas. I'm planning a small pond/ waterfall so I'll need a few plants to put around it, maybe they can help. thanks again.

Your very welcome

Hey I was reading pretty far back and the whole gopher thing is a horrible nightmare. It keeps me up at night. I put engine degreaser in the holes and bleach to detour them but I live near acres of vacant desert and what are you going to do..I have posted threads and talked to people on their threads and it is a real issue. One girl said her exterminator did something that worked for 2 1/2 years. I am going to call but in Ca. there are so many enviremental issues that I am sure it is not area. I had an idea that I posed on the southwest forum but I didn`t get much feed back, so let me pose an idea to you what if each plant you plant is wraped in a huge ball of fishing line or nylon thread of some sort. They would get all tangled up and then it would start to sever and injure them, hypothically. It is easy to get trapped in it. Cruel like glue boards ha? or what if you lured them to a honey hole that was mixed up with boric acid(away from your plants though? Any thoughts or similar attempts. I wish I had a big owl hanging around guarding my future raised beds.

hellnzn11, I think it was a Dave's member that suggested this: Unroll steel wool and wrap it around the roots. Sure worked for me! The plants that I used it on made it through the season, the others didn't. My big red lettuce that I was letting go to seed (since harvested) had gopher pockets all around the steel wool part. They ate right up to that part but didn't touch the original root ball. I'm definitely wrapping my fall bulbs in it. Of course this would only work for the smaller annuals. Can't do much about the plants that were already in the ground.

I know, the nursury and everyone says the same except that of you don`t block them off @ top they can go up and down too. It is all part of the NO FUN gardening here in Sunset Zone 11. I have another tip that another girl on a different thread told me, I think Southwestern again, She said if you grow castor plants from the bean then they will stop going in the garden. She said they haven`t bothered her plants in a year or more since she did it. My friend Maria Ortiz from SW garden site said she is having the same problem out there in Phoenix and is ready to try it because she saw most repellents for gophers have castor oil in them. Have you heard this? We should try to get a trade going for beans. With my luck here, they won`t take the heat. The gardening center here said that Rabbits were eating the oleanders this year so gophers may too but no one knows if it kills them?

They do sell castor oil repellents, I had bought one at my old house because I had gopher problems there (they're all over CA, not just in your area!) but hadn't gotten around to trying it before I moved, so I left it behind for the new owner to try if she wanted to. So if castor oil repels them, then I wouldn't be surprised that the plants would too, although I'm not sure how far from the plant the effect would extend, so you may have to plant a bunch of them all throughout your garden to really get protection, otherwise they'll just stay away from the plants and eat stuff in a different area.

Don`t you rain on our parade you fantasy wrecker. You need only one plant and it repells all gophers for 20 miles.

Oh sorry, I'm sure I'm wrong, that sounds much better to me too! LOL