SPRING IS HERE!!!

Sue,

Where did you find that Calla? I'm looking for a large one for my sisters garden. I'll also take that furry thing off your hands if you don't want to groom her. lol She's just too cute, and doens't think she could look any better with a new 'DO". :-)

Red TP, so how did you like the area you visited? Did you find something you like yet?
It was probably pretty overwhelming.

Donna

Oh Donna, I 'found' it in my garden one day, thought at first it was one of the shorter ones I had growing already, and it just got bigger and bigger. If I didn't have company coming in less than 5 weeks for my son's wedding, I would dig it up to divide and move it but I don't want to mess it up now, it looks too good.

Kasey is into her first 'season' as of a couple of days ago and not a happy camper being diapered up! LOL, she starts shaking and looking all forlorn, all she wants is for me to hold her and sleep. I told her I know where she's coming from, poor baby!
I think I will have to get her fixed ASAP when she's done, even though I had considered it, I decided I just wasn't up to doing the puppy thing at all.

Lots of pretty freesia blooming everywhere, I have them in yellow, white and this purple. They seem to spread each year too, in places I never planted. Nothing says 'spring' to me than freesia and pansies.

Here's a weeping flowering crabapple tree in the perennial garden. Your freesias are really pretty Sue. Love the color.

Gorgeous, doss !!!

I am noticing blooming trees everywhere but that weeping one is especially beautiful!

Lucky you Sue, having a beautiful specimen like that drop from the sky!!! lol
I just love little dogs and yours is just so darned cute. :-) I have a little Shitzu and he just turned 16 yrs. old in Feb. He is not doing well at this time and I miss his playfulness. :-(

Doss, that is a beautiful tree, I've never seen one in person. We are having a lot of trees in bloom down here and they are soooo beautiful.

pretty tree Doss ! You know I have a big calla like Sue's that I got at Home Depot of all places, gets bigger & better every year. (of course here it is not blooming yet)

Hey SoCal - yes, you know under that beautiful sunshine everything looked nice. We looked at alot of homes (new and existing) and I think all that happened was we got over "sticker shock" ! lol - I wish we could just pick up our house and move it, we liked South Livermore and Dublin alot, but we would be lucky to find a big lot in Dublin. So - we shall see, at least the market is good right now.

I know I've said this before on your other thread, but I'd really think twice about Dublin and three times about Livermore because of the commute. Unless you absolutely can't afford to live near where he's going to work I'd go for the short commute. That being said, how big is a big lot? If you look at some of the older neighborhoods in Dublin (built in the 80's and earlier) you'll find what we Californians would consider decent size lots (mine is 1/5 of an acre for example) I've seen occasional things come up on the west side of Dublin with larger lots, between 1/4 and 1/2 of an acre and priced reasonably. Newer construction you're lucky to get even 1/10 of an acre though so you really have to pick whether you want a nice new house or a big yard, unless you're willing to spend a million or so you probably won't find both.

You know we went the back way on that curvy road (sorry, don't remember what its called, but I'm sure you know ) to Livermore, and the commute was always less time to S. Livermore from Santa Clara than the freeway to Dublin, plus he gets to telecommute some days which will be great. Worst traffic we had was to San Francisco. That said, I'd rather spend a million in Pleasanton, Dublin or Livermore than Los Gatos (yeowch, now that is SPENDY! ) We did see a house in Dublin on 1/2 acre - I just meant generally when you search alot of houses pop up that are 3000 sq. ft. on a 4000 sq. ft lot!!!!

Definitely bigger lot is important to us - we've got 3 kids so we want a pool (we'll put it in if there isn't one) They swam every day we were there - 9 days straight that is all they wanted to do!

All in all, we've talked about it and we think further out works for us better, plus factoring in schools - which is very important. My dh doesn't commute during regular travel times, he's driven to these areas during rush hour (not during spring break) and is fine with it..... he was used to a commute here - which probably helps.

I'm going crazy not being able to plant anything - it's so beautiful today!

I'm glad you enjoyed your trip and at least got a feel for the area. I haven't lived up in that area for over 30 years and I know it's grown so much. Since your not in a really big hurry to find the house, you can pick and choose pretty wisely. Oh, and yes I have been lurking on your other thread, so I do know what's been going on..... lol

Did you say you got yours at HD? Really? I'll have to check them out down here too.
Thanks for the tip. :-)

Donna

I did get it at Home Depot - it was definitely later in the season, but really big and not much $$. They are just coming out of the ground here, usually don't start blooming until June...

See, now if you lived here with it, it would have been blooming for weeks already!

I know! I'm totally going nutso - not being able to plant & plan new beds at this time of the year. Can't wait to move!

Getting a bit of drizzle this morning, perfect for taking pictures. Here's my riotous 'tapestry' front yard! (lawn need mowing again)
My favorite colors are bronze, lime greens, chartreuse, oranges and purples, all mixed together! LOL

By the way, in this image, barely visible now because they are newly planted last fall, but there are 12 roses. Oh yeah, I am nuts!

This message was edited Apr 2, 2008 2:05 PM

can ya tell I can't say no to any plant?!! and have no sense of mature size?! LOL

That's beautiful! Why do I seem to think that you don't have rabbits or gophers?

Chartreuse green blooms of a euphorbia, Aeonium 'Schwartzkopf' and blue succulent, will have to find it's name, it sends out long stems with purple blooms.

Nope, no bunnies or gophers! Don't live in the country, in a small suburban lot in the city, so small, it cramps my style! Whah! :-(

Front door decor

A variegated abutilon, a lavender threading it's blooms through it, the new rose in the bottom left is 'Livin' Easy', an apricot/orange bloom that should compliment the abutilon and the ever blooming purple african daisy to go with that! Yep, a riot!

Nothing professional here, just plunk them into the ground and wha la! Didn't think that 'tasmanian tiger' euphorbia would get that big! Guess I'll have to move it. Nothing is ever permanent anyways.

Oh yeah, get the shades out, orange and red!!! My eyes!

Ok, backyard not as crazy looking, yet, and I can't back up too far as it needs sorting, too many pots scattered about from my big pot purchase but I can do some tighter vignettes.

Just getting going with this new bed next to the pond and I plopped a newly planted pot into it. A few daylilies in the background too. Once things fill in, I know I'll have to rearrange again.

Gorgeous garden Sue! I hope mine looks that nice someday! My problem is I tend to like shrubs more than I like annuals and perennials, so I have a nice backbone going (of things which I've planted way too close together!) but nothing filling the spots in between. Guess I'll have to work on that over the next few years!

You're lucky you don't have gophers...you don't have to live in the country to have them, they're happy in suburbia too! They are the #1 biggest problem I have in my garden and I'm also on a small suburban lot. But I've got a small open space behind me which so I'm sure I have it to thank for the gophers (as well as millions upon millions of weed seeds!). The price you pay to not have rear neighbors I guess!

Yeah, thats the difference , that open space.

Everything at my place needs to be tough, drought tolerant and rabbit-proof. Wire baskets foil the gophers, but oh, those bunnies! I think I tend to the shrub-side also. I like large scale and never seem to get around to filling in with the smaller stuff. Have to work on that.

Beautiful Sue, I haven't seen so many photos of your yard and I love the riot of color. I'm one of those gardeners who believes that more is more. If you paid attention to final size there would be all of those holes in the garden and who wants that!

Your plantings are just stunning.

Beautiful garden, Sue. I love the tapestry look.

Yep, I found myself planting only big stuff, too. Then I went to Annie's and discovered little things...woe is me. ;-)

Sue: Great colors ! What is that variegated "iris-looking" plant in front of the Euphorbia ???

I remembered why I don't do the little things...it's a wire basket for each of those zillions of little things. There are so many things that I can't plant! I tend to let something that is rabbit -proof and gopher proof reseed and fill in everywhere...did I mention that I have a lot of centranthus and alyssum? And geranium incanum? LOL... I do so envy pretty gardens with everything tucked in here and there. I need to do some more checking on critter-proof plants....

This message was edited Apr 2, 2008 6:31 PM

Wow, I love your garden Sue! What a lovely mix of colors and textures. I am busy crowding tons of plants into a tiny townhouse garden, and can only hope that my yard will look that wonderful in a few years :-)

I'm too lazy to do gopher baskets for everything, so I prioritize...if it was expensive or rare and I think I might have trouble finding it again at a reasonable price, then it gets a basket. Otherwise if it's easy to replace, then it goes in the garden without one.

kaperc, I like big too but I also get sucked in at Annie's every time I visit! I do get things that often will eventually get big though.

Mike, the iris-looking thing is a variegated iris. It blooms blue but I bought it for the foliage last year in a 1 gal and then split it and put some in two other spots if you see that.

I love mixing textures and foliage for color and really love high contrasts, it really stretches out the season when you don't have to rely on blooms for color. But I know when we someday sell the house, I will have to probably pot most things up and do a generic landscape just to sell. I think this look may scare too many non-gardeners.

Here's my mixed pots today under my orange tree out back. As soon as coleus arrive in the nurseries, I add those here and there to boost color. By the time late summer and fall arrive, those really fill nicely.

This message was edited Apr 2, 2008 9:04 PM

oh Sue - beautiful, I love the "more is more" comment - ha ha ha ! I think your color combos are great, beautiful job !

Sue, I agree with all the other compliments--gorgeous! Definitely not the usual boring suburban yard. Also noticed that despite the lush look you have made frequent use of water-wise choices like euphorbias, succulents, and phormiums. . Great job!

Chris

Thanks Chris. Yes, love all three of those and am adding more throughout the front and back yards but I also countered it with water loving plants like roses,daylilies and some tropicals. I am just trying to make sure they are better mulched this year. I just can't resist and keeping it to just one style has never been my thing.

here's a favorite succulent bowl, I have several of those too now. They are so fun!

Just so awsome, I think we got a little water this year after the worst drought on record and are still in drought conditions, but nature was dieing to show us it's beauty and splendor again and did it early. We needed this.

Let me show you what I took near my house last week.

and

and this is not posting again. grrr

Gyps those Echium are the bomb, someone sent seeds and I have them W/S in bottles.