Hi from an eclectic gardener

I've been a member for two months, but I've been consulting Garden Watchdog for a couple of years. My name is actually Elena, but everyone has always called me Zuzu.

I moved to Sebastopol from the Bay Area 20 years ago and started carving out a garden. My half-acre lot was full of blackberries and every kind of imaginable tree. Whatever seed a bird dropped had been allowed to grow. I've now tamed the jungle, but I still keep changing bits and pieces of it every year. My current passion is alpine gardening, mainly because the plants are small and there's no more room here for big plants.

I have more than 300 roses, an azalea and rhododendron garden, four fish ponds filled with water plants, four alpine troughs, a peat bog I just created for the more thirsty darlings, and a solarium for tropicals. I'm growing every imaginable thing that blooms. No room for lawns or vegetables.

I have many cats. I won't say how many because I don't want to be thought of as a crazy cat lady. Luckily, there are people in my neighborhood who have more and can qualify for that title if necessary. I live near a laguna, so I usually have a few heron and egrets hanging out by the ponds.

Fortunately, I can do my job at home, so I spend all day in the garden and work at night. I am a genuine plantaholic and am always on the lookout for a vacant spot in a flower bed to fill. In addition to the half-acre of plants in the ground, I probably have another half-acre in pots.

I'm really enjoying Dave's Garden. Everyone is so friendly, helpful, and non-judgmental.

Welcome to DG! I too am a "cat-a-holic". Here's a link you might enjoy for a laugh. http://www.stupid.com/stat/CCLF.html

Happy gardening. (I'm envious of all you space)LOL

Thanks Sybiltwo, that's a great link.

I really think there's nothing prettier than cats in gardens, don't you agree. One of my cats was Mr. December, lying on a garden bench with his little arms folded, in Sharon Beals' "What Cats Are..." calendar for 2004. He's a real success story. He was thrown out of a moving car on a highway when he was just a couple of weeks old, arrived at my house with what seemed to be no face (he landed on his face, obviously), grew into a lovely flame point Siamese, and now he's a calendar cat.

Zuzu....since I am a nice old lady in AZ....with 4 acres of not much but Mesquite...I'm gonna let you come here and plant to your hearts delight!! LOL

Welcome to the best site on the internet...you'll love it here!!

I dream about 4 empty acres, Roadrunner. Thanks for the welcome.

zuzu - you've come to the right place. welcome from upstate new york.

Thanks, Herbie. Is that your birth year? It's mine.

Zuzu - my pets rule the house (including my 4 cats) - they keep us in line ;-) -Christie

Wow, 300 roses sounds awesome. Glad you are here. Have fun.